Yeah, that’s a good rule to follow too.

Spill all the pop you want on your controllers though, the crusty stickiness adds to the authenticity.

Don’t spill pop on them either.

It's been years but...

Use an exploit to install freemcboot onto your memory card (or buy a memory card with freemcboot already on it), download your legitimately owned games as isos (perfectly legal if you own the game), prepare a USB drive with the isos, and use a usb loader app to play your games.

If you're really savvy you can even load the isos over network via SMB share.

Obviously this is broad strokes, and there's no way I'm posting links to things here. This is perfectly legal as long as you own physical copies of the games you download.

Can't wear out your discs and laser if you don't use them :)

Don’t step on them, put the cases on a shelf and the discs in the case when they aren’t in the console.

Any of my physical media I just take care of them. The cases basically look as good as the day I bought them. Same for the discs. I handle them with care.

Typically EA targeting poor gamers who can’t afford PlayStation Plus or Xbox Live.

Let’s get the rugged PS3 fighting matches going

I've not played that in an age, with Deep Rock Galactic slightly sooner. IIRC, I enjoyed it more with all characters unlocked, so I could binge them all at whim. 🤘🏼

(I'm also on Steam, GMT-7)

Yup! I have it on Steam if you ever want to run some online games!

I picked that legend of a game up on Steam a while back after spending countless hours on it when it first came out. IMO it still holds up really well for some casual play with friends

I'm aware that Pretendo exists, but I don't know if it's active enough to get into a full 8-player match at any time, I'm guessing it probably has to rely on Discord matchmaking.

I also feel like it needs to be said that S1's balance is not good, and I'll bet anyone still playing it today knows how to run circles around a casual beginner. It's not like you'll be getting any kind of skill-based matchmaking here.

There are unofficial servers through Pretendo

Thank you, that has been noted.

The official servers for all Wii U and 3DS were shut down a couple years ago. There are unofficial servers through Pretendo, but not all functionality has been implemented yet. I haven't personally tried it.

Thank you for the help friendo.

It's supported by RPCN, but few people actually play:

https://rpcs3.net/rpcn-game?comm_id=NPWR00737_00

There's a matchmaking discord channel:

https://disboard.org/server/1235338602079326239

Are people still playing legit? Hopefully you find a match either way!

I’m not sure if the servers work in that case.

Could you not pirate it? Pretty sure PS3s have been blown wide open.

I'd suggest 3ds if you have access to that, then you gain access to almost all nintendo's handheld games except switch. It's very easy to hack too from my experience 2 days ago.

The plastic of the shell is prone to becoming brittle or even disintegrating over time.

From what I've heard, the silver-y/chrome-y/shiny ones are way worse about that than the less shiny colors. The non-shiny ones aren't completely immune, but at least they're much better. Probably the more recently-manufatured ones are a bit better just because the plastic is younger, though probably not by much.

Yeah, it's a good library. What games have caught your eye?

Some random ones I'd recommend: Advance Wars (both), Bangai-O, Castlevanias, Contra 4, Elite Beat Agents, Henry Hatsworth and Monster Tale, Pokemon Gold/Silver remakes, Retro Game Challenge

If you're playing on hardware, most of the systems seem to hold up OK. I've had a couple R buttons go bad, and one touch screen stop working.

No idea how the market is now though. I'm sure like everything a lot of it is stupidly overpriced.

It's still a great little system. It has a large library with a lot of great games (like you said), but also quite a bit of shovelware. The phat and Lite models have backwards compatibility with Game Boy Advance via Slot-2 and a few DS games can interact with the cartridge in Slot-2. There's also the DSi models which sacrificed the second slot for better hardware and new functionality. The DSi has a few exclusive titles that don't work on the originals.

There's also a lot of cool homebrew for the DS family. For phat or Lite models you'll need a flashcart (I recommend a DSpico as the hardware and software are fully open source). With a DSi it's possible to softmod the system to run homebrew right off the system SD card.

An important thing to know is that the hinge is a bit of an Achilles's heel for the system. The plastic of the shell is prone to becoming brittle or even disintegrating over time. Regardless of which model you pick it's a pain to replace the shell. Additionally, only the Lite has high quality replacement shells available, so if you have a phat, DSi, or DSi XL then you're kinda out of luck.

Red Redemption, Killzone 3 and MW2.

From experience, they're pretty sturdy.

Mine would be a spoiler to reveal, since not even the game's cover indicate that, so just saying it's old, ~20 y.o.

A bit a reason to upgrade, but also a good benchmark and OS x hardware support, is Nier Automata.