A journey through the seventh generation video game consoles

I’ve been playing video games my whole life. It all started with a Commodore 64 when I was just 3 years old, when my parents saw my love for gaming and fueled my ambitions. So here we are in the new year (2014) and eighth generation consoles are available: Wii U, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Vita. They are exciting. They are elegant. they are awesome. But is it worth getting them as soon as they come out?

I’m not going to argue with those who want to get them on launch day, but the recent releases of PS4 and Xbox One had me starting to believe that it would be best to wait until the NEXT next-gen consoles come out before buying THESE next-gen consoles. Reasons? I have some.

The first is obvious: the price tag. While it won’t cost you an arm and a leg to get one, the price isn’t exactly cheap. I remember paying $500 (less tax) for an early PS3. They were big and bulky, but that meant they had superpowers! It was fun and cool to have one, but it didn’t feel over a year later that they were thinner and cheaper. If I could have waited a year, I could have had one for $200 cheaper. Not a big deal now for some people, but in hindsight I could do a few things with that $200. Most likely I would have missed betting on long shots on the lane, but still, I missed the opportunity to add another memory to my life! It may not sound like a big deal, but quickly these reasons begin to snowball.

As the next reason: options for games. When you buy a next-gen console on or around launch day, you don’t have many titles to choose from. And I certainly can’t think of any groundbreaking games that came out specifically for that system on launch day. Take the Wii for example. When it came out, you could play The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess right from the start. But what is the difference between the GameCube game and the Wii game? You had to swing and aim your remote at the Wii and the maps were complete opposites. That is all. The graphics were the same, the enemies were the same, Link’s screams when he swung his sword were the same. The reason? The game was originally made for the GameCube. When the Wii came out they only added two weak features and that was it. You could argue that it was still great, but when Skyward Sword came out, you got to see the Wii’s capabilities in full force. Twilight Princess seemed like a doddle in terms of maximizing the Wii’s controls (the game itself really kicks butt and rivals Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past in terms of the best Zelda games, in my opinion).

Ok, back on topic. This is just one of many examples of the types of games that will be out on launch day. These are mostly games that are ports of the latest generation of systems or games that have not maximized the capabilities of the new system. And you don’t have so many to choose from. And as you know, video games can sometimes be a dime a dozen and finding gems can take time. You usually have to wait months for a good selection of games to come out, and wait even longer to have a good collection of top-tier games to choose from.

Going back to when the Wii came out, I was excited about Metroid Prime 3, but after that what were my options? Little bit. After a while I stopped searching and focused only on the names I recognized (Super Mario, Donkey Kong, Final Fantasy, Metroid, Zelda, etc.) About 2 weeks ago I checked out the Wii system only titles and couldn’t believe the Game Group I Missed! Now it’s my fault I didn’t pay more attention, but it goes to show how much first impressions can do.

Now let me ask you, are you better at playing games the first time or the second time? How about the third time? I already know the answer, the more you play, the better you get. This applies to almost everything in life. So why do we expect such perfection on launch day? There were many reports of PS4 and Xbox One not working right out of the box. As far as percentages are low, you will have problems. But what if you have a problem? Just ask all the people who got a PS4 on launch day and it didn’t work. They had to call Sony, put them on hold because so many others are calling on launch day with “issues” like not having the tech savvy to sync their controller to their console. They then had to spend an hour going over every possible way to get the PS4 to work. When it didn’t work, they had to wait for Sony to send them a box to fix it or get a new one, which could take weeks. It was a hassle. So while you probably have a good system, this is still a possibility. To me, it seems like it’s best to wait while console makers figure out how to perfect the delivery of the console from the factory to your hands with as little hassle as possible.

Last but not least, as technology improves, so does the console. But now you have to pay extra, instead of getting it in upgraded packages. PlayStation 3 comes out with Move. Xbox 360 came out with Kinect. The Wii came out with Motion Plus Controllers. The Nintendo DS came out with a bigger screen, 2 cameras and an Online Store. The PSP came out with more storage capacity and a microphone. Some things could be added, others you had to buy a new system. The point is, if you had waited, you wouldn’t have had to spend all that money to get all the cool features. Instead, I just donated tons of money to Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony while salivating and crying over all the new features that I can’t have unless I want to spend more money.

The bottom line is this: for me, it’s better to wait than to buy right away. If I wait for a generation to run its course, I’ll have a lot of great games to play, I can get consoles with the best features, I can get games and consoles at fantastic prices, for me it’s win-win-win. I’m not going to argue with those who want to be up to date, but for me that time has passed. I’ve spent too much money being on the cutting edge only to see today’s technology be overtaken by tomorrow’s in the blink of an eye. I agree to let new technology perfect itself over time, at which point I can enjoy it at a cheaper cost.

In the meantime, let’s enjoy the great games that I, and possibly you, missed out on during the seventh generation of consoles! Feel free to come for a ride!

http://seventhheavengaming.blogspot.com/

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