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The PS3 fucking rules
and I'm gonna tell you why
The PS3 has got to be my favorite console I've ever modded (not ever owned, that crown goes to the Wii U!), and it's ENTIRELY because of just how robust and in-depth the system and homebrew are, all while remaining accessible to dumbasses like me. You don't need a specific model of PS3 like the Switch, you don't need to DRILL into the fucking console like the 360, and you certainly don't need a modchip or freemcboot card like the 6th gen consoles.
The start of my PS3 journey was a pretty rocky one. I got this random one off ebay for a way over-inflated price and tried to play Minecraft on it, only to realize the disk drive was broken. Cue the 2 weeks trying to repair it, only to do a FULL teardown and repaste to try and get it back in working order. and what did it decide to do? fucking... Pump so much voltage into the ONE fan in the damn thing and kill it on the spot. I tried to see if I could unplug everything BUT the power supply and the fan to see what the problem was, but apparently this thing was made with scotch tape and spit, cause when I powered on the de-shelled PS3, it fucking EXPLODED. I'm not kidding! The capacitors on the motherboard ACTUALLY blew out... It was really embarassing to act to irate in front of my dad, lol.
Fast forward a couple months, and I save up enough money to look into getting another one. This time, I do my research and nab a CECHA00 from japan for, like, $180 bucks. This one had a total use time of just under 9 days, so I was pretty confident it'd work no problem. Lo and behold, it comes in and functions without a hitch! I need to repaste it some day, but I'm just happy to have a functioning PS3 as of writing, so that won't be anytime soon. Did I mention the first PS3 I bought came with a few games?
That's pretty much what I used my functional PS3 for in the first few months I owned it, just running default OFW and playing Resident Evil 5 for all of November 2024. That game was really fun, by the way! I don't get what people disliked about it... Whatever, that's a bit off-topic. So, where does the "modding" part of "favorite console I ever modded" come in?
When first hacking a PS3, you have to actually initialize some form of jailbreak on the system. For my model of console (CFW compatible), that's done through... A website! Yes, really, just like the Wii U and Vita. By going to bgtoolset, you can literally just download a payload that you then patch into your PS3's flash memory, and all of the sudden, you can now run ARBITRARY UPDATES. This was how I got Evilnat on my system! Speaking of which, Evilnat is fucking GREAT. Built-in FTP server, region unlocking for movies and ps2 games, shit, even webman MOD features like dynamic fan control, all done through the firmware. I did end up getting WBM anyway, but if my goal of owning a PS3 wasn't to. Erm... "Play some games", then I would've just stopped there lol
So, "playing games", what have I played on this thing in the past few months? To be frank, not a lot of PS3 games! This system has mostly been how I experienced Earthbound Halloween Hack, Super Mario World, and Silent Hill 4 for the first time. I even got to play a bit of Half-Life before the fans drove me crazy... For those first two, though, with RetroArch CE and a bit of moxie, you can get a LOT of games from before the 3D generation running flawlessly on the thing. I know it's not that impressive given almost every PC can do so nowadays and even the original Xbox can handle most just fine, but the PS3 in particular has the strength of having a GOOD CONTROLLER. I did not realize just how good the DualShock 3 would feel for SNES games, but now I can't play them any other way. Seriously, if you got a loose Playstation controller laying around, figure out how to play Mario or Secret of Mana on that thing, it's a total treat.
some pictures
the desecrated remains of the first PS3
say hi to ruin seeker!
proof it's legit
this is what itoi intended