Too Many Consoles Spoil The Broth??

[Escape-To-88]

After getting a few GameStation Vouchers and a little bit of loot for my Birthday the other day I decided to purchase a DS Lite. Along with my Staff Dicount and the vouchers It meant I could get the Lite at a tasty low price, but as I was leaving I looked at the videogame wasteland that my room has become.

A PS2, PSP, Dreamcast, Megadrive, Xbox were all set-up and a Saturn was neatly packed away in the corner. It was looking at these consoles I asked myself 'Do I need Anymore'? I barely use half my consoles and the ones I do play I never finish any games on the systems, just dip in for the odd 20 minutes.

Does anyone actually play games to finish them anymore? Or just stick with one system? As I feel mighty pangs of guilt about going to get a Lite.

[Roddie]

thing is though, dreamcast, megadrive and saturn are old consoles you are keeping around; you actually just have 2 home consoles and 2 portables there which is no different to the likes the 16 bit days with snes/megadrive and gameboy/gamegear.

[Concept]

Depends on your definition of console. I don't see the PSP and DS as such - they're handhelds.

As for the main three - well the last generation market coped with them so I don't see how the coming one shouldn't. Perhaps it'll be less detrimental with Nintendo going off and doing their own thing, leaving the battle for the living room to Microsoft and Sony.

I do still have my Saturn and DC hooked up, along with the PS2, GC and 360. I tend to only have five consoles out at a time.

As for finishing games... no, particularly these days with an increasingly diverse and fragmented market featuring more games than ever before, it's impossible to complete everything that may take your fancy. I only do so with titles which hold a significant amount of interest, and even then, my definition of completion usually means reaching the credits screen as opposed to filling every bar to 100% for a small freebe.

[charlesr]

I'm with you to a certain extent. But they all have different functions for different moods.... It's a real pain. I could no doubt do with just one, but would it be any better.

I think that the fact that they are out makes me buy more games for them. For example, I thought the GC was done and dusted, but then Drill Land came up cheap on playasia, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I doubt I will "finish it" or even play it more than 10 hours or so. If it was in the loft, I wouldn't have bothered.

I need the xbox for the odd live action, but 2 hours once a fortnight doesn't really justify it. I could probably survive with the PS2 and the N64, as long as the DC was nearby and not in the loft.... heheh see.

[fishbowlhead]

it allways leads back to the dreamcast with you lot doesent it. .

[SuperDanX]

I find i have to have the rush of buying a 'new' console every few months at the momment (latest victim-white saturn) This 'rush' is then followed by a bout of self loathing 'why have i bought another console etc,etc' meenwhile my stockpile keeps on growing and growing as does the backlog of unplayed/unfinished games. I blame Ntsc-uk. F'ing money pit..

[sj33]

Personally I buy all consoles, and stick to a few key games that interest me, as opposed to trying to build up a huge collection of games I'm not THAT bothered about. Typically the likes of the usual, Capcom, Konami, Square etc, but the forums are a good place to keep track of what's worth keeping an eye on, and what's just better time spent on other games.
I think perhaps we'd be better off with a single format, as I only buy all consoles because there tends to be at least one game for a console that I want to play, and one game is reason enough to get a console for me. Gaming is about the games, buying the consoles is the price.

Though when I was younger and couldn't afford every console, I used to stick to one format (until the time came when I could expand to another), and I think I played more titles and finished more too.

Bottom line is that you miss a huge amount of quality by sticking to one format.

[Escape-To-88]

Personally I buy all consoles, and stick to a few key games that interest me, as opposed to trying to build up a huge collection of games I'm not THAT bothered about.

I'm the same hence a truck-load of consoles with a handful of titles for each!

I find i have to have the rush of buying a 'new' console every few months at the momment (latest victim-white saturn) This 'rush' is then followed by a bout of self loathing 'why have i bought another console etc,etc' meenwhile my stockpile keeps on growing and growing as does the backlog of unplayed/unfinished games.
My sentiments exactly.

[SuperDanX]

I tend to only have five consoles out at a time.

only! Lol it maybe normal for us but,that made me laugh!

[sj33]

On a similar note, does anyone else find they actually enjoy games less now they're older and can afford to buy them on a whim? Used to really look forward to getting a game for my birthday, then play it to death... rarely get like that these days. Seems games had more value back when I couldn't afford them.

[Escape-To-88]

On a similar note, does anyone else find they actually enjoy games now they're older and can afford to buy them on a whim? Used to really look forward to getting a game for my birthday, then play it to death... rarely get like that these days. Seems games had more value back when I couldn't afford them.

Was just mulling over the same thing. I used to love the Megadrive back in the day it was a real treat saving up or getting a game for a birthday, even real stinkers got played to death. I love emulation, but the fact that I can now play everything I could never have dreamed of owning as a youngster has taken some of the 'magic' away from gaming. But this is the case with everything in life, god forbid I win the fookin' lottery I'll have warehouses full of unplayed crap.

[sj33]

I've tried to combat it recently. For example, I've been replaying the FF games recently, and have Dead Rising and N3 here to play yet. With that in mind, I've held of buying Yakuza, dispite wanting it badly, because I know it won't get any play time.

Whether I can stick to that with Okami I don't know...

[Roddie]

Absolutely, I've decided that when I go back to uni, I'm just gonna take one game with me and play it til it's finished, got so many unfinished games, unlike the old days when every game used to be played to death.

[sj33]

I've tried to combat it recently. For example, I've been replaying the FF games recently, and have Dead Rising and N3 here to play yet. With that in mind, I've held of buying Yakuza, dispite wanting it badly, because I know it won't get any play time.

Whether I can stick to that with Okami I don't know...

To add to what I just said, I find I completely ignore the above policy when I game I really wanna play comes out, like .hack GU and FFXII.

[eastyy]

One thing i have noticed i tend to complain more about games now

I have thoughts like "i wish they had done this or added that or why did they do that"

I do not remember ever thinking like that in the megadrive/snes era and before