The "Burning Out" cycle

[jp]

Ever since the Xbox, everytime I get a next-gen console I burn out on it long before its lifespan is up.

It happened with the Xbox (sold it) and the Gamecube (sold it), and it looks like its happening to the 360 for me now (not going to sell it, I actually use it for music/DVDs).


And it always starts the same which is really weird. It always begins with Border Down. And it goes from Border Down to Radiant Silvergun. And it goes from that to... well, lots of things. Either I wind up buying a new older console or I just peck away at the Saturn collection. But once I go back to Border Down thats about it for whatever next-gen console(s) I have...

Regardless, I was just sitting here at work... playing Border Down... and it struck me that I hadn't used my 360 for anything other than movies/music for almost a month. I've been playing Tecno Soft games, G.Rev games, and Twinkle Star Sprites.

The sad thing about Border Down though, is that everytime I start to play it I can see 1CCing it. Its like Radiant Silvergun in that aspect, if you play it long enough, then 1CCing is a no brainer. The sad thing is I always wind up moving on after a week, and by that time I'm getting to the 4th boss (sometimes the 5th boss, I can kill level 5 w/ no problems), but then I put it down and don't come back for 4-6 months, and then it starts all over.

I think if I could focus on it for 2 weeks I could 1CC it no problem. But alas...


Anyways, thats my little rant. I'm bored at work, so yeah.

[BIG]

Don't trip man,it happens to us all.

I always end up selling everything I buy weeks later.....

B-

[Rob]

Buy a PS2.

[icycalm]

When I was a young boy I would always sell my old consoles/computers/games to buy the newest stuff that came out. Then one day in the summer of 2001 I realized I missed a lot of my old stuff. Since that day I've never sold anything game-related.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

Buy a PS2.

Yeah, seriously. Cast your hate aside and start playing all the Shmups you've been missing for years.

[EOJ]

Buy a PS2.

Yes. JP, you are really missing out on a ton of great games (harmful park, raiden dx, espgaluda, ibara, homura, mushi, etc.). My PS2, Saturn, and Dreamcast are the three systems I never get sick of, and I doubt I'll ever sell.

[Turrican]

Buy a PS2.

Yeah, seriously. Cast your hate aside and start playing all the Shmups you've been missing for years.

What the others said. Especially because your hatred has no real fundament - it wasn't Sony to "kill" Sega (and I use the term in brackets - games fans could even rejoyce that Sega went back to, well "service games"), Sega went out from the console market by their own hands.

[jp]

I think you guys are not catching what I'm talking about.

I ABANDON the new things I buy, in lieu of the games I've been playing for a decade+.


I don't think buying yet another next-gen console is going to change anything.

[Turrican]

I don't think buying yet another next-gen console is going to change anything.

Except PS2 is not next-gen, and it widens your choice a lot, even if we're just talking hardcore/retro scene.

Jp, how did it end with the PC-Engine? I remember you were going to jump on it, then you had a couple of unlucky deals, right? Still, I cannot see the Duo library disappoint you...

[Turrican]

Oh, and about getting back to your favorite games - it's absolutely normal. Heck, there's a reason why they're your favs, isn't there?

[jp]

I don't think buying yet another next-gen console is going to change anything.

Except PS2 is not next-gen, and it widens your choice a lot, even if we're just talking hardcore/retro scene.

Jp, how did it end with the PC-Engine? I remember you were going to jump on it, then you had a couple of unlucky deals, right? Still, I cannot see the Duo library disappoint you...

I just didn't buy the right games for the PC-Engine. I got a Duo-R... and... for some reason it didn't appeal to me. Sadly, I actually owned Sapphire for a bit, but sold it before I ever got to play it (never got the Arcade Card). I loved Nexzr and liked Rayxanber II, but the other shmups I had were just lame.

I'm going to get back into the PC-Engine Duo R later though. And this time, I'm going to go after the good games first so I get a good impression of it. I'm sure I would have loved it had I stuck with it, but I sold it off because I needed money at the time (for what, I do not recall) and I just wasn't getting into the games for whatever reason. Hell man, I'm ALREADY going back to NEC. I just bought a PC-FX and Zeroigar. With my next paycheck I plan to pick up a couple more games. I imagine I'll try to jump back into the PC-Engine realm sometime over the summer when I'm not getting hammered by school/cost of living financially.

As for me getting a PS2:

OK. I'll get a PS2. So, here is my promise:
The day after I buy a mint condition European copy of Kizuna Encounter for the Neo-geo AES Homecart System... I will buy a PS2.

There.

[Rob]

I ABANDON the new things I buy, in lieu of the games I've been playing for a decade+.

I don't think buying yet another next-gen console is going to change anything.

Maybe because the systems you bought (GC/Xbox/360) don't have much to offer you (or me, for that matter) and are no substitute for a system with a selection larger than the other three combined. Maybe it's time to realize that, or stop buying new games. The GC has pretty much been worthless and I've never been tempted to buy either Xbox (and I've owned about every major system post-NES).

[jp]

I ABANDON the new things I buy, in lieu of the games I've been playing for a decade+.

I don't think buying yet another next-gen console is going to change anything.

Maybe it's time ... to stop buying new games.

Maybe so. There's a lot of stuff I'm looking forward to on the 360 though. But, I feel that I'd probably be much happier if I just invested in the Neo-Geo AES, PC-Engine Duo, PCBs, etc.


Of course, Team Andromeda is spread out on the 360, Treasure has stated support for the 360, and G.Rev is supporting the 360.

I think the 360 is going to wind up being fucking amazing in a year or two for my tastes... but right now, its just Border Down. Good ole Border Down.

[BIG]

As for me getting a PS2:

OK. I'll get a PS2. So, here is my promise:
The day after I buy a mint condition European copy of Kizuna Encounter for the Neo-geo AES Homecart System.. I will buy a PS2.

There.

LOL.

B-

[CIT]

Yeah, I'm selling my Gamecube currently as well. Haven't touched it for a year, since I finished RE4, and the system is basically dead now anyway.

Same thing with my DS. Just catching dust until the next Castlevania comes around.

Still happy with my PS2 though!

[iatneH]

Yeh, I sold my DS. The only system I've ever sold. But I do plan to pick up a DS Lite later on down the road. I kept my two games for it though.

[Dale]

I,m with you guy,s the only thing I use my Gamecube for is playing GBA games on a larger screen.JP the new consoles you mentioned never had much to offer variety wise but with the PS2 your covered on all bases, get it.

[jp]

Once again...


The point of this is that I'm fairly content with what I have, and that I'm starting to view buying "new stuff" as pointless.


I'm not really looking to buy anything new, I'm just sharing the fact that anytime I get something new, I always return to the same 10-20 games until I feel like getting something else thats new.

[neorichieb1971]

I dont have this problem, I can envisage how long my interest will be consumed in a new console by looking at the type and quality of titles on the console on the store shelf/net.

For that very reason I don't buy anything that has less than 10 titles announced/available that I will want to buy.

Of course I could do like BIG does and recycle/liquidate everything, but I'm not that bothered/concerned to actually do it. There is always potential for loss doing that anyway.

With nextgen stuff, whats in vogue today is out tomorrow.. I think JP is feeling the effects of this. Classics will always be classics, because they have established themselves a foothold in the "classics" status.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

Once again...


The point of this is that I'm fairly content with what I have, and that I'm starting to view buying "new stuff" as pointless.


I'm not really looking to buy anything new, I'm just sharing the fact that anytime I get something new, I always return to the same 10-20 games until I feel like getting something else thats new.

The PSX is 10 or so years old if the PS2 is too new for you. Furthermore, many of its games are regarded as classics. But really can a system be too new or too evil if it has a boatload of awesome games on it? There is absolutely no difference in playing a SEGA game (or any good game) on a SEGA console, a GC or a PS2.

[BulletMagnet]

I'm not really looking to buy anything new, I'm just sharing the fact that anytime I get something new, I always return to the same 10-20 games until I feel like getting something else thats new.

Well, obviously the next step is to learn to just live with that small batch of ageless games without the desire to buy any new stuff once in awhile: with the money you save on gaming, you could probably retire to Jamaica in a matter of weeks.

[professor ganson]

@ the remarks on the GC:
I will never sell my silver GC with GameBoy player, hori pad, and s-video cable. Even when the system becomes as irrelevant as N64-- and surely that won't be terribly soon thanks to Zelda and Kirby-- this will always be my preferred system for Shiki II and Ikaruga.

As for JP's not having a PS1, I can only say:
It's entirely irrational, unless he derives great pleasure from this act of irrationality, from being different and defiant. In that case there would be something oddly rational about his irrationality. Enjoy, jp. Meanwhile, I'm going to go play Raiden dx, followed by some Harmful Park.

[Neon]

Let us stop hammering the 'get a ps2' point lest we trigger an angry JP rant.

I feel the same way I guess, buy a lot, don't put enough time into what I have, though not on the 10 games every 2 weeks level (till summer earnings start pouring in). Guess it's a character flaw - I need to find a game and just focus on clearing it. It's particularly difficult with shmups. I've been doing great with Mr. Driller DS, because the DS is available anywhere, so it lends itself to dedicated play a bit better. So close to clearing 2000 meters.

[raiden]

So close to clearing 2000 meters

with or without items?

as for getting a PS2, I´m not convinced this would help. I´ve had about 4 of them over time, and didn´t sell them because they stopped working, but because I didn´t need them anymore and got bored of them. PS1 was even worse, must have been 7 or 8, and right now I´m selling the 6th N64. It´s always a calculation between games the system is worth having for, and the space it consumes, but the fun derived from games is also relative to the other games I already have, and when a system fails to grab my attention for some time, I´ll want to get rid of it. For the last 10 years, the cycle has always been roughly like this: once my overall number of games climbs above 50, I want to get rid of one system in order to focus more on the remaining games.

Regarding the 360, I´ve luckily seen it coming in advance and didn´t even get one.

[Neon]

I've gotten to a ways over 1500 without. After about 1200 it just gets so nuts.

Selling ps2's because of a lack of worthwhile games shouldn't be a problem, unless it was just after launch or something. Thinking in terms of exclusives, there's G-Darius, VF4:Evo, Umihara, Money Puzzle Exchanger, Landmaker, Mr. Driller G, best Don Doko Don port, Raiden DX, really just too much good shit.

[Rob]

... and that I'm starting to view buying "new stuff" as pointless.

I can imagine when buying new stuff = PC-FX.

[system11]

Get a PS2. It's an essential machine for shmup fans - unless you have /very/ deep pockets for a PCB collection, and don't mind missing a few exclusives.

[sjewkestheloon]

i also have in the past tended to buy, sell and rebuy in stupid cycles until recently, as highlighted by my sale of my ps2 for quick cash in a job hunt, and then a subsequent repurchase along with the irritating quest to rebuy all the domestic shmups that lie mouldy in the bottom of sales baskets. i think i'm sticking with what i've got console wise now though. my gamecube has the metroid games, zelda, and mario (so what i like sunshine ), ps2 has gradius v, nippon ichi, dragon quest, much psikyo, and a load more including ps1 stuff, megadrive for my almost exclusively shmup collection which is ever expanding, and my dreamcast which seems to only play ikaruga...

i couldn't see myself doing without any of those games now.

oh and DS has animal crossing. how i hate you nook, expoitative bitch until the last...

[icycalm]

Can someone please explain to me the point of buying and selling every console you own 6 or 7 times? Is the whole ebay/paypal/post office thing so much fun?

[raiden]

Selling ps2's because of a lack of worthwhile games shouldn't be a problem

it´s never been a lack of worthwile games with me, it was always a feeling of being over-fed, just not needing the games on it that made me sell it. What I can´t imagine right now, though, is doing without a PS1 ever again.