DF Retro Marathon: PlayStation 3 - The 1080p Dream - Every 'Full HD' Game Tested!
This compilation video compiles three DF Retro episodes into a single, 197 minute marathon. It's the biggest Digital Foundry video we've ever made.
In an era defined by sub-HD resolutions and 'challenging' performance, the concept of PlayStation 3 delivering on its promised 1080p dream seems almost ridiculous. And it's true that only a tiny proportion of the library rendered at full HD. And yet, in this DF Retro Special, 85 games are tested - and a majority of them target 60fps!
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00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:26 Chapter 1 - The Future
00:06:16 The Launch Games
00:18:39 The Rest of 2006
00:25:46 Chapter 2 - The Year 2007
00:56:53 Chapter 3 - Royal Rumble
01:25:06 Chapter 4 - It Only Does Everything
01:38:21 Chapter 5 - On the Move
01:52:17 Chapter 6 - Long Live Play
02:16:09 Chapter 7 - 2012
02:29:27 Chapter 8 - End of an Era
02:56:28 The Finale
Some say we are still chasing that 1080p dream to this day...
Especially on Switch 🤭
😂😂😂
Very much still valid for a stable 60fps, if not because of a rushed unfinished title, or the engine, or ray tracing, or a very broken early access game, or new graphics cards too overpriced to upgrade to...
yes, a lot of games are upscaled these days, fsr balance which is being used a lot is sub 1080p
Series S
ps3 being retro doesn't feel right... then you realize it's been almost 20 years since it launched
Oh God...
Xbox 360 is almost 2 years older and is 19 year old this year as it launched in 2005.
OMG!
Bro I didn't need to feel this old today
goddammit
See you in 18 years for 4k dream for PS5.
I was QA at Sega working on Full Auto 2. We weren't able to test 1080p because 1080p sets were so hard to come by at the time. We finally got one at the very end of the test cycle, but at that point in time all we could do was verify that it ran; we were only allowed to report critical errors.
On the upside - this is the first Sony system that allows games to be patched … for better or worse
I remember giving no_____ while playing cod3 on my brand new PS3 and having a BLAST in campaign as well as multiplayer... those were the times wen our brains knew only enjoyment.. they weren't corrupted by these extra info like FPS and all that... we hv cluttered our brains since then and hv forgot how we used to enjoy these games despite having these shortcomings.. which these so called intellectual youtubers show as very eww and something bad
I still enjoy playing 'butchered' PC ports on the PlayStation 1 and Sega Saturn that run at an 'unplayable' 15-18 FPS. I get the objective nature of reviewing tech and performance - and I'm really enjoying this video - but at the end of the day, if a game is fun, that is what matters. One example is Ridge Racer 7. It looks beautiful and is a true defining example of 1080p on the PS3.. but for me it cannot compete with Ridge Racer, Rage Racer, or RR Type 4 on the PS1. Or sticking with the same generation, it's not as fun as Sega Rally 07
Remember, it was @1080p on 256MB of VRAM... How insane!!
And now with 16GB memory e many Teraflops, PS5 e Series X struguling to reach 1080/60fps
@@noobdebusca1757that’s not true though.
And only an handfull of games ran at full 1080p resolution.
@@noobdebusca1757 Huh? It's not though. Many native 4K and 60fps games, many 1440p games, many 120hz games too.
@@noobdebusca1757 this is just dishonest
Crazy how great Wipeout HD still looks, even modern futuristic racers like Pacer and Redout II don't quite manage to look this sleek IMO.
Yeah Wipeout HD felt like the absolute cutting edge of what was possible graphically at its time. You rarely see something like that nowadays
We need a new Wipeout, come on Sony !
I remember giving no_____ while playing cod3 on my brand new PS3 and having a BLAST in campaign as well as multiplayer... those were the times wen our brains knew only enjoyment.. they weren't corrupted by these extra info like FPS and all that... we hv cluttered our brains since then and hv forgot how we used to enjoy these games despite having these shortcomings.. which these so called intellectual youtubers show as very eww and something bad
Digital Foundry and John Linneman have done it again. EXCELLENT production and video on DF Retro, with this PS3 lookback, just like John's previous video of the PS1 launch and launch titles. John, TOP NOTCH content, worthy of being archived for "technological, historical gaming content".
As long as you ignore the subjective reasons for lower scores, then yeah, it's a decent, if not falsely, portrayed video.
Subjective reasons for lower scores. Umm ... right .... Umm, Ok .... I'm not sure we're reacting to the same video.
@fd5927 there were 2 games during 2006 in this video which they both had 1080p and 60 but because they weren't triple A they don't get high scores so they recieved a lower score. The video continues that trend throughout. That is a subjective reason for a lower score where they meet the objective of the video but fail anyway?
@OniMirage My bad, I thought that the underlying ethos, and also the whole point of the video, was explaining that Sony promised and advertised the PS3 as being an HD 1080P gaming console, while in reality the GPU and subsequently shared ram was woefully sub-par, yet, there were at least "according" to John, at least "sixty", "60" games during the reign of the PS3 that matched that resolution or just matched it.
@@OniMirage I think it's a case of games like WipEout HD and Ridge Racer 7 looking as good as they do, WHILE hitting 1080/60, that John has factored in here. Let's say they ported the original Pac-Man to PS3 and it ran at 1080/60. Like, yeah, technically it's performing as well as WipEout, but would you score it the same?
Watching a 1080 special in true 4k to be as balln' as possible.
Y’all need to do a sequel for PS4 Pro for “4k”!
Could do it for "8k" on series x as well
@@trumpflavourednugget9325 I mean a short sure haha.
And Xbox Series S for "1440p" and RT and PS5 and Series X for "8K" Oh and Switch nowadays with "720p Portable and 1080p docked"
800p on the steam deck and 1080p on the rog ally. Would be a fun sort of video. Or 1600p on the legion go.
There are plenty PS4 games that ran at native 2160p on PS4 pro. Source: "DF Videocast #8: Every Native 4K 60fps PS4 Pro Game Tested!"
The Ratchet & Clank HD collection has a hidden 1080p mode too if you deselect 720p first.
That's something I didn't ever notice until I put on the Elgato Capture Card. Probably because the games were from PS2.
Has it really been almost 20 years???? Holy crap does time fly
Some of Jon’s greatest work, I love this so much. 1080/1080 video.
Ignored the subjective reasons for lower scores too?
It's a reupload though. But I loved it 🙂
1080/1080 P's***
@@OniMirage Honestly most of his scores made sense to me. A few outliars with him commenting on artstyle, but otherwise it's fine.
Wow, two 3 hour plus video essays within a month, very impressive output. Plus the presentation and passing is top tier, thanks for this type of video.
This one's a compilation of something they did a few years ago. At least last year anyways.
These type of videos only exist to milk old content
@@alumlovescake I mean, it's nice to have it all in one place. I usually make director cuts of my old series now to help declutter.
It recycling old content for new ad revenue and its weird cos they hated capitalism a few weeks ago 😂 buy the merch an sub to patreon should be their catchphrase 😂
His last couple videos have been reuploads for some reason.
Video description - “This compilation video compiles up three DF Retro episode into a single, 197 minute marathon. It's the biggest Digital Foundry video we've ever made.” Comments- “Isnt this a reupload?”
Speaking personally, the app I use doesn't show the description. It's only because of your comment that I can see that information.
Sure but there are even more comments of people who think this is a new video.
lack of content on this channel, just people talking shit really about outdated games or zooming on screen and saying something about anti aliasing.
Ngl I was confused but ty for pointing this out. Didn’t check the description lol
Man, wasn't expecting to hear Admiral Hackett talking about the PS3 CPU
Just needed a “Hackett Out” at the end.
Smart to upload this as a whole; brings in new people who didn't see all three parts in the past or even completely missed it.
I rarely comment on any videos, but this one was just a delight to watch. I usually play long videos as background noise while I'm gaming, working or doing chores at home. But for this one I actually sat down for 3 hours and watched the whole thing. This is why you guys are the best at what you do
Gotta stop telling people I managed at GameStop just a decade ago when I was there prior to this launch. 😵💫
Hahah yeah for sure. The 80s still feel like 20 years ago to me mentally, so I get it. Haha in reality over 40 years ago at this point. Time.... time just marches forward man.
Fine, I'll join
Please do more of these!!!
And keep it objective instead of subjective
@@OniMirageNo keep it subjective!
If I recall, the 360 did 1080p out of the gate but it did it through VGA. So you still had an analogue signal but not many PC monitors (or HDTVs) had support for 1920x1080 back in 05.
Plugged in my ps3 for the first time in years to buy Daytona & VF2. Thanks for the reminder John.
great work on this video - watched the whole thing. Truly honored to be able to watch a production like this.
Digging the Human Revolution background music in the first few minutes. Time to keep watching
This was a dream video! So glad you made the time for this. Very enjoyable.
Thanks for your hard work making this, and the PS2 launch one last week. Enjoying immensely
One of the best parts of the video was hearing some of this great music that I hadn't heard in years! Nice Job!
Man this era of gaming was something else. My first ps3 game was Resistance Fall of Man and it was the first game that my dad who wasnt even a gamer, played from start to finish and even did a new game + run. We werent really close, especially when I was difficult in highschool, but to have something to share and talk about everytime he came to pick me up when school ended gave us something to look forward to. The same could be said about Gears of War on the xbox 360 and the call of duty games that came after.
I remember giving no_____ while playing cod3 on my brand new PS3 and having a BLAST in campaign as well as multiplayer... those were the times wen our brains knew only enjoyment.. they weren't corrupted by these extra info like FPS and all that... we hv cluttered our brains since then and hv forgot how we used to enjoy these games despite having these shortcomings.. which these so called intellectual youtubers show as very eww and something bad
Wow! Great documentation! Appreciate the work invested in making this.
no way DF just dropped a 3hr video to fill my saturday
Great job John... absolutely brilliant!!
You can tell on Johns face (beard) that the video isn't recent. ^^
Amazing work John, love these longform videos! These are so relaxing to watch and listen.
What a tremendous work ! Love that kind of format, keep it going please !
THREE HOURS?! ok...
Passion
This is a REAL tech content from professionals. Not for normies like you. now go away, shoo!!
@@kickazzdrummer666 how obnoxious
@@kickazzdrummer666 What's wrong with you?
@@alperen194 Yeah, I love it
PS3 gets 3 hours, now you can make a 4 hour PS4 version. Great video, time flew by.
Great converage John and a brilliant compilation, loved having it on in the background while I was working.
Thank you for this awesome video! ♥
The ps3 and 360 was the peak of gaming for me , it began to get too online focused even in these times wich slowly but surely has destroyed gaming in my opinion.
Honestly the more years go by I have to agree.. 2008-2014 was just packed full of top tier games. I have played more 360 era games on steam lately than anything else And they just are so much more fun than more modern titles... At least consistently
@@randybobandy9828 don't get me wrong games look amazing these days but they don't seem to put the effort or work into them they once did , I find a lot of indie games on the Xbox store and steam to be a far better play than the AAA titles that often cost a lot more , are designed to make you consistently spend money, are released before they are finished and are often full of political messages and wokery too, you get none or very little of that with the older games and a lot more fun and playability
It's been almost 20 years and we still are waiting for that 1080p@60fps console dream...
Unfortunately studios are all worried about maximum visual effects over resolution and definitely over framerates. Ubisoft back in the day literally put out a comment that said 60fps was a waste and not worth the video quality decrease, 30fps was more than good enough and actually better looking 😂. Idiots.
@@randybobandy9828Motion Blur is the reason it looked somewhat ok. I think motion blur is the worst thing for game visuals
@@randybobandy9828 exactly this. For the last couple decades it's visual effects that's been pushed, and always beyond the actual capabilities of the hardware at the cost of resolution and performance. Sadly, the developers are not necessarily in the wrong here - most people will not notice or care about 60 vs 30 FPS or even lower, and even less about resolution. Heck, even DF here is pointing out the lack of advanced rendering techniques and plain look for games that DO hit 1080/60 - even if the game looks perfectly clean without them.
@@randybobandy9828 Don't most PS5 and Series X games not run at much higher resolutions than 1080p?
@@phillipimran7377Not at 60. Performance modes often reconstruct from 720p or lower.
Amazing video and analysis. Thank you for your hard work!
Fantastic content. Thank you John and Digital Foundry team.
I agree, this is a masterpiece of a DF Episode ! I love it !
Started the video to see my most fave game Wipeout: AAAAND its there with in the frist 2 minutes none the less. PS3 era... good times!
Your music choices in these videos are always so good:)
Excellent documentation... I still can't believe I watched it all the way through ❤
This is an absolutely incredible video. So much work john. Well done
It’s a reupload of 3 separate videos he already made.but it is still good.
I’m down with these long uploads.
Thank you for making a full video of all the previous DF Retro episodes on PS3 HD and PS1 launch ❤️
I could have sworn Ive seen this video before. Has to be a reupload
right ? I think it is 3 videos in 1 also
@@GmodArgentina you're right I do remember what I saw as being a 3 part video
I am still using my 1080p plasma from 2013. When downsampling to 1080p from 1620p via DLDSR, games look perfectly sharp and jaggy free. Motion clarity is perfect. No reasons to upgrade.
Same here, still gaming on my old 1080p tv
These retro marathons are super. Thanks a lot for your hard work!
Great vid and fantastic editing ! As a long time viewer and follower I dig this.
Ah this video dropped the moment I launched MGS 4 on the PS3 which doesn't even run at 720p, amazing game though.
More than 3 hours of Digital Foundry goodness! Thanks for putting so much effort into your content.
What a fun concept, thanks John!
This is a certified classic DF series. I've watched it in the individual parts probably around 5 times, and I'm definitely going for another run now that it's in a compilation. Would love to see more videos with a similar topic about other consoles.
Hello John, your ambitious work is outstanding! I watched the video in one sitting, it was amazing. Thank you very much for this one 🤟🏻
It’s a reupload of 3 previous videos in one package.and it is good.
What's up with the Spider man sign?
@@adriantrusca1245Rock N' Roll
Playstation 3 felt so premium , no other console gave me that wow factor out of the box.
I know exactly where you coming from it was a day 1 buy for me
@@billyburgess3912 bro paided them 599
Yeah it felt trully premium because HD and media centers were such a futuristic thing. Being able to store images, music and videos (with the cool thumbnail previews) was a thing to behold.
@@Chevelle3_ £425 ,worth every penny ,stand alone blu ray players were that price , free online gaming
And the aesthetics looked amazing for the time.
ive already watched all three of these twice each and now it's time to watch all of them again now that the supercut's out shoutout Digital Foundry for making the perfect type of content to eat dinner and fall asleep to. absolutely fantastic comfort channel.
I love such videos remembering iconic moments from gaming history. Very relaxing.
1080p is still great today
100%! Fun fact: some games in native 1080p looks better and cleaner than many "upscaled 4K" games 😅
@@user-sp8fi2zv2vThere's not a single game that would look better at native 1080p compared to DLSS -> 4K
For real. Give it some good AA and it's plenty fine for me.
I miss the E3 of those days, staying up late and watching low res streams and enjoying memes of it all.
Took me a few episodes but I finally finished it. Thanks for the deep dive John
Man I love this channel! Keep up the great work men!
John giving Donkey Kong energy 🐵
Is this a reupload? I swear I saw this last year
It only took me a couple weeks, but I've actually finished watching the whole thing. Well done! Great video.
Amazing video John!
12:02 this reminds me of Nano Assault Neo on the Wii U. It was one of the few games that really looked amazing and crisp on that console.
And the Switch 2 will most likely be upscaled 1440p docked and 1080p handheld, i highly doubt it will deliver 4k
@@randyrrs7028 Nobody said it would lol. The PS5 isn't anywhere near powerful enough for native 4k on modern games.
@@Joostinonline Nintendo is taking too long to release the switch 2, by the time they release it on 2025 it would be only a year before Microsoft release their next gen console if they launch it in 2026 and we may see the ps6 in 2027 making the switch 2 a generation behind just like the wii u was when the ps4/xbox one were out
@@randyrrs7028 you realize they've always been a generation (at least) behind, right? The Switch and Wii were massively successful, despite being entirely non-competitive.
@Joostinonline yes, the wii was successful but the wii u wasn't, the switch was successful and that doesn't mean the switch 2 will be a guaranteed success
Wasn't this an reupload? I remember seeing this last year
Thank your for the great work John.
Phenomenal video as always!
again? there was another video with that content, right? edit: okay i see it was part1 or something. Now the complete era/timeline of PS3.
John is absolute legend for content like this
As long as you ignore his subjective reasons for lower scores on some titles.
Ridge Racer 7 still looks stunning! Remember playing it in my local game store in the UK and being absolutely blown away…
Absolutely love these videos!
its just old videos but 3in1? like you said about ps5 and 60fps - this is a choice. same here. they could make all games in 1080p. but the market and gamers wanted to see something else. for example,visuals on par with rival. and not Wii in 1080p)
HDMI Blu-ray Player Built in HDD Built in WiFi At launch. Those were the reasons I went PS3 vs 360.
Bold 599$ price in 2007!!!!!!!! that was literally insane . Its too much for a console NOW imagine how much that was back then.
@@casualcadaver $600 was insane. Also WiFi wasnt that great, only competitive gaming you wanted wired connection. Xbox had a "built in HDD" but it was detachable.
The 20GB HDD was only part of the more expensive 360 ($599 PS3 had a 60GB HDD). By the time you added in the HD-DVD drive ($199) and the WiFi adapter (PS3 had both wired and wireless built in), not to mention no HDMI… The 360 was a good console, but it ended up being more expensive if you wanted all the tech the PS3 offered.
@@tacojohnellenich why would anyone buy a fcking hd DVD player? Lmao
Let’s also keep in mind Sony also had the CECHB variant without Wi-Fi connectivity and only a 20GB HDD (still had Ethernet) for I believe $100 less but was still in every way the same as the A variant otherwise. Also, as I understand it the insane cost of the launch models was mainly due to the console having full-on PS2 hardware on the same motherboard for near complete backwards compatibility with PS1 and PS2 discs.
man DF Retro Marathon is such a nostalgia trip, i love it! :D
I never knew where that PS Triple, that you always quote, came from! Now I know it's Chad Warden!
Isnt this an old video?
Have all John’s latest videos just been reuploads?
Great Work John!
NBA Street Homecourt was my first 360 game, and it blew me away. For me it was at the same level as Bioshock, GOW and HL 2. Great game, amazing style, superb art direction - the full package!!! Great that you rereviewed it after all these years.
Been buying up ps3 titles like crazy recently and been playing them. Its great playing $7-15 for a game instead of $60-70. So many great games so little time.
So you do, what PC gamers have since years
MS-DOS Retro Marathon when?
That Sonic CD music of Tidal Tempest after the presentation of the PS Quadruple fits like a glove... Thanks for these amazing coverages you guys make, quite interesting stuff and very well documented.
love this types of video keep doing this.
Full HD. Ultra arrogance mode!
Didn't we already do this?
I was thinking the same
Tremendous work John, what a trip through time this was to experience. I’ve even purchased some of the titles (nba street home court and virtua tennis 3) due to your covering of them! PS3 is a great system, would be so interested to see a 360 video at some point
Love the retro videos. Keep at it.
Isn't this video really old? I definitely remember watching this in the past.
Its just me or they already did this video?
The mix of marketing milestones of the PS3 lifecycle and the game reviews made this video a lot of fun to go through.
Came to this whole video just to see the Wipeout HD segment, bravo!
If only you could take PS3 disc based games and throw them in a PS5 and be able to play them at 1440p@60fps. That would be ONE HELL of a gift to the fans from Sony and a pretty solid console selling feature.
yeah like they already do on Xbox one X and Series X 😂😂 😂 old news
@@southsidetherealest2860 You can't take ANY original XBOX game or 360 title and play them on Series X. Not old news.
@@Sword420 plus it just download a digital version of the game and emulates it, it doesn't run from the disc at all.
Sony isn't interested in PS3 emulation on PS5. No return on investment
@@modermonkula Its just not possible. Microsoft did things differently to allow for it
PS3 >>>>>> PS4/PS5
One of my favorite DFRetro series. Really inspired me to take the deep dive into the ps3 back in the summer of 2022
A future classic! Well done!!
Oh man I can’t wait to watch this!! I JUST finished refurbishing my slim, adding an SSD, and jailbreaking it. I haven’t played Super Stardust HD in over 10 years lol. Also, per a previous video, I ordered the Motorstorm complete edition and Apocalypse. So fun!