It's PS3's First Birthday - PS3 Cranks it up

Frost the cake, wrap the presents and book the creepy party clown who smells of cigarettes and Wild Turkey: today marks the PlayStation 3's first birthday. It's been a tumultuous 12 months for Sony's new pride and joy. PS3 sales remain lodged in third place behind the Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360, several top-tier titles have been hit with delays and there are ongoing rumblings from some game programmers that the system is a beast to work on.

But the chunky toddler seems to be finally finding his feet. Sales are on the uptick, thanks in part to a new $399 PS3 model, while improvements to the console's system software have added some nifty features.

And most importantly, the killer games are finally starting to arrive, heralded by a pointy-eared alien and his robot life partner. Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction is the first game since the year-old launch title Resistance: Fall of Man (also by Ratchet creators Insomnicac Games) that could truly convince some fence-sitters to take the next-gen PlayStation plunge:

[kss]

happy birthday my sweet darling

[Multigamer]

you are weird

[Rowland]

Jesus - that's scary

[Fighter]

LOL

[Coffin87]

@1
haha i agree.

@1.1
rofl i also have to agree with you, wonder why you got 4 disagrees..?

[TheMART]

That will be a pretty long orgasm then, because your 'sweet darling' (aka PS3) is delaying about everything.

Ah well at least this delay you'll enjoy. Probably.

[lawman1108]

If being a HUGE flop and so called AAA+ games that DO NOT SELL ...hello R&C, Lair and HS I am looking right at you.... and having almost every single game delayed is far from happy.

[TheMART]

Sorry to spoil your party again, but those 3 sure all aren't AAA on and over 90% average reviewed games at all.

Lair? Don't make me laugh please...

http://www.metacritic.com/g...

5.3

You say??? Yeah a game that sucks donkey balls.

Heavenly Sword. Nice but just good, not great and certainly not AAA on or over 90%

7.9

http://www.metacritic.com/g...

Just well... Allright. God of War 2 on the original PS2 beats it any day

Ratchet & Clank is good, close to really great. But it's also not on or over 90% average reviews

http://www.metacritic.com/g...

8.9

Pretty good though as the only on and over 90% games are multiplatform games Oblivion and COD4.

[reaferfore20]

Wow Mart, you're good at typing a lot of stuff and not really saying anything. Do you have a life outside of N4G? Does it involve playing WOW in your basement and getting your mom to make you hot pockets??

[kss]

its a joke get it

[azedean]

happy birth day :) mine is 12 of november happy birth day to me too :p

[Skerj]

My PS3 has a date with Assassin's Creed and Uncharted, moving pretty fast for a toddler. Now I gotta have the "talk" about um protection and vocally transmitted diseases over the PSN.

[ElementX]

Lame

[The_Engineer]

as someone calling themselves "Element X", what are you 12?? lol

[Spike47]

did'nt the wii come out a few days after the ps3?

[monkey602]

It was the 4 or 5 of december here in Europe so it would have been a week or two before that in America

[Spike47]

well my ps2 passed out last month.

After playing tekken, all of my old ps1 games, gta san andreas, vice city, and a bunch of racing games on it, it finally broke down for good.

R.I.P ps2.

[andrugrif]

ps3 and its first year can be compared to a preterm new born. Not a perfect start, but things are shaping up. Happy bday!

[bourner]

happy birtday to you , happy bithday to you , happy birthday dear ps3 , happy birthday to you .......... or maby not

[SacT0wnF1n3st]

Happy Birthday PS3 and keep up the good work Sony.

[Wozzer]

May your shelf life be long and prosperous

[IGNFTW]

FOR GAMESPOTS BIASED ARTICLE ON PS3'S BIRTHDAY,AND HOW THE PS3 IS DESTINED TO FAIL BECAUSE JESUS PREFERS THE 360 ETC

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

I was gonna wait till gamespot says it isn't ps3s bday. And then go on to give that a score? 2.5/10?

[Chubear]

Ha! bubbles, bubbles to you good sir.

[macalatus]

...a soon-to-be-announced "best xbox 360 tattooed on your a$$" Gamespot contest.

[360sucks]

ps3 the best system out

[cow moolester]

*hugs ps3* I wuv my ps3 :) ....and 360 :).....and Wii :).....and Lindsey Lohan :) ....

[jay3]

Oh yeah? Well the PS3 loves your girlfriend http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[achira]

happy birthday ps3! the best console ever!

[Gran_Turismo]

Mines not turing 1 till December 4th though(EB Games preo-order bull)but ive enjoyed my PS3 alot.... Happy B-day....

lol Skerj and ksss

[Dogswithguns]

to you!

[Meus Renaissance]

To be honest it feels like now, on its 1st birthday, the PS3 is starting to have some deserved attention. Great games out, great marketing and a competitive price.

It feels like a re-launch

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

I was thinking the same, good games coming out now, better marketing strategy and a more appealing price. I thinking there getting it down now. Can't wait to see how 2008 goes down.

[AnalFace]

Hell yer.. Happy birthday you sexy thang!

[duarteq]

Happy birthday and continue the good work.

That's why i choosen to buy sony from 1997 ( PS1 ) and never let me down. This new console will be King of Kings. No doubt about that. It's the materials, the architecture, inovation in design and games that makes the Playstation Brand what it is.

When i buy sony i know what i'm buying. I can't say the same about other similar things around.

[rofldings]

happy birthday precious...

[Jandre02]

At first I was a little worried you were retarded. I had to keep telling those Mr.Box and Ms. EA down the street that you were just a little slow getting started, but you would eventually come around.

And even though you may have a little bit of trouble digesting games made for those Box kids, you still have that weird ability to play them there Blu-ray movies. And well, im proud of ya. Heres to another year, hopefully much better than the last...

(Sorry im still drunk from last night, lol)

[resistance100]

Just bare in mind the ps3 isn't even 9months old over here

[Meus Renaissance]

Whats even more surprising is the lack of negative PS3 articles on N4G lately lol. I guess "the others" are looking hard for those articles, but the popular stories for the PS3 - are all positive ones. Finally.

[ThisIsWaiting]

they are actually playing, and enjoying, all the kick-ass games that are being released, on-time, on their system.

[hardcorehippiez]

and the only ones that are negative seem to be made up stories or misquoted to make it seem worse than it actually is. march brings the ps3 to one year in ireland and so far with the way things are goin for the ps3 i couldnt be happier . happy bday ps3

lol at creeping death below very witty here have a bubble

[fury]

2008 will be a awesome year for the PS3. You will take the same path the PSX and PS3 have taken....the path to success!

[Jen5en]

Let's see how she fares in 2008. Here's hoping...

[Zhuk]

Not exactly a great first year, the doctors are saying it wont live past 3

[happyjimmy]

Shut up.

[cr33ping_death]

thats what the doctors told your mom about you and your retardation but here you are annoying the rest of us....so there is hope for everything, you are living proof my friend.

[Bubble Buddy]

ahaha bubble for u dude

[Jen5en]

Zhuk, while I agree that was funny I simply wonder why you love throwing rocks at the hornets' nest. The only reputation you'll get is the one the drunk uncle gets when he ruins every family party he attends. And then you do it at a birthday party! You are outright evil...

[macalatus]

@Jen5en,

To answer your question, him and another Xbox 360 fanboy named WilliamRLBaker are on a personal race/contest to see how many people they can piss off. They know it by checking how many people ignore their a$$es. (Check the forums for the topic "so how many people are you ignored by?" under "member's chat zone" subsection)

[duarteq]

It seems that The other material console, the one with 3 red lights goes more to the doctor that any other console that was made. must be headache...

[BaMYouRDeaD]

Well here in the U.S., it's not its official birthday until November 17th.

Happy Birthday anyway!

[ravinash]

It has many Birthday.

[happyjimmy]

Live long and prosper. lol just felt like saying that.

[sandip787]

here in the uk the black beauty isnt even a year old :p

[ElementX]

Ha, saying happy birthday to a console.

[TheMART]

Only happy happy in la la land about the first candle in the cake???

Enjoy the birthday cake all of you, but prepare for the funeral pretty soonish though. PS3 you're not like your big brother (aka PS2) too bad.

Maybe his upcoming little brother (aka PS4) will survive better...

[fury]

I highly doubt that. There's plenty of time the PS3 can outdo its competitors. In fact there is 9 years left.

[ThisIsWaiting]

The cake is a LIE!

PS3 fans wont get it because TOB has been delayed for the system, but ... ya know ... it made me laugh a little :P

[I Make Stuff Up]

Oh, give it a rest, fvck face.

[vilmer]

360 owner I assume?

[ThisIsWaiting]

I own both, actually .. but the PS3 has constantly dissappointed me with its games.

Its a great movie player though.

Edit:

How can someone disagree? It IS a great movie player.

[kingboy]

F@ck off troll

[ThisIsWaiting]

says one of the biggest PS3 fanboys lol

too funny.

[supnub5]

my ps3 you served me well without any gliches, (eh, my 360 looks jealously at ps3, because of it's rrod)

[gaun4g]

Happy birthday to PS3 and happy birthday to me...

[jcgamer]

It's your birthday...nice...Happy Birthday bro...game on...

[Meus Renaissance]

He's only come here to get the attention focused on him. Don't feed.

[Lifendz]

but this is Sony who is synomomous with console gaming. They'll right the ship. KZ, FF, MGS4, UT3, White Knight, GT5, and many more will set the course right.

[FullyLoaded420]

just a one question....

where are these "Blow the 360 out the water" Graphics??!! I bought you on launch day and had High hopes of your promises!! i want your games to be VERY SUPERIOR over the 360...NOT "Close enough" or even "Marginally better".....

Is that too much to ask for??

[ThisIsWaiting]

I agree ... but, prepare yourself to be assjumped by 'Sony's Little B*tches'

[nobizlikesnowbiz]

Or they're marginally better on the cheaper console.

[Sevir04]

and then on Nov 17. and while it's always a struggle for the new borns in the first so month. the PS3 is starting to walk. i mean in the same year the competition 2 year old console on nov 23rd this year has shown us all how much of a colicky child it's been, with getting games on time but killing it and stopping it's owners playing for months on end, or having firmware updates that brick it. and force it's makers to shell out 1 billion + dollars just to get warranties all out. but now PS3 is getting it's software day and date and even matching the quality if not better, ala COD4 and AC. software plague that it and the 360 had in it's first year is was gone since late august with the release of it's prolific titles like warhawk, and have survived the viral campaign
and bad press. it's funny but the doom and gloom is so hard to come by now. it's now significantly cheaper, and it's selling great. and it's best multiplatform games such as GH3, COD4 and AC all appeared day and date for it;s competitor. and it's big name games hit end of this year and floods next year.

in all a rocky start but as all PS's have shown, it's crawls and then speeds foward and velocities other others cant compete at,

HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY AMERICAN PS3, AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAPAN PS3. i cant wait. for uncharted and AC. it will be awesome, may 2008 be your best year yet.

[karlostomy]

Today is your special day!

But from tomorrow your 1st year grace is up.

The pressure is on.
Time to put up or shut up.

[DeZimatoR]

...that doesn't consider a game great if it doesn't get 90% or higher avg on gamesrankings.

LMFAO, dude, you are pathetic.

So I guess because Gamespot is pathetic reviewing games, specially PS3 ones and some site called gamertm gave Ratchet a 6/10 and called it a Mario ripoff (WTF?!) jsut to get some hits and those two reviews made it drop from 90% to 89% its not a great games, its only good?

LOL, what about the 4 or 5 perfect scores it got? What about the enourmous ammount of 9's it got?

I mean, you do know it just takes one lousy score to drop a games avg by 1 or 2% right?

I take it you must suck at maths...and at life too.

[DRUDOG]

Reviews (opinions) are like assholes, everyone has one and they all stink. Don't let 'em get you down. What's important is that those of us who have played the game know that it's no less than a 9.5 and that's if you get picky.

[djtek184]

happy bday ps3!

[Expy]

Isn't it the 17th?

[weswedfert]

yup i think

[weswedfert]

it is the 17th so everyone shut up till then!! :P

[Snukadaman]

but I wont be purchasing a ps3....No games that are interesting too me..if you dont include resistance...I already got a hd-dvd player...a console too play cod4,assassins creed, and guitar hero 3...since mgs4 has a possibility of going multiplat...it looks like when god of war 3 comes I will be purchasing a ps3...

spin my comments....i didnt spin nothing..its my opinion that it will...not facts.

[romemac7]

happy birthday to my beautiful ps3 which turn a year today, wow make you think where dose the time go lol. but for real snukadman i love how you spin your comment there bro, btw your better be picking up that ps3 then if you plan on playing MGS4 bro seeing how its only on the ps3. so i don't get this multiplat carp coming out your and for that matter all 360bot lol. will one can always dream bro right!!!

[Relientk77]

Happy Birthday Sony's Playstation 3 ... may u be gifted with many awesome and kickass games to come

[tk]

Devs struggling to get to grips - but now we see -
COD4 (Got it today - plays great)
R&C:TOD (AAA regardless of reviewers) this title got many peoples attention because of the great graphics
Uncharted (AAA - but expect to see the 6.0 and 7.5 scores to get it below the "AAA according to Reviewers" joke)
R:FOM (According to me - better than COD4)
HS (Heck - this title really pushed the graphics)
Eye of Judgement (Just wow - can't wait for my copy)
GT5 Prologue (Best looking driving game bar none)

Singlehandedly took BR to the top of the nexgen HD formats. Argue on "standalone" as you like, the PS3 took BR to the top - regardless of the comments that PS3 owners supposedly don't buy BR titles.

and coming
MGS4
KZ2
The Getaway
Singstar
Jak & Daxter
GT5
Some new Eye titles - should be interesting...

Yep - the PS3 might be a slow starter, but R&C, GT5 and Uncharted is showing why we are really in for a treat with the PS3. It held its own, and survived the media hate frenzy. It came through the drought of software with still respectable sales. And now the devs started to stop complaining that it is too difficult to work on thanks to ICE team, EDGE Tools etc.

For those hating on it - it is a durable piece of equipment. My PS3 gets played at least 12 hours a day. The BR disks - those hating on it - it is amazing. Not one of my BR disks has a scratch yet. The PS3 is a great movie player home multimedia center. Have tons of music on it already.

Well done Sony. The PS3 is an awesome piece of quality entertainment device.

[supermandead666]

B-day PS3 great games coming out, attractive prices, and a superbly reliable piece of hardware unlike the 3FIXME BOX. Congrats.

[DRUDOG]

You missed the real story on the lower left of the webpage:

http://www.torontosun.com/S...

A little something for everyone, well unless you're not into that sort of thing...

Oh and Happy Birthday to my PS3!

[Dmack79]

It has DEFINITELY been a GOOD first year! The PS3 has more titles worth looking at then the wii or xbox 360 had in its first year. I'm VERY PROUD to be a PS3 owner! =D

HAPPY BIRTHDAY and PLAY B3YOND!!!!!!!

[Bubble Buddy]

hbday ps3, one year old and many more happy ones. i wonder if mart is bill gates, aha that'd be jokes.

[Yoma]

Happy birthday beauty !!

[macalatus]

Happy Birthday PS3!! And thanks for all the fun-filled hours of Warhawk, ROFM, GRAW2, now COD4 and the soon-to-be acquired Uncharted, Ratchet, MGS4, Killzone 2, and maybe Haze.

[monkey602]

Even though the PS3 is only about 8 months old here Happy Birthday anywho!

[zonetrooper5]

Well I won't say happy b-day to a console lol, pretty sad haha. Anyways, just waiting for my PS3 to arrive in the next few days, can't wait to play Resistance and Motorstorm.

[FirstknighT]

I hope they have a better gameplan for 2008 because 2007 was a complete disaster.

[Maddens Raiders]

have bubbles? Hysterical.

[macalatus]

That seems like a pretty simple question: Marty Dutchie Boy is the unoffical ringleader and propagandist for the other side. He probably PM's all of his underlings to give him "plus bubble" votes in order to counter the "minus bubble" votes against him. Or probably using multiple accounts. Then again, to fanboy trolls like him, anything IS possible!

@firstknight

...weak

[FirstknighT]

somebody is jealous

[Snukadaman]

I was listening too the game on the radio..seems that they had 23 false starts called on them today...what are they a jv football team....they are scheduled for another ass whipping on the 31st..seems you cant pick anything that wins madden..roflmao

[pwnsause]

wow, mart is geting ignored by users all over the place, lets ignore more!!11

[angel604]

mart is getting ignored left and right and lawman1108 is like mart jr. spewing that stupid "aaa" 90% crap always posting pictures of his boyfriend...if they love there 360 that much they should be playing more

[cmrbe]

Its almost a year when i got my shiny sexy cool beast out of the box. The PS3 still remains the best developed piece of hardware from Sony in my opinion. Happy birthday indeed.

[weswedfert]

playstation 3 is 1 good job sony had a new baby WOOHOO

[weswedfert]

playstation 3 is 1 good job sony had a new baby WOOHOO

[weswedfert]

hi

[doomsonyman]

happy birth day my one and only true love i have a couple treats for you on the thirteenth and ninteenth assassins creed and uncharted baby. it makes my ps3 happy when i buy new games for her

[Rowland]

Has anyone played Oblivion on PS3 yet ? and how would you rate it ? I ask because this was one of the first genuine next gen AAA games on the xbox 360 which upped it's kudos significantly & in the absence of any true genuine next-gen release for PS3 for over a year now, I'm surprised this amazing game hasn't done just a little more to help PS3's cause. I'm beginning to wonder if the PS3 has been aimed at the 'younger' market & serious games are not right for PS3.

[Saint Sony]

There is no reason for celebration. PS3 has done amazingly BAD! It is SONY ffs, it is Playstation 3 ffs....what happened?!

Wait BEYOND, Play BEHIND!

[NabsterX]

Ahhhh *sniff* *sniff* i love you man

[solidt12]

happy B-day. I love this system.

[Rowland]

Has anyone played Oblivion on PS3 yet ? and how would you rate it ? I ask because this was one of the first genuine next gen AAA games on the xbox 360 which upped it's kudos significantly & in the absence of any true genuine next-gen release for PS3 for over a year now, I'm surprised this amazing game hasn't done just a little more to help PS3's cause. I'm beginning to wonder if the PS3 has been aimed at the 'younger' market & serious games are not right for PS3.