Multiple console owners: will this be your last generation?

[Flojomojo]

I always end up owning all the game consoles in a particular generation.

To start, I just had an Odyssey 2 (Videopac to you, I suppose). This simple thing whetted my appetite for more: Intellivision, Atari 2600, and Colecovision came my way as they market crashed and I (as a kid) made enough money to get them.

The NES was a no-brainer as the Sega Master System was poorly supported and hard to find in my town. Ahh, for the simple days of the monopoly.

Then came the Genesis (MegaDrive). Simply amazing. I traded away my NES for one of those, and in turn swapped the Genesis for the SNES when StarFox (Lylat Wars) and Super Star Wars came out. Dabbled in handhelds at the same time: Game Gear, Game Boy, and eventually stuck with the Lynx.

Shelved the SNES for years, then while waiting for 32-bitters to come out, dove deep into Sega CD, PC games, and Atari Jaguar. Not the console gamer's finest hour.

Then came Sega Saturn (had to get it when it launched early in the US), followed by a price-dropped PSX, and the obligatory N64. By this time I was hooked, and got a Dreamcast soon after the Japanese launch with Sega Rally 2 and Virtua Fighter 3, with Soul Calibur soon after.

That purchase put me about 9 months ahead of the US release curve, so by the time the PS2 came out in late 2000, I was all over it despite its underwhelming launch lineup. I made a killing selling off my Saturn collection to fund it in style. Then the Cube launched -- such a cute case, nice controller, and Rogue Squadron. Resistance was futile. At least I got this machine as a gift.

That should be enough toys for anyone, right? Nahhh. The Cube games weren't doing it for me, and I really wanted to try Jet Set Radio Future, Munch, Project Gotham, and HALO. I purged my giant Atari Jaguar kit and again did very well, enough to get every XBOX title I wanted and them some without any out-of-pocket cost.

Snagged an Ebay 3DO earlier this year to try some oldies on CDR ....

Now I have 6 consoles attached to the TV, with a few others stowed away, not to mention a PC with all the MAME and MESS a geek could want. I think I'm near the point of having enough, and I am having trouble seeing what a new generation of hardware could really offer. The current crop of consoles is pretty sweet.

[Flojomojo]

OK, the point of that long and boring prelude was to get to this question:

If you're a game pig like me, will you hold back in the future generation??

I know it's too soon to say for sure (PS3 hype machine is pathetic -- fortunately), but what are your intentions today?

I'm going to hold out for XBOX2 if/when it materializes, hopefully until after the first major price drop. I have all the game hard/software I "need" right now.

[dataDave]

I have all the game hard/software I "need" right now.

No. You "Need" a Neo-Geo mate.

[Corrupt Rose]

Actually, I probably am going to have a few issues with the Next Generation of hardware. I'm in my very early 20's, but I managed to land a good paying job when I was 19, and I started to get together all of the old Machines that I never owned as a Kid.

I also managed to get all of the Machines of the current Generation.

However, I've decided that my current life course isn't really what I want to be doing forever, so I'm going to Uni this year, which is going to make me something of a Dirty Student? with no money at all.

I'm hoping (against the odds) that I end up living with some fellow minded gamers, and we'll be able to contribute to the house's console store, but I'm not exactly holding my breath on that one, since I've not known too many other gamers (other than those friends who'll have a quick blast, but would never buy a console of their own) so far in my life.

Hmmmm.

It's odd. I don't even consider myself vaguely 'Hardcore' (being a PAL gamer, and all those other things), but I do worry about not being able to play all the games that make it over to my country.

The Hilarious part is that when I HAD a job, and could afford it, I had no time to play, and now I'm going to have lots of time (being a Dirty Student?), but without the financial resource to plough into it.

Grrrr.

And Rarrrgh.



@))-------------
The Corrupt Rose

[Treble]

Depends on whether the companies I love will still exist in this future period you mention. If they do, and continue to make excellent games in genres I enjoy, I'll buy any and all consoles that play host to them.

[Edame]

I'm a bit of a technology nut, so as long as companies keep making new stuff and innovating, then I'll probably keep on buying. I can't even imagine where we're going to be in 15 years, and it's great I haven't mentioned consoles specifically, because it could be that in 10-15 years they don't exist in the form that we're used to right now (standalone machine, using discs/carts).

[Sidez]

"No. You "Need" a Neo-Geo mate."

You're a funny guy.

I hope Nintendo don't make another TV game system next generation, having to support 3 of them this time round is a bit much. The masses of wires, pads, and boxes just generally pisses me off. Sometimes I wish Sega, Konami, Capcom and Namco weren't doing so many system exclusives, my Gamecube really should be surplus to requirements.

[Flojomojo]

I have all the game hard/software I "need" right now.

No. You "Need" a Neo-Geo mate.

Already got one, thanks. It's called MAME and it lives on my HD.

[darkangel]

hmmmmm, that's a good question, If I have the money I am defiently going to have to get the new nintendo machine (once a nintendo fanboy always a nintendo fanboy) and I would like to get the xbox 2. I am not sure about the ps3, but if I have the money I will get all of them. at the mo my current gen consoles are the xbox and GC.

buy it really depends on if I have enough money. which I probeley won't I don't know if drama school in london is going to be expensive of uni, but I am preparing for the worst. At least I am going to get the fee's payed for by my parents as a well done if I get in.

[Ish]

I'd started to write a considered post about how the spread of exclusive titles will govern my hardware purchases in the next-gen. But I scrapped that post. Deep down I know I'll end up buying the lot. I have zero self-restraint when it comes to videogaming.

[darkangel]

ditto dude.

[Concept]

For as long as the multi-format market exists, I'll stay multi-format.

[Henning]

If you're a game pig like me, will you hold back in the future generation?

Yes and no, it depends on the content. I just recently bought a PS2 because most of the arcade ports ends up on the platform nowadays and not on my DC machine.

So I guess the same thing will happen with the next generation; eventually will I end up with all of them but not being among the first adopters.

[replicant]

multiformat is the only way to be.

[Flojomojo]

I'd started to write a considered post about how the spread of exclusive titles will govern my hardware purchases in the next-gen. But I scrapped that post. Deep down I know I'll end up buying the lot. I have zero self-restraint when it comes to videogaming.

LOL, "know thyself." Realistically, it's probably the same for me. It would be nice if PS3 and XBOX2 were backwards-compatible, though.