eBay and Samurai Shodown’s record was duly smashed. As was the Dreamcast’s controller. Even though I only wanted it for that single game, getting into Live was a real eye-opener -instant, accessible online gaming complete with voice comms. Sure, these days it’s full of complete muppets, but it was still all very exciting and remains the benchmark against which all other online services are gauged.
To this day, I’m not really sure why I picked up a Gamecube. It wasn’t for any one particular title that I can think of - I picked up Ikaruga again, for example. Still, it remains under my TV to this day. How much of that is down to the compact size and shape rather than actual use is open to debate. Maybe if I ever get my Donkey Kongas back, it’ll be revived.
I traded all manner of stuff in to get a 360 – my old Xbox, a pair of SPs and DSs (we were going to get Lites soon enough ). The attraction here was Live Arcade more than anything. The idea of games that lived or died on gameplay mechanics rather than story or visuals was the mothership calling me home. It retains pride of place in the living room and I’d estimate that it sees use a good 8 or 9 days out of 10. I can even buy a 3rd version of Ikaruga if the mood takes me.
The Wii’s a strange one. Like the PS2 before it, I think I only wanted one because you couldn’t get them for love nor money. Don’t get me wrong – it’s a brilliant machine. Compact, simple, accessible and if you get a bunch of people over who don’t necessarily play games, it’s perfect. But I just don’t fancy playing it on my own. Actually, since the advent of Rock Band, its status as our social gaming experience has been dramatically on the wane.
That about does it for my list. I know people who have had more, but I’d say my collection was probably above average. There are a couple of notable absentees – my various PCs or the iterations of Gameboy for example. With the company I kept, I had ready access to all manner of other machinery though – Saturns, Jaguars, 3DOs, etc. – but I never owned them.
As for my PS3, it sits there, gathering dust. It gets powered up when we want to watch a movie or stream something from my PC but that’s about it. Well, until Little Big Planet comes out that is...
