PlayStation 3 PS3 Happy Birthday 1

Looking back on it, the PlayStation 3 was such a fascinating console. It had the worst start in life: overpriced, difficult to develop for, a commercial catastrophe – the device was a disaster. But Sony and its growing unit of first-party developers really changed the image of the console over time, releasing hit after hit, and ultimately changing the fortunes of the brand for the better; it garnered goodwill which would ultimately be carried into the PlayStation 4's launch.

And, unbelievably, the console is celebrating its 10th birthday today – in North America, at least. Launched on 17th November alongside games like Call of Duty 3, Resistance: Fall of Man, and Ridge Racer 7, the system got off to a very slow start. Delays in Europe mean that it took an additional six months to arrive in Sony's most supportive territory. After much hubris from the manufacturer, plenty of price drops followed, but it wasn't until 2009 that the console came into its own.

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The foundations were laid in the interim, of course: LittleBigPlanet, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and Metal Gear Solid IV: Guns of the Patriots all helped to put the console back on the map – though the loss of third-party exclusives hurt, even if a changing industry was mostly to blame. However, it was Kaz Hirai's relaunch in 2009 – following the departure of PlayStation creator Ken Kutaragi – that really helped the console to rebound, as the PS3 Slim proved a monumental success.

It wasn't just the shrunken system alone that helped, of course: Sony's internal teams really started to knock it out of the park. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves quite literally reinvented the narrative action game, while the stunning God of War III showed that CELL architecture could be tamed. Meanwhile, titles like Heavy Rain and latterly Journey proved that gaming could evolve in new ways; The Last of Us then crowned this achievement late in the generation.

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Image: CNET

And despite launching late and struggling to overcome the Xbox 360's lead in North America, the PS3 ended up outselling Microsoft's machine launch aligned. It will always be seen as a failure following the runaway success of the PlayStation 2, but given the mountains that the company had to climb following a disastrous launch, the brand came out okay. More importantly, the firm learned key lessons for the PS4, concocting an easier development architecture and acknowledging the necessities of a lower price.

But enough of the history lesson: we want to hear your memories of the PS3. When did you pick up your console? Which games did you get with it? What was your favourite release for the format, and what do you think was its worst game? How fondly do you look back upon the PS3 generation, and were you around for its spectacularly disastrous launch? Prove that you're still living in the comments section below.