Binks Is Here

Commentary on the World

My Generation… or Not…

This started as a comment on Hemispheres, in response to this post on his favourite games, etc. from the past year.

I came to the realization that I’m still not sure if I want to participate in this generation… I barely ever touched my Gamecube; I mostly bought it in the first place so that relatives with kids could play with it; or it’d be there so I could have people over and we could use it (but, since I had practically no games, it was up to them to bring some).  On the plus side, that whole Gamecube thing probably only cost me $300 (Gamecube used off ebay, mem cards, 3-4 first party controllers (one of which was a wavebird) and a game or two)

I mean, all the current-gen systems sound cool and all… but I’m thinking that my computer is probably good enough (not the best, but adequate).  And I’m thinking that, if I want to invest in gaming, in two years I’ll buy a new PC and spend the  money I saved by NOT buying a console product.  Let’s take a conservative look at the dollars:

-$250 for the Wii (Cheapest of the three)

-$50ish for an extra wiimote with nunchuck (But, really, with a party system like the Wii, you’re going to want 4 eventually)

-All of that pales when compared to 10 games @ $70/game ($700!!)

= About $1000

That’s an adequately equipped computer, and it’s probably halfway to a good laptop.  Are the computer systems you can buy in that price range as good for gaming as a wii?  Probably not, but I’ll probably put in a lot more hours on a computer than on any other gaming system.  I’d rather pull out my laptop to check the headlines than sort bombombs by colour.

The price of the system only goes up as more games are purchased.  Figure the system lasts for 3 years; 10 games is only 3.3 games/year - Probably most people with a Wii have more games than that, and they’ve only had it for a month or two.  For some people, they’re probably buying 10 games per year; putting the three year cost somewhere around $2400.  That’s a wee bit ‘o coin.

Gaming, at this point, seems to be more of a social thing now than something I do alone.  Sure, I’ll play some solo games now and again, but I don’t seem to have those marathon play sessions I remember from the N64 days; where I could sit in front of the console for hours throughout a day.  (Hey kids! for fun, substitute “Drinking” for “gaming” and “play” and read over the paragraph again… bizarre, eh?)

Besides, I have no room for a TV and flailing - it’s one or the other.