Last generation? Maybe. But it's still a great console! And you can play the games you love again!
The PS3 has been out for several years, now, and has all but been eclipsed by the PS4's various models except for one thing. The PS4 is not backward compatible except for PSNow games which are streamed to the PS4. This is a pretty severe limitation to most PS3 veterans. If you don't already have a PS3, the best solution to this problem is to just buy a used one. There are a lot of good used PS3 models out there with the PS3 Slim being probably the best one of the lot. It's significantly smaller than the PS3 "fat" (original PS3) but has all the capabilities as its larger and older sibling.
Many of these older machines have small hard drives (and I've seen a couple with no hard drive at all). These can be upgraded to fairly large (compared to the original 60gb hard drives) hard drives fairly cheaply. It's rather pointless to upgrade it to an SSD, though, because the drive interface is only SATA I. So the transfer rate is far below what would justify the additional cost of an SSD.
Also, PS3 games on the used market are sometimes ridiculously cheap, especially on eBay.
Having said that, it's better to buy a PS3 that has an original Sony PS3 controller bundled with it. The reason for that is cheap Chinese clone (counterfeit) PS3 controllers that are, quite simply, garbage. If you see a "new" Sony PS3 controller for cheap AVOID it. It's more than likely not a real Sony controller. That's not to say that the aftermarket name brand controllers are not any good, there are a lot of good 3rd party controllers out there. But the countefeiters build garbage controllers and use the Sony brand name while also not paying Sony any royalties on using their name or design. Caveat emptor with regard to controllers.
I bought this a used 160gb PS3 on eBay recently after going a couple of years without a PS3. I even had a 1TB hard drive lying around from a laptop upgrade that fit perfectly in the PS3. I can put every game I own on that drive, now. That upgrade isn't as easy as Sony likes to make it sound. But it's not too hard if you can follow instructions which are easily available on the Internet. Make sure you backup your drive (not just your save games/trophies, etc.) before upgrading the drive if you decide to do that. It will put all of your games, settings, trophies, etc. back just like it was before but on your shiny new upgraded drive.
It's also nice that Sony still sells a ton of PS3 games on the Playstation Store. So, you'll find plenty of games to put on your new bargain.
I loved my old PS3 and let it go when I bought a new PS4. But when I decided I wanted to replay some of my older games, I found that the PS4 would not play them. So, the only workable solution for me was to buy another PS3. No, the graphics aren't as good as on the PS4. But that doesn't matter if I can't play the games I want to play. And the PS3 Slim lets me play the older games I still want to play whether they're on PSNow or not.
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned