The Original PS3 Is The Most Hideous Console Ever Made

thegamer.com:

Sony has designed some beautiful consoles over the years. The monolithic PS2. The tastefully compact PSP Go. The delightfully dinky PocketStation. The absolutely pristine Pearl White PSP. But when it comes to aesthetics, the company has committed severe and unforgivable crimes against good taste—the worst of which is, by far, the original model PlayStation 3. The PS3 had some great games, but the hardware itself was offensive to the eyes and soul.

First off, that finish. Greasy, shiny plastic that picks up a fingerprint if you so much as hover a digit over it. Sony called it 'piano black' in an attempt to make it seem classy, but it's a visual and textural nightmare. There's something about the weighty heft of the console and that overly slick, cheap-feeling plastic exterior that is just deeply unpleasant to the touch. The curved top is a magnet for scratches too, no matter how delicately you handle it.

Related: The Nintendo GameCube Was Design Perfection

Speaking of which, the shape of the console is a nightmare too. A bulky, rounded top half, melded artlessly into a rectangular base. It has no readable shape, no striking silhouette. It's just an unwieldy, formless slab of glossy black plastic that looks bad no matter where you place it near your TV—whether you opt for the horizontal or vertical orientation. However, credit where credit is due: the rotating PlayStation logo is a small stroke of genius.

Then there's that fake chrome lining draped along the front of the console. Sony presumably wanted it to look like the gleaming front grille of a '50s hot rod, but it's utterly unconvincing in person. It's just as cheap and plasticky as everything else, and doesn't for a second create the illusion of being luxurious