• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

owning multiple consoles is insanity to me

F

FloatOn

Member
So I picked up a PS3 to play GTA 5 because I didn't want to wait for it on PC. Beat that and now it's collecting dust. Bought a N3DS to play monster hunter 4. Played that and Link Between Worlds. Now that's collecting dust as well. So here I have two barely used platforms and I just can't bring myself to use them due to how many games I have siting on my steam account.

I get lured in to playing a few games on other platforms but then it all becomes rather pointless and ridiculous to me to spread my time between them. I mean, I'd love to play Bloodborne and all of the Wii U first party stuff but if the experiences above have taught me anything I just don't have the time for it right now.

How do you manage it if you do the multi-console thing?

I guess I'm just struggling to understand the enthusiast mentality.
 
L

lazygecko

Member
Buying a console just for a few specific games has never been worth it for me. I just stopped buying consoles altogether 10 years ago.
 
D

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
You play games on them. Specifically exclusive games. I have a hand full of games for my PC, PS4, and XBO. Currently playing Metal Gear on PS4, Witcher on PC, and Chief Collection on XBO.
 
H

hwy_61

Banned
I don't want to miss out on anything exclusive to any console. That justifies owning all three for me.
 
R

rpcdrag0n

Member
I tend to have a preferred platform (usually due to the pad) and then use the others for exclusives or free stuffs (like ps+ games).
 
J

jadjei

Member
It's really hard honestly. I have been ignoring my 3DS for months in order to play my psvita and PC :(.

It's probably because of building a huge backlog of games.
 
F

FloatOn

Member
I guess I'm just making peace with the idea that I don't HAVE to play everything now.

I just don't have the time and I wonder how some of you do.
 
D

Dysun

Member
Gaming is my favorite hobby and the price of consoles are low enough to justify buying one of everything so I won't miss any games
Worth it
 
T

TheSpoiler

Member
RealityExists said:
I guess I'm just making peace with the idea that I don't HAVE to play everything now.

I just don't have the time and I wonder how some of you do.
Click to expand...

Time management.

Edit: I've beat pretty much everything I've owned while still holding a full time job, attending to a goofy puppy, giving attention to my girlfriend, running a big project as a hobby, and still maintaining a social life. Ya just gotta juggle it right, especially when it comes to enjoying what you buy and not working it out as a chore.
 
S

Sir_Crocodile

Member
RealityExists said:
So I picked up a PS3 to play GTA 5 because I didn't want to wait for it on PC. Beat that and now it's collecting dust. Bought a N3DS to play monster hunter 4. Played that and Link Between Worlds. Now that's collecting dust as well. So here I have two barely used platforms and I just can't bring myself to use them due to how many games I have siting on my steam account.

I get lured in to playing a few games on other platforms but then it all becomes rather pointless and ridiculous to me to spread my time between them. I mean, I'd love to play Bloodborne and all of the Wii U first party stuff but if the experiences above have taught me anything I just don't have the time for it right now.

How do you manage it if you do the multi-console thing?

I guess I'm just struggling to understand the enthusiast mentality.
Click to expand...

I commute, so I have tons of time to spend with my n3ds, vita & pandora.

I do struggle to give enough to my home consoles though. Just too tired in the evenings and too busy on the weekends. Every now and then I'll book off a day from work to devote to gaming - did this for the new grandia 2 release the other day. But holidays are precious so I can't do this that often.
 
O

Omnistalgic

Member
Ps4 and 3DS is all I need for the rest of the Gen. Don't have time to play every single game the media says is good. Plus I feel what I'm missing out on with those two platforms is very very limited. Only plan on getting a cheap WiiU later on.
 
O

OnionPowder

Member
I'll go a few months without certain consoles, but then I get the itch and I'm on them nonstop. I didn't touch my Vita for a good 3 months then I went on a kick for a month of playing it everyday. Gives you variety whenever you want it. If you have expendable income why not go for multiple consoles.
 
S

Storm Raider

Banned
I own all 3 and a maxed out iMac and I never have time to play all games.

Wish I just had 1 console to be honest, I feel guilty not playing all these good games... Especially on my Wii U.

Edit: also have both handhelds... Yep, never touch them.
 
B

Benzychenz

Member
I love owning multiple consoles because I can play whatever game I want.

I've recently played Dragon Quest 4 and 5 on DS, Nier and Ratchet & Clank: Nexus on PS3, Splatoon and Yoshi's Woolly World on Wii U, and am in the middle of The Last of Us (PS3), The World Ends With You (DS), and Persona 4 Golden (Vita) right now.

I haven't touched my 3DS in months but who cares? I'm really looking forward to Yokai Watch and Fire Emblem Fates, and I've got Persona Q in my backlog which I'm looking forward to. I'd hate to not be able to play those.

My backlog is giant which is how I like it. It's a library I can pick and choose from depending on my mood.
 
Z

ZeroX03

Banned
hwy_61 said:
I don't want to miss out on anything exclusive to any console. That justifies owning all three for me.
Click to expand...

Same here. Add 3DS, Vita, iOS, Android and PC to the equation too. I'm not missing out on anything that isn't a Ouya exclusive.
 
T

TimorousPanda

Member
I want to play the exclusives on each system.

If that (when combined with third party releases) isn't enough for you, then you probably shouldn't have made the purchase. It's an expensive mistake to make once, but hopefully it sticks.
 
D

Durante

Member
I used to own all the consoles, basically out of a feeling of not wanting to miss out on anything.

Maybe I got smarter, maybe just older, or maybe its because my favorite genre had such a huge resurgence on PC over the past few years, but now I realize that I don't even have time to play all the great games released on that one platform.
 
V

VanWinkle

Member
I play each of the consoles a ~third of the time I would if I only had one. But this way I get to play all of the exclusives on each. It's an indulgence to be sure, but I'm not putting in three times the gaming time just because I have three consoles.
 
J

jacobeid

Banned
Bayonetta 2
Bloodborne
Scalebound

The Xbox is my media box and I also use it for exclusives. The Wii U is kind of just its own thing but I've gotten a TON of use out of it. PS4 was the main workhorse this gen until just recently when I upgraded my PC.

Now all three are essentially exclusive boxes. Enthusiast mentality, sure, but I never have to worry about what console a game is releasing on and at this point in my life the money investment every 6-7 years really isn't that bad.

Draft said:
OP is right, buying multiple consoles is weird. Consoles are the cheap way to get a gaming fix. Buying multiple consoles is so expensive. Instead of spending that much money on a bunch of underpowered boxes, get a PC.
Click to expand...

PC doesn't get every game though.
 
D

Draft

Member
OP is right, buying multiple consoles is weird. Consoles are the cheap way to get a gaming fix. Buying multiple consoles is so expensive. Instead of spending that much money on a bunch of underpowered boxes, get a PC.
 
Daffy Duck

Daffy Duck

Member
I get what you mean, I own a 360, PS3, PS4, XB1 and now a gaming PC.

I think that now I have this PC I can see my consoles getting used very rarely (Black Ops 3 will be bought on PS4) but now I just want to play CS:GO and TF2.

My kids use my 360/XB1 more than I do recently.
 
W

watdaeff4

Member
Have a decent amount of income and play games that I like.

If I didn't have all 3 consoles I would not have enjoyed Halo, Forza Horizon 2, Ori, Gears, Bloodborne, Driveclub, Rocket League, MLB'15, Splatoon, SM3DW, Bayonetta2, Tropical Freeze, MK8, to name some

Well worth it and more to come
 
P

Peltz

Member
LewieP said:
Missing out on Nintendo games seems like insanity to me.
Click to expand...

Quoted for truth. I cannot live without Nintendo. And I also needs my 3rd parties. Thus, I have multiple consoles every generation.

It's really not hard to understand. Different games show up on different hardware.
 
G

gdt

Member
Money isn't that big a deal. I bought a Wii U to play like 5 games on it and I'm good with that.

Obviously if you are tight on money it's a different story.


Edit: I hate the idea of missing out on exclusives I want.
 
kamineko

kamineko

Does his best thinking in the flying car
Sheer insanity! Mental health facilities are stuffed to the gills with polyconsolists!

For some consumers, there is a feature or game that makes the expense worthwhile.

I admit that I do have a hard time getting to my 3ds backlog, but I have fun whenever I pick it up. In that particluar case, I just had to play SMT IV. I couldn't not play it.
 
G

GeordieMark

Member
I like to play games, and I can afford it, so buying multiple consoles isn't a big deal for me. There are games I am interested in on every system, and I want to play as many of them as possible.

If there was a case where there was maybe only one or two games I wanted to play on a console, I might give it a miss, but that would be unusual.

My GF would agree with OP that it makes no sense, but its what I'm interested in and I'm happy to spend my money on them.
 
F

FinalxxSin

Banned
RealityExists said:
So I picked up a PS3 to play GTA 5 because I didn't want to wait for it on PC. Beat that and now it's collecting dust. Bought a N3DS to play monster hunter 4. Played that and Link Between Worlds. Now that's collecting dust as well. So here I have two barely used platforms and I just can't bring myself to use them due to how many games I have siting on my steam account.

I get lured in to playing a few games on other platforms but then it all becomes rather pointless and ridiculous to me to spread my time between them. I mean, I'd love to play Bloodborne and all of the Wii U first party stuff but if the experiences above have taught me anything I just don't have the time for it right now.

How do you manage it if you do the multi-console thing?

I guess I'm just struggling to understand the enthusiast mentality.
Click to expand...
I think the average joe is only going to have enough time/likes to only manage 2 consoles well. A lot of people main PC (because of 60 FPS and etc.), and have a home console as a secondary. In my case, I have PS4 as main and PC as secondary. Then again, I am a bit nitpicky about games, and I normally will buy like 20-35 per generation on the PS consoles. I have the PC for games that I can't play on the PS4 which are normally MMOs.
 
speedomodel

speedomodel

Member
I usually stick with Xbox due to friends play there, but I got a PS4 for free so I use that for the exclusives that interest me. It's been collecting dust for a few months but will seen have a load of new stuff I want. Same thing happened with PS3, got it for free and used it for Uncharted, Infamous and Killzone.
 
O

oni-link

Member
It's unwise to buy a console just for one or two games, unless money is no object to you

I only brought a Wii U in April because it took that long for it's price to fall to where I thought it was good value, and for the library to have enough games I want to play to make it a justifiable purchase

Since then I've used it about 40 hours a month (according to the in game log) and still managed to play though half a dozen PS3 games

It's not insane if you're smart about what you buy, and when you buy it, and for what price
 
V

vareon

Member
Some people do have time and money to own multiple consoles and play the games they want.

Some people don't want to go through the hassle of selling consoles they already bought because maybe there are more games they can play later.

Some people just like owning them.

Many reasons, I guess.
 
J

jacobeid

Banned
FinalxxSin said:
I think the average joe is only going to have enough time/likes to only manage 2 consoles well. A lot of people main PC (because of 60 FPS and etc.), and have a home console as a secondary. In my case, I have PS4 as main and PC as secondary. Then again, I am a bit nitpicky about games, and I normally will buy like 20-35 per generation on the PS consoles. I have the PC for games that I can't play on the PS4 which are normally MMOs.
Click to expand...

Hell, even as an enthusiast, and as an adult, it's hard to manage having more than one console. I tend not to think about it and just play the games that I want to play. My Xbox hasn't seen a game other than Forza Horizon 2 in about 8 months, and yes, for me $400 to play Forza Horizon 2 was worth the price *to me*.
 
A

Azure Phoenix

Member
RealityExists said:
How do you manage it if you do the multi-console thing?

I guess I'm just struggling to understand the enthusiast mentality.
Click to expand...

I buy a console/handheld that has a game that I want to play on it, it's as simple as that. Like, what else are you expecting the answer to be? Nobody is forcing you at gunpoint to play on your 3DS, evidently there isn't anything you absolutely want to play on it currently so why bother that it isn't getting used? I haven't touched my 3DS since Pokemon OR/AS came out and I don't intend to do so again until Fire Emblem Fates, but I don't really care since I got my moneys worth from Fire Emblem Awakening alone.

I mean sure, you're more than welcome to regret buying a system if you don't feel the enjoyment you got out of it was worth the investment, but if you played what you wanted to and feel it was worth the cost to do so, what is the problem?
 
J

JoeM86

Member
For me, I don't have an issue if a console goes unused for a while. It happens. They're not all going to be pushing out content I want every month. It's not insanity, it's just the way things go.
 
F

FloatOn

Member
It's much less about money as it is time. I can understand wanting to have a variety of things to play and not wanting to miss out on exclusives but when one platform offers so much it seems kind of crazy to invest in another.
 
th4tguy

th4tguy

Member
RealityExists said:
So I picked up a PS3 to play GTA 5 because I didn't want to wait for it on PC. Beat that and now it's collecting dust. Bought a N3DS to play monster hunter 4. Played that and Link Between Worlds. Now that's collecting dust as well. So here I have two barely used platforms and I just can't bring myself to use them due to how many games I have siting on my steam account.

I get lured in to playing a few games on other platforms but then it all becomes rather pointless and ridiculous to me to spread my time between them. I mean, I'd love to play Bloodborne and all of the Wii U first party stuff but if the experiences above have taught me anything I just don't have the time for it right now.

How do you manage it if you do the multi-console thing?

I guess I'm just struggling to understand the enthusiast mentality.
Click to expand...

Let me guess, you are primarily playing 1 or 2 games on PC for the majority of your game time? I went through a period in college where all I played was WoW and everything else collected dust. Once I stopped playing WoW, I was able to start playing all of the other things I had that was collecting dust up till that point. Lot of PS2 and new 360 games.

I have multiple systems but primarily play just one. The others are there for exclusives which I do play. None collect dust but one gets 90% of my attention. I'm OK with this. I do wait to get the secondary systems when I can get good deals. I haven't gotten an Xbone yet because there hasn't been a game that really needs my purchase yet despite that system having some good sales. Hoping by the time Halo 5 comes out, I'll be able to get the system for $200 like I did my 2nd PS4 (for coop reasons).
 
O

OrbitalBeard

Member
Not owning multiple consoles is insanity to me. I'm passionate about gaming and there is no way I am going to miss out on a future classic because I only own one system.
 
K

kswiston

Member
Owning multiple consoles often means that one or more of them collect dust at times, but over a 5-6 year span, I find that I sink enough hours into each to justify the cost.

That said, I haven't jumped on current gen yet. All 3 consoles are still too expensive for what I feel they currently offer. My PC is there for multiplats and PC exclusives. Other than that, I have been mostly playing 3DS and waiting or price drops on Wii U and PS4.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

I really thought MS would have handled this Activision/COD thing a lot better
2
67
4K
havoc00 replied
I think I'm transitioning into my "old man" stage of gaming.
2 3 4
170
8K
sigmaZ replied
The 3DS is still a killer retro machine in 2024
Opinion 2
68
3K
Hudo replied
How do I get rid of these DAMN controllers??!
2
50
3K
RPS37 replied
GAF, would you help me redesigning my gaming habits?
Opinion
18
678
Jaybe replied
Top Bottom