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[Gowans]

Shit!!! posted early by mistake, preview & post so close derrr anyway its up now so

Whats your gaming Diary over your life and your experience with each system you've owned?

Thought it would be cool to see the routes people have taken in gaming over their gaming lives so far.

Marked time spent on each system out of 100% (those with 0% were proably quickies or just pulled out once & a while)

ZX Spectrum (10%) <3
Since I can remember - 1989 (When loading times were lonnnggg....)

Top Games:
- Manic Miner
- Skool Daze
- Dizzy

Amiga 500 (5%)
1989 - 1992 (From Speccy to this Woowow)

Top Games:
- Moonstone
- SWOS
- Monkey Island

Amiga 1200 (20%) <3 <3
1992 - 1996 (used it as long as I could until Amiga died)

Top Games:
- Settlers
- Lemmings
- Cannon Fodder
- Gunship
- Elite

Amiga CD32 (0%)
1993 - 1994 (Gathered a lot of dust)

Top Games:
- Microcosm

PC (15%) <3 <3 <3
1997 - (Still really interested in PC gaming but in 2003 with my taste switch to xbox it killed it a little)

Top Games:
- X-Wing vs Tie Fighter
- Freespace 2
- C&C
- Counter Strike
- WoW

XBox (10%) <3
2003 - 2005 (Blew so many hours at uni changed my gaming tastes from PC only)

Top Games:
- Tony Hawk
- Rainbow Six 3
- PGR 2
- Halo 2
- Ninja Gaiden

Gamecube (0%)
2003 - 2004 (Played for a few games then became a dust collector)

Top Games:
- Super Monkey Ball
- Wind Waker

PS2 (0%)
2004 - 2007 (Used for first Guitar Hero & Singstar partys)

Top Games:
- Singstar
- Guitar Hero

GBA (2%)
2000 - 2006 (Had one of and on for years)

Top Games:
- Tetris
- Minish Cap
- Astroboy

DS (3%)
2004 - 2007 (Saw me though working in Africa then a frend needed it for Phantom Hourglass so sold it)

Top Games:
- New Super Mario Brothers
- Advance Wars
- Castlevania

PSP (0%)
2005 - 2005 (Traded in my DS for it, imported, hacked played emulators then swapped back to DS)

Top Games:
- Lumienes
- Wipeout

XBox 360 (30%) <3 <3 <3
2005 - (came at the perfect time where I have a lot of time & money for gaming + loving online)

Top Games:
- Crackdown
- Forza 2
- Halo 3
- Call of Duty 4
- Mass Effect
- Burnout Paradise

Wii (0%)
2007 - 2007 (Had for two weeks & got bored)

Top Games:
- Warioware
- Twilight Princess
- Mario Galaxy

 

[probune]

This doesn't look anything like a diary to me

 

[Gowans]

This doesn't look anything like a diary to me

I know posted early by mistake oh well (ment to preview), video game route / biography?

Thought it would be interesting to see the routes and time spent in other peoples gaming paths so far.

 

[industrian]

I might as well post mines, as I've got nothing better to do.

Atari ST Discovery Pack
(1989-1997)

I wanted a NES, my parents bought me this instead. I retrospectively view this act as the best parenting decision they ever made, as it laid the foundation of who I am today (seven letters after my name, bitches.) Of all the consoles/computers I've used, I can truely say that I was a ST fanboy. Lots of good memories.

Memorable Games:
Turrican
Carrier Command
Hunter
New Zealand Story
Rodland
Cannon Fodder

Memorable Apps:
STOS
Quartet

Mega Drive
(1996-1997)

I got it as an early Christmas present in August 1996. The first game I played was FIFA International Soccer. Exhibition between Scotland and Australia. I won 2-1. It's amazing I can remember all this stuff really.

Memorable Games:
Streets of Rage 2
Sonic 2
Lost World: Jurassic Park

PSX
(1997-2001)

Got it for Christmas with Resident Evil and a few other games. Bought FFVII two days later. The rest is history.

Memorable Games:
Final Fantasy VII and VIII
Metal Gear Solid
Resident Evil 1 and 2
Ridge Racer Type 4

N64
(1998-1999, 2000-2004)

I bought it with Christmas money (along with Ocarina of Time). The memories of said game made me buy it again.

Memorable Games:
Zelda: OoT
GoldenEye
WWF No Mercy

PS2
(2001-2007)

Another early Christmas present. I nearly sold it in 2004, but then I heard MGS3 was being made.

Memorable Games:
Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3
FFX
Grandia 2
God of War

GBA
(2002)
I had this for two weeks. Then I don't know wtf happened to it.

Gamecube
(2003-Present)

I came for the REmake, and stayed because it had other games on it.

Memorable Games:
Resident Evil
Eternal Darkness
Resident Evil 4
Metroid Prime

Dreamcast
(2006 - Present)

£15 in Cash Converters. I've still to play any game in great deal, despite owning about 30 of them.

PSP
(2006 - Present)

I was going to get a NDS, then I saw my boss playing a PSP and was interested. I heard about emulators on it, and MGS: PO at E3 just forced it.

Memorable Games:
Lumines
Ridge Racer
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Puzzle Quest

PS3
(2007 - Present)

Resistance + MGS4 + FF13 + Videogamesplus.ca = I bought a PS3.

Memorable Games:
Resistance
CoD4
Warhawk
Uncharted
Ratchet & Clank

---------------------------

And "diary" was the wrong word to use.

"Gaming history" would have been better.

 

[glaurung]

Dear Diary,

All new games suck. Why cannot we get good games like Chrono Trigger and Gauntlet and Happy Kitty Rescue any more? Also, I hope my face clears up so that I can meet some girls and such.

Cya

 

[mabuza]

the worlds most pointless thread

 

[PolyGone]

I sort of keep a diary by reviewing a game and what I liked/disliked about it after I finish it in the typical review style. I only started this like a year and a half ago though, so I've only done like 50 reviews. I also include screenshots and artwork to help me remember the game when I look back on the review later. I figure if I keep this up I can eventually publish a book or something.

 

[Gowans]

Yeah History is defo the right word.


I missed out on the earily consoles my end, I played a little on friends Master Systems, Mega Drives and even littler on NES and SNES (more on emulator & reissues later).

I think Ive got a pretty broad taste from that but how has your gaming history infulenced your taste and understanding of games today?

I think some flight sim and strat stuff in the early days really left an impression, especially Settlers and Xwing.

 

[besada]

1.Pong (B&W RF connect Pong-only set)
2.Atari 2600
3.Microvision Handheld
4.NES
5.TRS-80 Color Computer
6.Sega Genesis
7.Sega Saturn
8.Nintendo 64
9.Playstation
10.Dreamcast
11.Playstation 2
12.Xbox
13.DS Lite
14.Xbox 360
15.PSP
16.Wii
17.PS3

The list doesn't include the various PCs I've gamed on, but otherwise should be fairly accurate.

 

[industrian]

I missed out on the earily consoles my end, I played a little on friends Master Systems, Mega Drives and even littler on NES and SNES (more on emulator & reissues later).

The first video game I ever saw in action was Ghostbusters 2 on my next door neighbour's NES (hence me wanting a NES). I felt that, in a way, I missed out on a lot when I discovered the SNES via emulation in 1999, but the ST was good enough for me when I was growing up.

I think Ive got a pretty broad taste from that but how has your gaming history infulenced your taste and understanding of games today?

I'll play any game as long as it holds my attention for longer than five minutes and doesn't annoy me. That's been the case since the beginning, and I'm sure it'll still be the case in ten years time.

And the only thing I can say for sure about "influencing my taste" is that I'm a MGS fanboy.

 

[Kodiak]

I would really like to see some well known devs do this.

 

[Doc Evils]

Atari 2600

Commodore64

Sega Mega Drive

Sega Saturn

Sony Playstation

Microsoft Xbox

Sony Playstation 2

Sony Playstation 3

Nintendo Wii


I think I had an emotional attachment to the Sega Saturn the most. I always get happy feeling when I see the font somewhere.

 

[Raist]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=8126653&postcount=1

there.

 

[Metalmurphy]

Zx Spectrum (1989 - 1991)
It was my fathers and I started playing it when I was about 4 years old, used to play Dizzy and some other games, also started coding in BASIC in it.

PC (1991- Infinity)
Still my most played and loved system,
I've gone through a 306, a 266Mhz with an S3Virge I think, to a 700Mhz with an Nvidia TNT2 Ultra, 2.4Mhz with a 9800XT, and finally a P4 3.0 HT with a 6800GT and 2GB RAM.

Played anything from Titus the Fox, Rick Dangerous, the Monkey Island, Indiana Jones and many other SCUMMVM games, Duke Nukem, All the NFS titles specially the old ones when they were good (High Stakes and Porshe being my favourites), old Delta Force games, hell, I played almost every good game through all these years and I'll continue to do so.

Game Gear (no idea)
Got it as a present, didn't like it much, games I played most were Sonic and Mortal Kombat

SNES (1992 - no idea)
Didn't pay much attention to it, it was my brothers, games I played most was Duck Hunt and some Mario game. I wasn't much into consoles at that time.

N64 (1997 - 199?)
Again, my brothers, but it was the first time I really started liking consoles, mainly due to Zelda and Mario 64, it was SO awesome.

PS1 (1997 - 2000)
Never owned one but a friend borrowed it to me (pretty much gave it to me anyway) since he had 2, fell in love with the Final Fantasy series with it and became the reason why I bought a PS2

PS2 (2000 - 2007)
First console I actually bought for my self, on the week that was released, and absolutely loved it, favourite console so far, first games I played were Ridge Racer V and Tekken Tag Tournament, then GT3, then pretty much everything that was decent for it. Had some of the best games I've ever played like Shadow of the Colossus and God of War 2. It's now borrowed to my brother since I bought a PS3

Xbox (2002 - 2003)
Borrowed it from a friend that didn't like it, didn't play much with it apart for Dead or Alive 3.

PS3 (2007 - 20??)
Loving it so far, it's having a better first year then the PS2 did on my hands, Motorstorm, Ratchet and Clank and Uncharted being my favourite titles.

 

[Gagaman]

Systems owned in rough order (bolded still own):
NES
Amiga 500+
Mega Drive
Mega CD
Sega Saturn
Sega Dreamcast
Amiga 500 (again)
Multi-Mega (CDX)
Nintendo Gamecube
Nintendo Wii
Playstation 2
X-Box

Handhelds owned:
Game Gear
Game Boy Pocket
GB Colour
Neo Geo Pocket Colour
GBA
GBA SP
(Still haven't upgraded to DS or PSP)

Not exactly in depth, but it'll do.

 

[batbeg]

NES - 1992-1996 - 10%
- Super Mario Bros 3
- Bubble Bobble
- Legend of Zelda

Genesis - 1995-1997 - 0%
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Sonic 2
- Aladdin

Nintendo 64 - 1997-2000 - 5%
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
- Super Mario 64
- Blast Corps

Playstation - 1997-2003 - 20%
- Final Fantasy IX
- Final Fantasy VII
- Front Mission 3

Gameboy Color - 1998-2000 - 0%
- Pokemon Red
- Pokemon Silver
- Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Dreamcast - 1999-2000 - 0%
- Sonic Adventure
- Seaman
- Resident Evil: Code Veronica

Playstation 2 - 2000 (broke 01) - 5%
- Jak and Daxter
- Zone of the Enders
- Metal Gear Solid 2 Demo

Gameboy Advance - 2001-2002 - 0%
- Super Mario Advance
- Golden Sun 2
- Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

Gamecube - 2002-2006 - 20%
- Baten Kaitos
- The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
- Super Monkey Ball

Playstation 2 - 2004-?? - 20%
- Jak Series
- Ico/SOTC
- Project Zero Series

Playstation Portable - 2005-?? - 20%
- LocoRoco
- Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions
- Jeanne d'Arc

Nintendo DS - 2006-?? - 0%
- LostMagic
- Trace Memory
- New Super Mario Bros

Wii - 2006-?? - 0%
- Sonic and the Secret Rings
- Super Mario Galaxy
- Zelda: Twilight Princess

That looks a lot longer than I was expecting it to. A lot of systems I barely touched though (Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance, Dreamcast, first year PS2, Genesis, DS). Most of them were also due to my brother until 2000 onwards, also. I didn't think it was worth mentioning the Virtual Boy we owned for a whole month, but there was that as well.

 

[Dunlop]

I'm alt-tabbing at work, so I'm sure this list with the game that comes to mind is out of order and I forgot something:

Atari 2600(Pitfall,Warlords)
ColecoVison (I'm drawing a blank...smurfs?!?!?)
IntelleVision(D&D Mountain of something.....)
Vectrex(triangle ship that shot circles....)
TRS - 80 (CoCo 3)
NES (duh!)
Commodore 64 (Pool of Radiance)
Super NES (Excite Bike)
Apple IIe (Bards Tale)
Genesis (Another blank....weird)
TurboGrafX 16 (Bonk)
PlayStation(Bushido Blade, part 2 sucked ass)
Sega Saturn (VF2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Sega DreamCast (Crazy Taxi, Soul Calibur,NFL 2K...ok every game was great...RIP)
XBOX(Halo...ya fuck off, you know its a good game)
XBOX360 (BioShock)
Wii(SMG)
PSP(HomeBrew)

 

[shintoki]

Well Not really gonna be that good.
Super Nintendo(Time spent 10%)(Back when Platformers were just soo good. I kind of dislike the 3D ones)
-Goof Troop
-Turtles in Time
-Super Mario All Stars
-Joe and Mac
-Aladdin

N64(15%)(Goldeneye box)
-GoldenEye
-...Goldeneye
-.....Even more Goldeneye

PS2(25%)(Pretty much single player heaven for me, Only exception was Socom)
-Devil May Cry 3/SE
-Socom Navy Seals
-Final Fantasy X2
-Zone of the Enders 2nd Runner
-Shin Megami Series(Specifically Digital Devil)

PC(25%)(I started off slowly, with just Ages of Empires which came with my computer, but right when I got cable...I went head first into it)
-Warcraft III and Diablo II
-Unreal 2k4
-Battlefield 1942
-Age of Empires

Xbox(10%)(All my console online playing minus Socom, Since vast majority of PS2/Cube online games blew)
-Halo 2
-Knights of the old republic
-Mechassult
-Crimson Skies
-Ninja Gaiden
-Freedom Fighters

Cube(5%)(Really Just hardly used it, Normally a game or two a year then done)
-SSBM
-RE4
-Tales of Symphonia
-Eternal Darkness)

360(10%)(Probably beat out PS2 and PC in the long run and be my favorite system. JRPGs and Western on one system, FPS, and all my favorite action games so far(DMC, RE, and Ninja Gaiden, One even an exculsive). Only one missing is Zone of the Enders but that hasn't been announced yet even hehe.
-Halo 3
-Crackdown
-Devil May Cry 4

 

[megashock5]

Colecovision - 1983-1986
- Donkey Kong Jr.
- Venture
- Miner 2049er

Atari 2600 - 1984-1886
- Yar's Revenge
- Pitfall
- Jedi Arena

NES - 1990-1991, 2003-present
- Super Mario Bros 3
- Super Mario Bros.
- Super Dodge Ball

Genesis - 1991-1996
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse
- Strider

Atari Lynx - 1992-1993
- Blue Thunder
- Todd's Adventures in Slimeworld

Playstation - 1996-2000
- WipEout XL
- Gran Turismo
- Bust-a-Move 2

Game Gear - 1996-present
- Columns
- Sonic The Hedgehog
- Sonic The Hedgehog 2

Dreamcast - 1999-2001, 2005-present
- Power Stone
- Soul Calibur
- Worms Armageddon

Playstation 2 - 2000-present (traded in for smaller model at some point)
- Amplitude
- Katmari Damacy
- Gran Turismo 4

Gamecube - 2001-present
- Mario Kart Double Dash
- The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
- Super Mario Sunshine

Gameboy Advance - 2002-2004
- Super Mario Bros. Classic Series
- Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World
- Castlevania Classic Series

Nintendo DS - 2004-present
- Zoo Keeper
- New Super Mario Bros.
- Tetris DS

PSP - 2005-present
- WipEout Pure
- Loco Roco
- Burnout Legends

Nintendo 64 - 2005-present (bought at garage sale)
- WipEout 64
- Super Mario 64
- Mickey's Speedway USA

Wii - 2006-present
- Super Mario Galaxy
- Wii Sports
- Zelda: Twilight Princess

 

[poppabk]

My history is very similar, except the CD32 destroyed my faith in consoles

ZX Spectrum
1984 - 1989
Top Games:
- Manic Miner/Jet Set Willy
- Back to school
- Target Renegade

Amiga 500
1989 - 1992
Top Games:
- Speedball 2
- Sensible Soccer
- IK+
- Xenon 2
- Kick Off 2

Amiga 1200
1992 - 1994

Top Games:
- Championship Manager
- Eye of the beholder
- Thunderhawk
-F15 Strike eagle II
- Frontier
-to many to mention

Amiga CD32
1993 - 1994 (Mine to gathered a lot of dust)

Top Games:
- Simon the Sorcerer
- SWOS

PC
1995 - 2003ish (still play on and off but my computer is 2003 specs)
- Quake 2 action quake mod (played this to death online and over Lan)
- Championship Manager
- Total Annihilation
- Half Life 1
- System Shock 2
- Rainbow 6/Rogue Spear


Wii
2007 - 2008

Top Games:
- Resident Evil 4
- Guitar hero 3
- Super Mario Galaxy
- Bubble Bobble (NES)

 

[FFChris]

So I guess I'll have a go...

Amiga

Not sure what model, because I was about 8 at the time. My favorite game on that was probably Monkey Island. I'd spend hours on the game and leave it on overnight because I didn't know how to save.

Mega Drive

Owned so many games for this. I kept going down the market and trading in games, my favorite was probably an old D&D game which I had. Though the Streets of Rage games were close, as were the later Sonic games.

PS 1

Highlights included all the FF series, MGS and random games like Medieval.

PC

PC gaming ran parallel for me in between owning consoles. I played loads of online MMORPGs, UO and Anarchy Online standing out, as well as Deus Ex, Half Life, Balders Gate, Shogun:TW.. all the classics. That was a great time to be a gamer.

PS 2

Lots of great games on this machine, but I never enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed my other systems, probably because I moved to different hobbies.

360

Newest console I have. Great library, the XBLA service is excellent, but a shame about the build quality.

 

[monkeylite]

1. Earliest I can remember playing video games was an Amiga (not sure about the model)
- Outrun
- Marble Madness
- Lemmings
- Monkey Island
- can't remember much else (I was tiny)

2. NES (broken, thrown away)
- Gradius
- Battle City
- Double Dragon

3. 486 PC-Dos (given away)
- Wolfenstein
- Doom
- and a bunch of games I can't remember now

4. SNES (broken, still have some games in storage) didn't have a Genesis but visit mate's home to play his
- Final Fantasy IV
- Chrono Trigger
- Final Fantasy VI
- Xenogears

5. Pentium Windows 3.1/95 PC (given away)
- C&C

7. Pentium II Windows 95/98 notebook (stolen)
- Half Life
- Populous
- Red Alert
- Wing Commander IV

6. PS1 (sold)
- Vagrant Story
- Metal Gear Solid
- Valkyrie Profile

8. Dreamcast (in parent's weekend apartment)
- Code Veronica
- Shenmue
- Soul Calibur

9. Pentium III Windows 98 notebook (sold)
- Unreal
- Quake III
- Total Annihilation
- Age of Empires

10. PS2 (in active use)
- MGS2 & MGS3
- Shin Megami Tensei (all of them)
- Final Fantasy XII
- Shadow of the Colossus & ICO
- Disgaea
- Dragon Quest VIII

12. Athlon Windows 2000/XP PC (given away)
- NOLF & NOLF2
- Empire Earth
- Max Payne

13. GameCube (traded-in)
- Wind Waker
- Resident Evil 4

11. GBA (traded-in)
- Gunstar Super Heroes
- Astro Boy
- Minish Cap

14. Pentium 4 Windows XP PC (in storage while using none-gaming notebook)
- Max Payne 2
- Quake IV
- FEAR
- C&C Generals

15. Nintendo DS & DS Lite (in active use)
- Animal Crossing: WW
- Gyakuten Saiban series
- NSMB
- Final Fantasy III
- Ouendan!

16. Nintendo Wii (very dusty)
- Super Mario Galaxy

17. PSP (in active use)
- LocoRoco
- Jeanne d'Arc
- Disgaea
- MGS: PO
- WipEout Pulse

 

[BitchTits]

Just a list of platforms:

Atari 2600
ZX Spectrum
Master System
Mega Drive
Amiga
Gameboy
SNES
Neo Geo CD
Saturn
PSX
DC
Gamecube
GBA
PS2
DS
XBOX360
PSP
WII

My favourites have been the Sega consoles oddly enough, especially Mega Drive and Saturn - I didn't get a PS1 till very late in it's life, and loved the Saturn's great catalogue of titles. Same goes for DC and PS2, DC was my main gaming avenue for a time. Nice playing catchup on PS2 with it's great back catalogue, lots of cheap games - PS3 looks like it might be a similar experience for me.

 

[WrikaWrek]

MegaDrive - Best times. MK, Sonic, whatever, we would be playing MegaDrive in friends houses all the time.

Sega Saturn - I bought like 2 games for it. Crap console to me.

Playstation 1 - I wasn't to big on gaming. I had the console, but heh, then i played FF8 and MGS1, it was worth it.

Playstation 2 - Awesome console, best console ever, more games than you can shake a stick at, and some of the most spectacular ever too. I want a Re-Run :lol

Gamecube - Well, for a 100$, it had one of the best games ever and a remake of my favorite game of all time. It was worth it.

Xbox - Meh, big bulky, alot of pretty effects coming out, but all that really struck me was KOTOR, Halos, Ninja Gaiden and the graphics of Conker. It was a solid platform, had some good games.

Xbox 360 - Major improvement over Xbox 1, i was completely drawn into Xbox live, the quality of the offerings are above what i saw on Xbox 1, i've been loving it, even though it has RROD on me, something that had never happened with any other console.

Wii - It's different, but no different enough yet. Still, some quality and unique gaming to be had here, and i'm glad i bought it.

Playstation 3 - What a disappointment, after the Ps2, i had a hard on for this one, super graphics and the games from PS2? Omg let's go baby. Meh, has been the weakest system so far this gen, nothing really grabs me. PSN works much better than it ever did on the PS2 though, so that's nice. It's going to get better i'm sure, looks like a great year, but it has lost alot for other consoles on my book. Still, it's probably where i spend the most time because of pro evolution, which can only be played on a PS controller.

 

[Evander]

I was born with a serial port.

True story.

 

[stuminus3]

I'm going to completely fuck with the format the OP put in place... ;-p

Earliest gaming memories I can recall involve Space Invaders, Donkey Kong and Pac Man arcade machines. Even when my parents wouldn't give me 10p to play a game, I could stand for hours watching the attract screens. For "home" gaming my most vivid first memory would be playing the Commodore Vic-20 version of Omega Race in the electronics section of Goldbergs (an old Scottish department store that doesn't exist anymore), which was awesome. My parents bought me one for Christmas soon afterwards. Good times. Also of course I played on various Atari 2600 and Pong machines owned by friends and family, never owned my own of those.

I haven't necessarily owned everything since then, but I think I may have played everything... if there's ever been a big game out there on a system I haven't owned, I've played it elsewhere, on friend's systems or a later port and suchlike. For example, I never owned an Xbox, but I've played just about every game for the system on PC (it's amazing, the number of Xbox games that were also released on PC), PS2, GC, or for the odd handful of games that didn't appear elsewhere, I've caught up on my 360 through BC.

I was all about home computers in the 1980s and early 90's... as were many if not most gamers from Europe. I also owned a ZX Spectrum, some great memories of the ol' Speccy. Also had an Atari ST (Discovery Pack FTW!). The Wii actually reminds me a whole lot of the 1980s home computer days, that whole experimental, not always successful, sometimes brilliant phase. I also played a lot of crappy LCD games, from Game & Watch (I used to be able to "beat" the G&W Donkey Kong... getting a higher score than the system could display, which reset it back to 0) to those cheapy crap things you got at flea markets.

The first console I actually owned was a Sega Master System. Looking forward to seeing some of these games on the VC. From there it was Game Boy and NES, Nintendo never really did take off in Europe like it did in North America but from the release of the Game Boy onwards I became a huge fan... I already loved Super Mario Bros. (and had played so many ports of the original Mario Bros and Donkey Kong games it's not even funny), but the Game Boy really turned me into a big Nintendo fan(boy).

From there I followed a Nintendo path as far as ownership goes, picking up a SNES, N64, Gamecube, all 3 models of GBA, and of course a Wii and DS. I lived with a friend of mine during the entire Playstation era, so I didn't own my own, I just played everything on his, though we both bought our own individual Dreamcast systems. It was a good idea at the time. I picked up my own PS2 when I moved to Canada a few years ago, I couldn't not, it's a contender for one of my favourite systems ever. No PS3 for me yet. Maybe next year.

Also as mentioned I didn't own an Xbox, but I do have a 360 with an enormous collection of games both from retail and XBLA (which is awesome).

I've also been a big PC gamer since the "death" of the 80's home computers... I own literally hundreds of PC games that I've collected over the last 15-20 years. Dramatically lost interest in it in the last couple of years, but I think that's less about the games and more that I don't have the time or money to be a hardware enthusiast anymore. PC gamers stick their noses up at them, but there's a real wealth of console and arcade ports on PC... there are tons of games I didn't pick up for the GC or PS2 because there were vastly superior versions available on PC, even though PC gamers hated them.

I'm starting to realise that it's OK to miss out on some games... from the day I left high school to the day I got married I had plenty of disposable income to keep up to date, but I'm married with a family now, I'm more and more finding that I'm spending money on games just to own them, since I don't really have the time to play them. That's fine, y'know, rather have the family than the games. Been a hell of a 30 years of gaming to get me here, though.

 

[speedpop]

Game Boy - Keeping handheld gaming alive like it was 1989!

 

[radjago]

In order of purchase/ownership.

Atari 2600
TI-99/4A
Commodore 64
Amiga A500
Sega Master System
Sega Genesis
Sega Game Gear
Super Nintendo
Nintendo Entertainment System
Turbo Grafix 16
Sega CD
486 PC
Sega Saturn
Nintendo 64
Pentium 1-4 PC
Gamecube
Gameboy Advance SP
Xbox
Dreamcast
Playstation 2
Xbox 360
Playstation
Nintendo DS

 

[DeadGzuz]

Sega Master System
PS2
Xbox
Xbox 360
PS3
PSP

Mostly a PC gamer up until the last few years.

I have no love for Mario or any of those characters so I never cared for Nintendo systems, no matter what the fad is. I did own a N64 for about two weeks.

 

[BobTheFork]

it goes something like this:

Nintendo
Nintendo
Nintendo
Nintendo
Nintendo
Nintendo
Soul Reaver
PlayStation
PlayStation
PlayStation
PlayStation
PlayStation
PlayStation
PlayStation

 

[kswiston]

I'm not going to estimate percentage of time spent on each console, because I really have no clue. My main consoles each generation were 1) NES, 2) Genesis, 3) PS1, 4) PS2. So far the 360 has been getting the most love this gen, but that can easily change. PS1/PS2 were by far the most played since they were my consoles of choice during my gaming peak. I've also been PC gaming off and on since 1995 and owned a C64 in the late 80s.

Anyhow:

NES (1991-1994)
The NES was my first system, given to me on my 9th birthday. Prior to it, all my gaming was done on a C64. While I got the system fairly late, I still managed to play quite of few of the greats.
Favourite Games: Castlevania III, SMB3, Kirby's Adventure

Genesis (1994-1995, 1999-current)
Given to me on my 12th birthday (also the last time someone has purchased me a system). Again I got the genesis late, which is reflected in the fact that I only had it for a year and a half. I started to really get into gaming around the time I got my genesis. While I didn't have many games (didn't have money at 12), I rented one every week or two. Re-bought the system in late highschool.
Favourite Games: Sonic 2, Shining Force 2, Mortal Kombat II

32X (1995)
Blegh. Being a kid, I was stupid. Bought this shortly after christmas. Only had one game for it and only rented a couple others. Sold along with my Genesis for a Saturn.
Favourite Games: Doom (didn't have a PC until later in the year)

Saturn (1995-1998, 1999-current)
Was super-hyped for the Saturn. The system was close to $600 Canadian with taxes, and I saved up every penny myself. Loved it at the time, but eventually sold it a couple years later when my first PS1 died and needed replacement (Saturn was just about dead by this point). Realized my mistake pretty quickly.
Favourite games: Dragon Force, Panzer Dragoon Zwei, Virtua Fighter 2

PS1 (1996-2001)
Being a former Sega Fanboy, I hated the PS1 for awhile, but eventually came around. A great system. Gave it away when I got my PS2 (though I still still play PS1 games on my PS2)
Favourite Games: Suikoden II, Final Fantasy Tactics, Metal Gear Solid, many more

Gameboy Pocket (1998-current)
Pokemon machine. Only ever owned Pokemon Blue
Favourite games: Pokemon Blue

SNES (1999-current)
Finally picked up the SNES in late highschool. Glad I eventually got to experience it because there are some great games.
Favourite Games: Final Fantasy III/VI, E.V.O., Chrono Trigger

PS2 (2001-current)
Bought when Final Fantasy X came out and never looked back.
Favourite Games: Metal Gear Solid 3, Disgaea, Final Fantasy XII, many more

Dreamcast (2002?-current)
Picked up with about a dozen games for $90 from a friend. Awesome system.
Favourite Games: MvsC2, Soul Calibur, Street Fighter Alpha 3

Gamecube (2003-2007)
Purchased for Nintendo.... And eventually RE4. Gave away when I got my Wii.
Facourite Games: RE4, SSBM, Pikmin 1/2

N64 (2006-current)
My siblings always had an N64, so never felt the need to own one in the past, but finally broke down and picked the system up just over a year ago.
Favourite Games: Mario 64, Ogre Battle 64, Paper Mario

Nintendo DS (May 2007 - current)
I did a fair bit of traveling to central and south america last year, and wanted something to keep me occupied on long flights and layovers. Awesome system. Now have 20 games.
Favourite games: Puzzle Quest, Trauma Centre, Mario Kart: DS

Wii (early-October 2007 - current)
Saw one in store for the first time ever. Bought it.
Favourite Games: Super Mario Galaxy, Virtual Console (have other games, but haven't devoted proper attention to them yet)

360 (mid-October 2007 - current)
My brother bought a 360 Premium in late August. A month and a half later he decided that he wanted one of the models with HDMI output. Sold me his for $200 CDN barely used. He's an idiot.
Favourite Games: Mass Effect, Oblivion (better on PC though), Bioshock

 

[cicerone]

Famicom
MSX
Super Famicom
Game Boy
PC-9801 (played amateur games)
Nintendo 64
PlayStation
WonderSwan
NeoGeo Pocket
Sega Saturn (super cheap used)
Dreamcast (Shenmue, Shenmue, Shenmue)
PlayStation 2
Xbox (regretted having bought)
Nintendo DS (sold)
Xbox 360 (current main console)

 

[bob_arctor]

Vectrex
Atari 2600
ADAM computer
NES
Genesis
SNES
Playstation
Saturn
Dreamcast
Xbox
PS2
360

Handhelds:

GBA Advance
DS Lite
PSP Slim

Didn't really get into portables until semi-recently.

 

[Threi]

NES - 5%
Pretty much all Mario 3


SNES - 10%
Had a bunch of games, some got stolen,

Spoiler

some were stolen

, but i was a stupid kid back then so lol.

Most played game: Because of current events it will be Super Mario World, but back in the day it was Zelda:ALLTP


PS1 40%
My most played system by FAR. I have like 10980392483098 games for it, but the most played (and favorite) game is Chrono Cross.


PC 35%
Opted for this instead of a PS2/GCN/Dreamcast/XBOX (I had actually been really close to buying ALL of these at one point during that gen). No regrets, especially seeing as the current gen is trying to do things PC's did a while ago.

Most played games: Obviously Counter Strike. Ragnarok Online, Unreal Tournament, Halo 1 PC, Trackmania, and Live For Speed are runners up.


Wii 10%
My favorite technical console (yah, even more than my uber PC), The Wii alone pulled me back into gaming when i was on the brink of quitting gaming permanently. New, so i can't say for sure how much it will affect my gaming time in the future, but currently my favorite and most played game is Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

 

[MrPing1000]

Hmm lets see. I got a snes when I was around 6-8 (not entirely sure, maybe 9).

N64 at uk launch, gamecube at uk launch, wii at uk launch. PS2 about 3.5 years after release, basically my PES player but I have mgs2 (haven't played it) and Bully (didn't finish, will double dip Wii version) Despite this my tastes in gaming have shifted to PC almost entirely, got my first pc when I was 11, been tweaking and building my own ever since.

 

[MaizeRage25]

SNES:
- TMNT Turtles in Time
- Donkey Kong Country
- NHL Ninety Something
- Street Fighter

Nintendo 64:
- Goldeneye 64
- Perfect Dark
- Banjo-Kazooie
- World Driver Championship

PS2:
- GTA (III, VC, SA)
- Gran Turismo
- Guitar Hero
- MGS

Xbox 360:
- Gears of War
- Crackdown
- Halo 3
- COD4
- Forza 2
- Mass Effect
- Bioshock
- Orange Box
- Burnout Paradise
- Rock Band

 

[Kirk]

Intellivision

3 %

AD&D Treasure of Tarmin
Space Spartans
Beauty and the Beast

NES

15%

Marios & Zeldas
Final Fantasy
Metroid, Guardian Legend, Faxanadu, Super Dodgeball
Lots of game renting in those days

Gameboy / Gameboy Color

5%

Tetris
Dragon Warrior 3
Metroid 2

SNES

15%

Marios & Zelda
Final Fantasies
Super Metroid
Street Fighter 2
NHL Hockey
Secret of Mana
Mario Kart

Gameboy Advance

5%

Advance Wars
Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission
Zelda Minish Cap
Castlevanias

N64

10%

Lots of multiplayer, but missed out on part of the action

Goldeneye, Perfect Dark
Turok
Mario, Zelda
Smash Bros

Playstation

5%

Pretty small presence

Final Fantasies
Tomb Raider
Castlevania Symphony of the Night

Dreamcast

2%

Never had one, but played Soul Calibur for countless hours on my friend's

Playstation 2

8%

Final Fantasies
Dragon Quest 8

Gamecube

12%

Zelda
Mario
Metroid
4 player games like Smash Bros, Double Dash, Tennis, Crystal Chronicles

DS

8%

Fairly heavy use now

Ouendan 1&2
Castlevanias
New Super Mario Bros
Advance Wars

Wii

7%

Relatively heavy use now

Mario
Zelda
Metroid
Wii Sports / Play

PS3

3%

Still haven't bought any games, but it gets heavy use as a media player. Also used for downloadable games.

PSP

2%

No games bought (although getting some soon) although I do use it for downloaded Symphony of the Night plus media playback.

 

[Blimblim]

I had a rather atypical gaming history since our neighbor worked for Philips and could get us stuff at a very bargain price.
- Videopac (Odyssey in the US I think, 2 years)
- Videopac+ (1 year)
- VG5000 (I bet very few people know that one, 1 year)
- MSX1 (2 years)
- MSX2 (4 years)
- PCs (7 years)
- Dreamcast (1 year)
- Xbox (3 years)
- GC (1 year)
- PS (1 year)
- Xbox 360 / PS3 / Wii as soon as they launched.

 

[ziran]

Not sure about %, too abstract a figure to come up with, and dates are vague, but I started gaming in the late 70s with the following chronology.

Machine with Pong (not sure what it was called) - Crap, hated it.

Space Invaders handheld - Loved it.

Vic 20 - Great system.
Some of the best games:
Pac-Man
Gorf
Jet Pack
Snake

C64 - Very good system, many great games.
Some of the best games:
Bounder
Way of the Exploding Fist
Archon
Summer Games

BBC B - Excellent system, loads of great games.
Some of the best games:
Elite
Labyrinth
Zalaga
Frak!

Atari 800XL - Excellent system, loads of great games.
Some of the best games:
Dropzone
Rescue on Fractalus
The Goonies

Amiga - Terrible system, a waste of space, only good game was Marble Madness.

Atari ST - Rubbish, hated it.

Megadrive - Great system.
Some of the best games:
Ghouls & Ghosts
Monaco GP
Super Shinobi
Mickey Mouse Castle of Illusion

SNES - Amazing system, arguably the greatest ever.
Some of the best games:
Super Mario World
Yoshi's Island
Link to the Past
Super Metroid
Super Mario Kart

PC Engine - Great system, loads of fun games.
Some of the best games:
Final Match Tennis (Still the finest tennis game ever made)
Gunhed
Ordyne
Splatterhouse

Gameboy/Color - Amazing system, loads of great games.
Some of the best games:
Super Mario Land
Link's Awakening
Tetris
Pokémon RPGs

Saturn - Great system, loads of fun games.
Some of the best games:
Street Figher Alpha 2
Virtua Fighter 2
Vampire Saviour
Sega Rally

PS1 - Great system, loads of fun games.
Some of the best games:
Gran Turismo
FF7
Grandia
Resident Evil 2

N64 - Great system, loads of great games.
Some of the best games:
Super Mario 64
Ocarina of Time
Wave Race 64
Pilotwings 64
Paper Mario

GBA - Great system, but not as good as the GB/C.
Some of the best games:
Mario Kart Super Circuit
Advance Wars
Fire Emblem
Pokémon RPGs

Dreamcast - Average system, saved by the Capcom 2D fighters.
Some of the best games:
Capcom 2D fighters
Shenmue

PS2 - Disappointing system, only a few decent games:
Gran Turismo 3
Dragon Quest 8

GC - Disappointing system, only a few decent titles.
Some of the best games:
Metroid Prime 3
Animal Crossing
Pikmin
Paper Mario 2
Fire Emblem PoR

Xbox - Terrible system, disliked it.

NDS - Amazing system, probably the best ever.
Some of the best games:
Nintendogs
Animal Crossing
Mario Kart DS
NSMB
Phantom Hourglass

PSP - Terrible system, disliked it so much I sold it (which I haven't done since I started working, i.e. SNES gen).

360 - Terrible system, borrowed from a friend last month with the intention to buy, glad I didn't.

Wii - Already an amazing system, with the potential to be the best ever.
Some of the best games:
Wii Sports
Twilight Princess
Super Mario Galaxy
Metroid Prime 3

PS3 - Considering as a secondary system, but everything I've played so far is crap. Maybe a purchase when GT5 comes out.

 

[Moostache]

Pong - can't have a 'favorite' because Pong was all it played...
TI-99 - favorite game = really cheesy football game
Atari 2600 - Asteroids / Pitfall
Intellivision - D&D
Colecovision - Donkey Kong
Vic-20 - don't recall
Comodore 64 - Summer Games and Winter Games
N.E.S. - Super Mario Bros. / Double Dribble / Blades of Steel / Metal Gear
Sega Genesis - Sonic / Madden / NHL '94
Playstation 1 - NFL Gameday / NCAA Gamebreaker / Tomb Raider 1 and 2 / Syphon Filter / Resident Evil 3
Playstation 2 - Madden / God of War / Resident Evil 4
X-Box - Halo / Max Payne / Splinter Cell
X-Box 360 - BF2:MC / GRAW / Halo 3 / COD4
Playstation 3 - Uncharted

I played games on just about all other unlisted consoles and many PC rigs, but this was my purchase history for the most part....

 

[Prince8]

PC (25%)
Well, started with the PC, and I'll probably end with it as well

Top Games:
- Duke Nukem
- Age of Empires
- Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
- Call of Duty 2
- Call of Duty 4

Lynx (5%)
Awesome handheld, fack the GB/GBC

Top Games:
- Dirty Larry: Renegade Cop (this was so awesome)
- Batman Returns
- Gauntlet: The Third Encounter
- Shadow of the Beast (crazy stuff)

Playstation (20%)
The day I discovered Bushido Blade, my life changed

Top Games:
- Bushido Blade (best fighter ever)
- Tenchu 2
- Siphon Filter

Xbox (25%)
Best game ever released on this very platform (NG:B)

Top Games:
- Ninja Gaiden
- Ninja Gaiden: Black (best game in the history of gaming)
- DOA3
- Fable
- Max Payne

Playstation 2 (5%)
Lttp

Top Games:
- Shadow of the Colossus (wow, just wow)
- God of War
- God of War 2
- Resident Evil 4

Xbox 360 (15%)
Xbox live <3

Top Games:
- Gears of War (still my favorite online game)
- Bioshock (goty 2007)
- Oblivion
- Condemned
PSP (5%)
Wasted my money on this

Top Games:
- Gundam Battle Tactics
- Gundam Battle Royale

 

[Pharmacy]

ill rate them on the ballin scale

Megadrive

Streets of rage, Sonic, Nutz, BAAAAAALLIN

Sega saturn

virtual on, nights, panzer dragoon, marvel vs xmen BAAAAAAAAAALLIN

PS1

tekken and final fantasy games BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLIN

PS2

GTA3, burnout and final fantasy again BAAAAALIN

PS3

tons of shit this time round BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLIN

 

[womfalcs3]

NES
SNES
Genesis (Also bought a Mega Drive)
GameBoy
Some JVC system that played Genesis cartridges and SEGA CD
GameBoy Color
Game Gear
PS1
PS2
PS3
Xbox
PSP

 

[[Nintex]]

NES(loved it during my childhood even when some of my friends got a SNES I was still hooked to the NES. Mega Man, Mario, Double Dragon II, RC-Pro Am)

PC(after NES and Lego I grew up with Voodoo, Geforce and Theme Park, Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Worms, Quake, Half Life, Command & Conquer, Red Alert, Starcraft, Warcraft etc.)

GBA(Bought the GBA with a couple of games, Advance Wars was godly Metroid was amazing and so were Zelda and many other games.)

Gamecube(My brother bought it with Mario Kart and Smash Bros. he sold it to me and bought a PS2. Smash Bros. Melee, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, Metroid Prime, F-Zero GX, Zelda Wind Waker, Soul Calibur II etc. turned me into a console gamer)

DS(Awesome, 3D gaming on a handheld and being able to play GBA games with a proper screen without buying the GBA SP or Micro)

DS Lite(Gift from my parents when I finished high school(well, I did another 2 years on a higher level of education) New Super Mario Bros., Kirby's Canvas Curse, Advance Wars: Dark Conflict, so many great DS games)

Nintendo Wii(Zelda TP is the best Zelda game ever and the Gamecube version released a few weeks later in PAL Land... WiiSports was awesome as well and a new "awesome" looking Sonic, Mario, Metroid, Smash Bros. game? The Wii is already amazing with the Virtual Console and Metroid Prime 3, Mario Galaxy, Zelda TP, Zack & Wiki, Excite Truck!! I can't wait to see the next wave of amazing Nintendo games this GDC/E3)

Xbox 360(Nintendo summer drought due to Super Paper Mario PAL delay and I had some cash to burn. Bought the Xbox... broke down... got a new one.... broke down again.... I finally have a working machine and DMC4, COD4, PGR4, DOA4, Bioshock, Forza 2, Halo 3 are all amazing)

 

[disappeared]

ill rate them on the ballin scale

Megadrive

Streets of rage, Sonic, Nutz, BAAAAAALLIN

Sega saturn

virtual on, nights, panzer dragoon, marvel vs xmen BAAAAAAAAAALLIN

PS1

tekken and final fantasy games BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLIN

PS2

GTA3, burnout and final fantasy again BAAAAALIN

PS3

tons of shit this time round BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLIN

I laughed out loud and don't quite know why. :lol

 

[Dilbert]

Computers owned on which I played games (solo or family systems):

TRS-80 Model I (cassette tape only)
IBM PCjr (non-chiclet keyboard)
PC (80286)
PC (Pentium)
PC (Athlon 64/Radeon X800 XT) gaming PC
MacBook Pro (Core Duo)

Game consoles owned (solo or family systems):

Sega Master System
Sega Genesis
Sony PlayStation
Sony PlayStation 2
Nintendo Gameboy SP (and SP+)
Sony PlayStation Portable (original and slim)

Other gaming systems played over the years:

IBM PC XT
IBM PC AT
Amiga
Atari 2600
Intellivision
Xbox

---

Out of all of that, I think my favorite time for gaming was the IBM PCjr phase, which coincided with the golden age of Electronic Arts. The PCjr had better graphics/sound than the regular PCs of the day, so it got most of the C64 ports, but with better performance. PS2 would have to be a close second.

 

[Melchiah]

Commodore 64
Racing Destruction Set
Archon I-II
Nemesis the Warlock
How to be a Complete Bastard
School Daze
Xevious
Sanxion

Amiga 500
Stunt Car Racer
Double Dragon II
Barbarian II
Shadow of the Beast
Battle Squadron
Xenon 2: Megablast
Lurking Horror

PC
Doom
Blood 2: The Chosen
Unreal
Half-Life

PlayStation
Silent Hill
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Resident Evil 1-3
Final Fantasy VII-IX
Tomb Raider I-II
Wipeout 2097

PS2
Silent Hill 2-3
Shadow of Memories
Resident Evil - Code Veronica & 4
Soul Reaver 2
Final Fantasy X & X2
Project Zero
Forbidden Siren
SSX

PC
Unreal Tournament & UT2003
Warcraft III
Doom 3
Max Payne 1-2
Painkiller

PS3
Resistance: Fall of Man
Rathet & Clank: tools of Destruction
MotorStorm

 

[FordStang]

Dear Journal....

 

[genjiZERO]

Atari - wasn't mine, but my friends. I thought it was the dumbest dullest thing I ever did. Too hard!

NES - SMB was the first game I played for it (like everyone else). I really really sucked at it. I would moves my hands up and down to make Mario move in that direction (I personally believe this phenomenon was the inspiration for the Wii). I remember the first time I played it that I couldn't even make it past the first goomba. That quickly changed though and I got pretty good quick. But I didn't own a NES and had to play it at my mates houses. My parents refused to buy us one so my younger brother and myself saved up for it and bought one. My favourite games were: Mario 1 and 3, Zelda, Ninja Gaiden 2, TNMT 1 and 2, Contra, Genghis Khan, and Final Fantasy

SNES - My mum won one some how at a toy store. I played mainly 2D platformers and RPGs. My favourite games were: Mario World, Zelda 3, Genghis Khan 2, Donkey Kong 1 and 2, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 4 and 6. (and I'm sure theres more but I'm having memory loss!)

Playstation - I made the leap from Nintendo to Sony for no other reason than Final Fantasy 7 was going to be on PS. PS era of gaming is probably overall my favourite all time - maybe because Square was in a Golden Age. I started to get into 3D fighers at this time too. A snippet of my favorite games were: Final Fantasy 7, 8 and Tactics, Einhander, Tekken 3, Parasite Eve, Tomb Raider 1, SoTN, Vagrant Story...

N64 - I bought it specifically for GoldenEye. Everything else on it (even OoT which I thought was a bastardisation of the Zelda series) bored me to tears. GoldenEye came out in my first year of university. Every Thursday night in the dorms we would drink 40oz's and have 4 on 4 tournaments. Good god it was fun! We never called it "Goldeneye" - but simply "Bond". Also we exclusively played one-hit kills - and to this day I have never played it any other way. I didn't really like Perfect Dark because one-hit kills didn't really work in the game...

Dreamcast - I really just bought it because of Soul Calibur and Chu Chu rockets... never really bought a lot of games for it. I was more interested in PS2

Playstation 2 - This is when gaming started to lose its lustre for me. I say this even though I own over 70 PS2 games and loved the shit out of them. Part of the reason I think is that as the PS2 era went on (1) it started to become increasingly more difficult to get quirky Japanese games - and there was a push for Western-style games (which, except for a few games never really interested me), (2) games started to feel "dumbed-down", (3) 2D platformers were completely replaced by 3D action games, and (4) Square for the most part was bollocks. That being said some of the greatest games ever were on PS2... A snippet of my favorite games were Final Fantasy X, Ico, SoTC, Gitaroo Man, REZ, Klonoa, Okami, Tenchu 3, MGS3, Virtua Fighter 4, Tekken TT, DDR MAX1 and 2, Guitar Hero 1 and 2, Xenosaga 1, dotHack...

Gamecube - I bought it because I was really impressed with Mario Sunshine and I had the money to blow. GC was an OK system, but nothing great. The best game for it was Mario Kart DD.

XBOX - Originally I was afraid of MS entering the console industry - you know the whole monopoly thing and stifling creativity. Ultimately I still think the industry would be better if MS focused on software and middleware - I don't really think MS competition has brought about more creativity in the industry - in fact, quite the opposite I think MS competition has brought about the stream-lined sure-bet sequel trend that we're currently in. I also think their 4-year cycle is bad for consumers. That being said I bought an XBOX (used) specifically for Halo and Halo 2 - which I think is the best console-oriented competitive FPS since GoldenEye and the best Co-Op game since Contra. Nothing else on it really interested me.

Playstation 3 - Had had intended on skipping this generation all-together. The end of the PS2 era left me dismayed and bored. The dominance of Japanese developers in the West was over - bald space marines and guns, guns and more guns were everywhere. Even worse, the few Japanese games there were were tailored specifically for the Western market. Even Final Fantasy 12 bored me... XBOX360 was the baddest thing on the market - but I wasn't socialised on Western games... I can only deal with them in doses (people like to criticise me for this; I am not saying they are bad or inferior in quality! I am just saying that, generally, they are not my tastes and nothing more). But the videos of MGS4, Final Fantasy 13 and LittleBigPlanet exude creativity. They made me giddy for games. They made me think that disavowing the current generation was pre-mature. Then there was a price drop on the PS3 and a rumour that Sony was going to phase out the 60gig model and that the new ones would have software emulation. My logic was this: (1) the blu-ray lasers in the first-gen PS3 were probably the highest quality (because they were the same that was in the $1000 players) that would ever be, (2) hardware emulation > software emulation and (3) the 'perks' - USB and memory card slots would probably be phased out - so now was the time to get a PS3; this was the best 'deal' I could get a PS3 at for many years to come. So I did. I think the best thing about the PS3 is all the "central hub" things it can do and the interface. The only games I own are Resistance (which I'll say is as good as Halo), Oblivion (which is crack... but I still like JRPGs better) and RockBand (which is better than Guitar Hero could ever dream of being). PSN still needs a lot of work (why they don't use a variation of the XMB I don't know). Unfortunately though there aren't any games that look interesting for a while to come... but that's OK because I don't have time for playing games anyway! Ultimately I know I won't support, and won't enjoy, this generation like I did previous ones. The same trends of the last one will still continue: fewer Japanese oriented games, fewer games that use your brain in a constructive way, continued trend of explosions, guns and visuals over gameplay. But I'm also sure that with the processing power of the current machine more games with genuine artistic merit (I do think previously Ico, SotC and REZ represent high art in gaming) will be able to be produced - simply because more power = fewer conceptual limitations.

 

[Cedeo]

I hate these list threads, whats the point, I can't see how anyone would get any enjoyment from reading genreally the same thing over & over again.