I bought a PlayStation 3 at launch, I paid $600 for it, and looking back two and a half years later, I don’t regret it one bit.

Figure 1 - Yes, I lived here for almost two days to buy PlayStation 3.

On November 15, 2006, I set out with two friends to get in line for Sony’s newest gaming console, PlayStation 3. The system didn’t come out until November 17, but lines were already forming everywhere and word was that the largest shipment that any store would get would be twenty 60GB models and six 20GB models.  After calling around to what seemed to be every toy and electronics store in the region, we found three spots in line within the top twenty places at a Best Buy forty-five minutes from my apartment.

I’m not much of a camper. It’s not that I don’t like camping, in fact, I enjoy it.  I just don’t camp often enough to have accrued a wide array of camping supplies.  Consequently, I had to purchase a tent. I was already going to be spending $600 on a gaming console, so I didn’t want to break the bank on something I might use once or twice, so I bought a cheap two man tent (Figure 1) on eBay. If you’ve been paying attention, there was going to be three of us waiting in line.  It was also November, and I’m not much for cuddling with dudes for warmth–or for any other reason–so I also bought a small propane heater and we decided that we’d sleep in shifts.

We didn’t consider this to be the end of our preparations.  We also brought a power inverter and extension cord to draw power from my car in the parking lot, some video games, a laptop, books, and of course, a decent amount of snacks. It may have been cold and rainy, but the experience was a hell of a lot of fun.  The Best Buy staff was pretty hospitable, allowing us to leave the line once they had our names to use the restroom, go get food, and hell, they even bought us pizza at one point.  Despite all of this, the fact still remained that we were waiting in line for one and a half days in the cold…for a video game console.

Two and a half years have gone by since then, and I could not be happier with my purchase. Some might wonder how I can say this given that the PlayStation 3 is now readily available and $200 less.  The PlayStation 3 went through a process to get where it is today, and the victim of the war was the original models.

Figure 2 - I cheat on my girlfriend with my PlayStation 3.

Sony had to cut components from the PlayStation 3 along the way to meet demands for a decrease in price.  The 20GB and 60GB launch models are the only models to support full backwards compatibility with all PlayStation games, as the actual PlayStation 2 Emotion Engine CPU is built in to the system. Later models included limited software emulation, for PlayStation 2 games, and some cut it out altogether, leaving those consoles with backwards compatibility for only original PlayStation games.  The 60GB model also has 4 USB ports, a feature that was reduced to 2 on some later models.

The point is that the 60GB PlayStation 3 is no longer in production, so had I not waited in line, paid a small fortune on eBay, or fought the crowds upon restocking, I might not have gotten one. Yes, I could have waited until the launch frenzy was over and picked one up without much hassle then, but I was impatient in my youth.  Being able to play my entire library of PlayStation 1, 2, and 3 games on one console is one of my favorite features of the system, and one I’m not sure I could do without.

The added benefits of the 60GB model are clear, but what about the PlayStation 3 in general?  The best way to describe the PlayStation 3 is that it is the complete and total package, right out of the box. In the PlayStation 3, you get an extremely powerful video game console, a Blu-ray player, a media center, WiFi, and free access to the PlayStation Network all without having to buy any accessories or subscriptions.

Figure 3 - Metal Gear Solid 4

The system is still rated as one of the better Blu-ray players out there, and it does a pretty damn good job streaming media, too.  The PlayStation Network has a lot to offer, from online gaming, trophies, to the PlayStation Home virtual community, to movie and game downloads at the PlayStation store.  Okay, I’ll admit PlayStation Home is kind of lame thus far, but it does serve as a testament to the constant updates and improvements the system receives.

What is a gaming console without games though, other than a very expensive paperweight?  The PlayStation 3 boasts some of the best games of this generation including Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Figure 3), Killzone 2, Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, LittleBigPlanet, and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, with the latter two being new IPs.  The PlayStation Store really surprised me with its offerings, with games like Pixeljunk Monsters and Flower.  The best seems yet to come, though, with Final Fantasy XIII, God of War III, MAG, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Heavy Rain, and the full version Gran Turismo 5 on the horizon. I’m glad Sony decided to use non-proprietary hard drives in the PlayStation 3, because I may need to upgrade very soon.

A Blu-ray player alone would’ve set you back over $600 in 2006, let alone all the PlayStation 3 offered.  Given all the PlayStation 3 offers, it was most certainly worth $600 and a cold wait two and a half years ago, and it is a flat out steal at $399 today.