I was reading the allowance thread and began to think about indulgence and my two kids (11 and 13). My son is saving his own money for an XBOX 360 because I finally said "that is enough." I don't know about all of you, but I have spent a lot of dough on video games and consoles.
We currently have: PS One PS2 XBOX 2 Gameboy Color Gameboy Advance Gameboy SP Gameboy DS
Now, I love to play as well, but I just can't spend anymore on new units when ALL of the others are in perfect working order. I thought about selling or trading in the old ones, but Game Crazy will only give $12 for a PSone! The next generation of consoles are all supposed to be in the $300 range.
I am so frustrated.
[ August 04, 2005, 01:55 PM: Message edited by: johnsonweed ]
Posted by RynoW1 (Member # 8365) on :
Ebay! I actually go through games and consoles pretty fast. The PS3, XBox 360, and Nintendo Revelution are backwards compatible so it would be pointless to keep around the old consoles. Just keep the games you want and sell the consoles.
I do that with all of my electronics and usually if I time it right I loose very little when trading them in. (this is with cell phones, PDAs, games, etc..)
Ebay is the way to go. I would never go to game crazy, EB games, or anywhere else to sell stuff. The extra money is worth the hassel.
Posted by camus (Member # 8052) on :
I gave my Xbox to a friend and bought a used original Nintendo with a few games. Best video game purchase I have ever made.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
Well, unless you got it really really cheaply, the PS1 you must have gotten several years beforehand. Perhaps as many as five or six years ago. Think of it as a nice bicycle that your kid grew out of long ago.
Now, having both an XBOX and a PS2 was probably overkill. I am a software engineer, making good money, and I can't imagine trying to keep up with both. I would say to pick either Sony or Microsoft, and stick with one or the other. Sounds like your son has chosen the XBOX as his next console. My advice would be to tell him that's that. No PS3.
The problem is if one kid wants a PS3, and the other wants an XBOX 360. That could get harry.
As for the "hand-helds", it sounds like you have been forced to go a bit overboard. You're going to have to make them "skip" releases on those. For instance, don't even entertain the notion of getting a PSP. That Nintendo DS should be the handheld they use for the next 1.5-2 years I would say. Of course you may need two of them, if the kids play together with them.
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
Growing up in the Nintendo and Super Nintendo generation my parents just made me wait a couple years for the prices to drop, and they always did significantly. This stuck with me later in life with the new generations of consoles. I got my PS2 at the beginning of last year, and paid hardly anything for it.
I am glad to hear you are making them save their own money to buy it. Thats something else my parents did for a couple of expensive items I wanted, and I think it gave me a better view of finances.
Of course all of this is coming from a guy who would much rather read a good book then play most video games.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Eve wanted an XBox for our anniversary (yes, my wife is very cool - I wanted attachments for our KitchenAid). She decided to wait for the 360 when MS announced the ship date. So we're missing most of the merry-go-round by getting in on the ground floor of a new model.
I'm glad it's backward compatible, though. Will make it easier to find cheap games, like the Namco Museum.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
We don't have any of those, but I'm thinking of buying a PS2 for my son for his 18th birthday next week. Thought I'd might check pawn shops -- but I notice even on Ebay used systems go pretty high.
Why don't you sell the older systems when you buy a new one, johnsonweed?
(asks the stupid person who has four computers at home because she always keeps the old when getting a new one)
FG
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
And I just wanted to point out that kids have been having to make this choice for years . I myself had to decide between a Super-Nintendo and a Sega-Genesis. The thought of getting both was about as crazy to me as it was my Dad. Us three kids considered ourselves lucky to get even that.
Plus, kids have ways of getting around this. We coordinated when we were that age. I stuck with the Nintendo products, and a friend of mine stuck with the Sega ones (and later Playstation One to my Nintendo 64). That way we could still play with both systems.
Now there are three systems, which make it harder. I myself went with the Nintendo Gamecube, and only bought a handful of games in the 2+ years I had it. I made the wrong choice. Should have went with a PS2 or an X-Box. Of course since my Gamecube has been stolen for over a year now, its no longer an issue .
I think I will buy a PS3 when they come out, or else pick up a bargain PS2 while I am waiting, since they PS3 will be backwards compatible (or so I would assume). I wonder how cheap a PS2 is now. Not that I could afford one right now, no matter how cheap they are .
Posted by RynoW1 (Member # 8365) on :
Personally, I'd sell all of the handheld Nintendos and get a PSP. I'd also wait and get a PS3. The specs are incredible, and it will double as a high-Def DVD player, home media center, etc...
But thats just me. Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
Growing up, we got a Nintendo, Sega Genesis, then an N64. Aaaand, that was it. I got a PS2 a couple years ago, didn't like it, sold that and got an xbox. I love my xbox. Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
The XBox 360 isn't confirmed to have full backwards compatibility. It will have to run XBox games via software emulation, which is made more difficult by the nature of the XBox 360's hardware. Microsoft isn't making any guarantees as far as I'm aware.
The PS2 has hardware backwards compatibility, meaning that it essentially has a little PSOne inside it for running PSOne games. I have no idea about the PS3. I'm not planning to buy either console, though; I've had a GameCube for a couple of years and I recently bought a PS2 very cheaply. I've got a massive backlog of games for both consoles and my Mac to get through.
Added: I never had consoles growing up, though. Not one. No handhelds either. All of my gaming was done on the family Macs.
Posted by Tresopax (Member # 1063) on :
It is definitely crazy how people buy every system. Isn't $300 still a lot of money for kids now? There's not even that many games that aren't on all three.
I will definitely be waiting for Nintendo Revolution before I even think about getting any more systems. Given Nintendo's reputation, affordability, and the ridiculously good archive of backwards compatible games they will offer, I'm suspecting it will blow the other systems out of the water in most of the categories that count. (Then again, given the low quality of console games in general over the past few years, I may just not get any system at all....)
Posted by Sid Meier (Member # 6965) on :
I have a normal Nintendo, SNES, Playstation 1 (lost the ball bearings) so got a PS2, so I pretty much stick with Sony though I'm tempted for the XBox 360 if its backwards compatible or maybe not, since I'm interested in Halo (from Red vs Blue) so maybe I'll go for the PS3 and get Halo for the PC....
Game boy, GBA DS and a couple of GB colours we also have at our house once every couple of years.
best games for SNES is FF3 and Chrono Trigger.
Posted by johnsonweed (Member # 8114) on :
The question of backwards compatibility for the systems haunts me. Sony has been great about it, but as someone stated, Microsoft has been non-committal. After reading the specs on the machines, I think the XBOX 360 will have the more powerful guts, but the PS3 will be the more versatile unit.
I think I am making the right choice by having them save their own cash for the new unit.
Good idea about trying to sell the old units on Ebay. Although, I may just end up donating them to a charity and take the tax deduction.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
quote: Given Nintendo's reputation, affordability, and the ridiculously good archive of backwards compatible games they will offer
I'm not sure what you are referring to here, Tres. Do you mean that they will have a library of old NES, SNES, N64, GameCube games that they can port to the new machine?
Mostly what we refer to when we say "backwards compatible" is that the new machine can play the old games without you having to buy them again. So if I buy a PS3, I can pop in the disks from the PS2 and even the PS1 and play those on the new system.
There's no way the new Nintendo machine can do that, since anything N64 and back was cartridge based. It may end up being backwards compatible for the Gamecube, but I can only name a handful of good Gamecube games, and only one or two "great" ones.
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
Nintendo has said that the Revolution will have an online archive of old Nintendo titles (they haven't said how many titles or which ones) available for download, presumably for a fee. It also has GameCube controller ports and, more impressively, its slot-loading optical drive can handle GameCube mini-discs.
If you can only name one or two great GameCube titles, you haven't spent enough money on games for the system. Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
quote:Although, I may just end up donating them to a charity and take the tax deduction.
Shelters for abused children/families can really use such systems.
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
I hadn't thought of that, and it's a really good idea. Maybe I'll do it when I'm tired of my consoles.
Posted by johnsonweed (Member # 8114) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dagonee:
quote:Although, I may just end up donating them to a charity and take the tax deduction.
Shelters for abused children/families can really use such systems.
Thanks, Dagonee. I was thinking about Catholic Charities, but the shelters are a great idea! I'll talk to my wife about it when I get home.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
Well its not like I will spend any money now, I haven't had use of my Cube for almost a year, like I said.
Tell me what these "great games" were though. I'll run through some you'll probably mention...
Metriod Prime - I hated it, and have NO IDEA why it got such great reviews. I was bored to tears. I'd much rather have popped in Goldeneye or Perfect Dark.
Zelda: Windwaker - I thought it was good, but not great. I think Ocarina of Time was a much better game.
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - This is the first of my "great games" on the system. Very very cool game.
Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader - Probably the only other "great game" would agree with off the top of my head, though I would probably rate it as "very good".
Wave Race: Blue Storm - Loads of fun, but too short and simple to rate a "great" score. I wouldn't argue against that classification though.
Others that have come out that I haven't played, either because I no longer had the GameCube or whatever, were: Viewtiful Joe, Resident Evil 4 and Pikmin.
Of these, I would guess that Resident Evil 4 would be the only one that I would be all that excited about.
I am of course leaving off the third party games which came out on all three systems.
Doesn't really leave much.
Posted by Sid Meier (Member # 6965) on :
Smash Bros Melee I consider a great game but WTF JIGGLY PUFF BEAT BOMBERMAN???? C'mon Bomberman/Megaman should've been in either.
Posted by Lime (Member # 1707) on :
The PS3 has confirmed backwards compatability with both the PS2 and the PS1. I'll be ditching my PS2 as soon as I can scrape together the $$ for a PS3. And a Revolution.
I'd like to get a PSP. That may or may not happen for many years. What might happen sooner is some classic systems. I walked into a classic gaming place in town last week and was very, very interested in dropping $35 (each) on a SNES, a Saturn and a NES. And maybe a Turbogrfx 16 if I can ever find one.
Posted by Tresopax (Member # 1063) on :
quote:There's no way the new Nintendo machine can do that, since anything N64 and back was cartridge based. It may end up being backwards compatible for the Gamecube, but I can only name a handful of good Gamecube games, and only one or two "great" ones.
There are only a few "great" games out there for ANY system, at the moment.
I was mainly referring to the downloadable archive that twinky mentioned. It's the NES, Super NES, and to a lesser extent the N64 games that blow away any backwards compatability any other system could offer - mainly because there were so many games during those periods that were extremely high-quality in gameplay, and they are varieties of games that you just can't get in new games these days. I don't remember the last time I saw a good new 2-D game, for instance. And at least from what I've read, it sounds like Nintendo will offer ALL the titles they own, and whatever others they have permission to - I'm guessing for a fee of some sort.
To me this sorta trumps the whole need for multiple systems right there. With that sort of archive, you'd have enough variety starting right out to entertain you for a long time. It's definitely a good move by Nintendo - and hopefully they will then follow through with good (hopefully creative) new games.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
Yeah, that does sound pretty cool Tres (and twink). I was just thinking the other day that I wouldn't mind giving FFIII another spin.
Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
Super Monkey Ball. It's the reason I bought a gamecube, and when I was hooking up all the electronics in my new apartment it was the first console game I played.
--Enigmatic
Posted by RynoW1 (Member # 8365) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lime:
I'd like to get a PSP. That may or may not happen for many years. What might happen sooner is some classic systems. I walked into a classic gaming place in town last week and was very, very interested in dropping $35 (each) on a SNES, a Saturn and a NES. And maybe a Turbogrfx 16 if I can ever find one.
Have you looked into ROMs and emulators on the internet? Not to be a total hacker jerk or anything. WHEN I get a PSP I'll be able to play all of the games for the NES SNES and Genesis. The emulators and all the ROMs will fit nicely on a little memory stick duo.
PS they also have ROMs and emulators for the turbografix 16. Unless your a true fanboy and want the actual console and games.
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
Metroid Prime was the game that sold me a Cube, and until recently the Cube was the only console I'd owned or even played significantly in my entire life. It and Eternal Darkness are the only games on your list I'd put in the "great" category. Resident Evil 4 is better than both of them, and Pikmin 2 is on my list as well. The one you didn't mention is F-Zero GX. So that's five great games on my list, all exclusives, much more than "one or two."
However, I readily acknowledge that my taste in games is somewhat irregular. Notables in my small PS2 collection are Katamari Damacy and Romance of the Three Kingdoms X. Rounding it out are two Silent Hill titles and Amplitude (added: Oops, and Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga). Nary a Square title to be seen. My GBA collection is four tactical RPGs and the Doom clone Ecks vs. Sever.
Anyway. There are plenty of great games to be had on all three platforms. The Cube is hardly lacking in this regard.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
Well I probably spent more time on my brother's PS2 playing GTA: Vice City and FFX than all my Gamecube games put together, so I feel pretty safe in saying I made the wrong choice. Add to that the fact that if I had gotten a PS2, I could have also bought all the "great" PS1 games that had come out on it, for probably under ten bucks each.
So Nintendo would truly have to impress me for me to consider a Revolution. I am bored of Mario and company. "Zelda" is the only franchise that I would miss terribly, I think.
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
Ah. I have no interest in the GTA series (added: Or in FF-anything, for that matter; I didn't even bother finishing III or VII when I played them). I've got a PS2, but won't be buying any of them.
I'm not planning to buy any of the next-generation consoles either, however. I'm satisfied with what I have. If I were to buy one, I suspect it'd be the XBox 360, for exclusive BioWare titles.
Posted by Daric (Member # 8402) on :
If you look at the pictures, he is playing Halo 2. Therefore it has to be backwards compatible.
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
That's not strictly accurate. Halo 2 could easily be the only original XBox title that plays on the XBox 360. There are two problems with emulating XBox games on the 360: 1) the Xenon chip that powers the 360 uses the PPC ISA, while the XBox has an x86 chip (this is analogous to running Windows on your PPC Mac via VirtualPC -- you take a massive performance hit), and 2) the Xenon is a strictly in-order processor; the processor in the original XBox has out-of-order execution capability. This entails another performance hit (and, tangentially, is the reason for the Xenon chip's high clock rate; in-order chips are much simpler and easier to clock higher, but they are also less powerful on a per-clock basis Added: Unless the programmer or compiler is really good at optimising code or your application is purely sequential in nature).
I think the reason MS has been vague about backwards compatibility is that they plan to tune their software emulator for specific XBox games (i.e. the Halo franchise), meaning that other titles might run slowly or not at all. There is no reason to expect that the 360 will be fully backwards-compatible given what a monumental task it would be for MS to test their software emulator with every single XBox game.
Unlike Sony, MS has chosen not to have hardware backwards-compatibility. That's the difference.
Posted by beatnix19 (Member # 5836) on :
I Currently have a nintendo, a super nintendo, a gamecube, a gameboy advanced sp, a PSP, a playstation 2 and an Xbox. I will eventually get the new consules. With the new ones, they are backwards compatible so I won't keep the xbox, ps2, or gamecube. But the thing is. I like having all the consules. It's become a collection. One isn't enough. It's a sad addiction but I love them all. When I got my ps2 and game cube, I traded in my N634 and PSone. I don't mind getting rid of the sony but everytime I go into a game shop I contemplate buying the N64 again because there are some greta games I can't play anymore. My kids will never need to be worried about not having the newest and collest because their lame dad will be in line opening night to buy them.
Posted by Theaca (Member # 8325) on :
Wow. My family, when they bought a game system, expected it to last for several years. Upgrading was not actually an option. I never realized people could spend so much money on so many different systems.
Posted by Hamson (Member # 7808) on :
I love the fact that upgrading Isn't an option. It just makes things so much simpler. You never have to worry about system specifications. You know that every game you buy for that system is going to work.
Posted by Hamson (Member # 7808) on :
Ooo, Theaca. We had the same amount of characters in our posts (including spaces).
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
quote:I love the fact that upgrading Isn't an option. It just makes things so much simpler. You never have to worry about system specifications. You know that every game you buy for that system is going to work.
This is a definite plus of consoles, but it has a disadvantage as well. It means that the newest computer games will always have better graphics than the newest console games. Except for maybe one or two weeks, when the consoles launch . The for the next two years or so, computer games will look better.
Posted by Tresopax (Member # 1063) on :
But really, no game really needs better graphics than they have now.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
Haha, you could have said that about Nintendo games.
Graphics will get better and better, as we the consumer demand it!
Photo-realism and beyond!
Posted by Tresopax (Member # 1063) on :
Possibly, but I'm not sure the consumer demands what actually would make him or her the happiest. Truthfully, I doubt many games need better graphics than the old SNES. Better graphics has a very poor track record of making the games more fun.
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