A Balancing Act...With Consoles

Professor Snugglesworth

At the moment, I've been in the middle of an excruciating decision, a case of "To Buy", or "Not to Buy".

I bought the PS3 at launch day, and got lucky in acquiring a Wii around January while standing in line for an early morning shipment at Circuit City. I own a couple of the more notable games for each system (with Warhawk recently purchased and Metroid Prime 3 on the way via mail), and enjoy both consoles as much as possible.

But lately I've been very tempted to purchase a 360, especially with the new Premium HDMI model available (which includes new heatsinks which supposedly will keep the system from frying as often as it used to), along with the tremendous hype and praise for Bioshock (not to mention Gears of War's incredible graphics and multiplayer). I've had all three sitting in my Amazon cart, and I also have a $750 bonus on the way which could compensate for the price.

But every time I feel like I'm ready to click "submit", I hesitate. There's small factors (or rather, excuses) involved at the moment, but the main one is doubt.

All my gaming life, I've stuck to two main systems. SNES and Genesis, N64 and Playstation, PS2 and GC, and now PS3 and Wii. Owning a third system would be a big change for me, and I wonder if I can juggle them appropriately. I don't want to commit money to a system I'll enjoy for a month or so, then forget about it once the PS3 and (hopefully) Wii lay out their heavy hits. Not to mention I have a full time job and possibly school soon, though I still have plenty of time to play with what I have now.

So I'd like to read some of your opinions, mainly those who have managed to own all three major consoles and have succeeded in giving them equal attention. Can it be done?

Dashui

I don't give the consoles attention. I give the games attention, and that's what you should be looking at. Will you have enough time to play all those games you'll now have access to? I'm sure you can set aside some time to play a game on one console and a game on another. And Hell, do you really want to miss out on Mass Effect? If you can, I say go for it. There are plenty of games on and coming out for the 360 I wouldn't dare want to miss, and I'm sure you'll manage just fine playing games on the other systems, too.

DarkPrimus

I don't think you need to give them "equal" attention to justify owning them all, as long as you feel that you can get enough out of each system to justify its purchase.

If you ended up playing more PS3 games than 360 games in the long-run, but still spent a few hundred hours on the 360, wouldn't you say that the 360 was still a good choice?

bruin

If you can afford it and have the time, why not? Like DarkPrimus said, I think it's kind of silly to think about giving each console attention. Play the games you want to play regardless of platform.

I mean, where else are you going to play Bioshock, Mass Effect, and Halo 3, anyway?

DarkPrimus

Yeah I mean I haven't played my Wii very often in the longest time, but I still don't regret purchasing it, and I know that there are games coming out that I will be putting a lot of hours in on.

Meanwhilst, my PS2 sees near-daily attention.

august

If you buy a 360, you may grow some pubes. And wrestle a bear.

Professor Snugglesworth

Dashui wrote: »

I don't give the consoles attention. I give the games attention, and that's what you should be looking at. Will you have enough time to play all those games you'll now have access to? I'm sure you can set aside some time to play a game on one console and a game on another. And Hell, do you really want to miss out on Mass Effect? If you can, I say go for it. There are plenty of games on and coming out for the 360 I wouldn't dare want to miss, and I'm sure you'll manage just fine playing games on the other systems, too.

Well yes, I failed to mention the biggest problem factoring here: Giving equal time to the games. On almost every major system I own, I have several games that remain unfinished or currently playing.

PS2: Persona 3

GC: Tales of Symphonia

PS3: Oblivion

DS: Phoenix Wright, FFIII, FFVIA

PSP: Nothing at the moment, I just need to get more games for that.

So I do worry if I can balance a whole new system's worth of games, although the main reason I'm interested in the 360 (besides the exclusive games) is because the online service is far plentiful then the other two consoles.

Again, I just don't want to shell out $400+ on a few games that I could get into, then ultimately shelve when the PS3 and Wii start to bring in the new releases.

Zombiemambo

I think you won't regret buying an XBOX 360.

Professor Snugglesworth

Unless it goes red in a month.

Zombiemambo

Then you get a new one and enjoy it some more. Seriously, I've had one go on me and this one hasn't had any problems. Even if it does, I can get it repaired in the next 3 years.

theparttime

you never owned a xbox? you really should get the 360, just for that reason alone. this is arguable of course, but to play most mainstream good console blockbusters, owning 3 systems is pretty much needed ever since m$ jumped into console gaming.

Professor Snugglesworth

Well that's just a small worry, since word out is that there's been less cases of the new models breaking down. I just again wonder if it's worth shelling out money for the system if I'm only really interested in a small number of games.

Right now there's Bioshock, Gears of War, Dead Rising, Halo 3 (not a fan of the series but it's going to have an undoubtedly huge multiplayer community) Mass Effect and Crackdown, but those are the only games I can consider (although neither Wii nor PS3 have many notable new exclusives for now either, aside from what we already know).

Zombiemambo

That's not a bad list of starter games, and all of those are either out or coming out in the next few months.

Professor Snugglesworth

True enough, and I also left out the Xbox 1 games that I would be interested in checking out for the first time as well. I just again worry about the console's lifespan afterwards. Right now there's a lot of speculation about which system will remain on top, which will get the most games, and so on, but ultimately I believe things will play out like last gen, with a tier structure where one system gets priority while the other enjoys medium success with a certain demograph, and the final pretty much remains in last place (but comfortable regardless).

Honestly, I'm all set to get a 360, it's just a question of whether I can devote equal time to the system's best games.

DarkPrimus

Yeah, with the BC on the 360 being upped a few times recently, if you never had an X-Box, it'd be that much more of a good buy.

JSRF, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Ninja Gaiden Black, the Splinter Cell titles... all awesome games, all BC.

Professor Snugglesworth

This thread sort of went off track (mostly my fault). I didn't make this thread to completely convince me to purchase a 360 or not (because I've pretty much weighed in all the pros and cons to warrant a decision), but rather to see how those of you with multiple consoles handle your gaming time while it's weighed in with work, school, friends, girlfriends, and so on. How do you manage to juggle multiple systems? Do you alternate during certain days? Focus on a single game from start to finish?

For example, I talk to one guy who owns all three console systems and has dozens of games for each one. When I asked how he manages to juggle three systems while still attending high school, his answer was that he was an insomniac.

That's one way to work it.

DarkPrimus

I end up not getting as much sleep as I should because I just keep playing when I shouldn't. Having multiple consoles doesn't really have anything to do with that. :P

Usually I'll pick up a game and just play it until it is beaten. Longer games I usually play for a while, then take breaks from while playing some other game, and then come back to them at a later date.

Right now I am playing Persona 3, but since I got Gears of War and Bioshock, I have started playing Gears and/or Bioshock on one day, and Persona on the other. Since the 360 games aren't that long comparatively, I can rest assured that I will complete them soon enough, and will then have more time to devote to Persona 3. Once the holiday rush comes along, I will probably just take one game and play it all the way through or will continue with the "alternate games every day" cycle. It depends on the length.

Xieflow

Also, do what I do. Buy all 3 systems, and then don't buy any games ever, aside from live arcade / psn / virtual console games, and rent to play everything else.
For example, I just finished Bioshock, and enjoyed it, but see no reason to ever replay it, so I'm returning it tommorow. I also had Spiderman 3 out for PS3 this last weekend, and it might have been the worst game I've ever played, so I sent that back right away.

Also, on juggling time, I just use more systems as more game selection, and never care what hardware I'm playing on. Also, trying to play everything all the time would be like trying to eat all the food in your apartment at once, because you have it.

tracertong

Professor Snugglesworth wrote: »

This thread sort of went off track (mostly my fault). I didn't make this thread to completely convince me to purchase a 360 or not (because I've pretty much weighed in all the pros and cons to warrant a decision), but rather to see how those of you with multiple consoles handle your gaming time while it's weighed in with work, school, friends, girlfriends, and so on. How do you manage to juggle multiple systems? Do you alternate during certain days? Focus on a single game from start to finish?

For example, I talk to one guy who owns all three console systems and has dozens of games for each one. When I asked how he manages to juggle three systems while still attending high school, his answer was that he was an insomniac.

That's one way to work it.

You seem to have the mindset that playing a videogame has to be fit in, like a job. There is no juggling, no set schedule. if you want to play something you think is fun, go ahead. If not, dont. If you want to play bioshock all day, go for it.

powersurge

TBH owning all 3 is the way to go. I can't stand an awesome game coming out then not being able to play it. drives me bonkers. Not to mention your missing IMO the best of the 3. Don't get me wrong I love my PS3 and Wii but they don't have the massive library of AAA games yet.

If money is an issue limit yourself to Player's Choice games (Games $30 or under).

As for having enough time? No one ever has enough time :P There's just so many great games out there. I know a lot of people can't stand not to finish a game but myself I like to just bounce around. Very rarely do I play a game from start to finish without picking up another game. Every once and a while though I do get really into a game. Like recently I marathoned Fable (pc) all the way to the end though its not a very long game.

Heck I haven't even gotten around to finishing Twilight Princess yet. But thats ok I'm having fun and thats all that matters.

Dodge Aspen

I personally want a PSP, 360 and a PS3 soooo bad, but I'm already having enough trouble fitting in all the Wii and DS games I know will be coming down the pipe this fall. I can't even fathom trying to play everything for all 3 major consoles.

It is actually impossible to play every game I want to this fall, unless I quit my job, divorce my wife, and ignore my friends. Of course, if I do those things, I wouldn't be able to afford the many games and consoles I would need to do so, anyway.

Oh, how I long for the days of a two console war. Things were so much simpler then.

Professor Snugglesworth

Just in case you guys were wondering...

http://roy-san.blogspot.com/2007/09/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love.html

Look for impressions on my next entry, but the short of it is that things have been quite favorable so far.

Do we have a Gamertag sharing thread, because I would just love to add all of you vets to my friend list. Send all messages and invites to Dr Shizuma.