Do you consider yourself a late adopter?

[MagitekAngel]

Mid-to-late adopter. I tend to wait till the tail end of a console generation, when all the really good games have come out and worked their way down to budget-level pricing. Then instead of waiting from month to month for the next 70 dollar game, it's a best-of-buffet.

[Vic George 2K3]

I try to get a videogame system within a few years after its release.

[RickHarrisMaine]

I just got my first Jaguar, love my Saturn and Dreamcast, and am having fun learning about the good stuff with the N64. Love the PS2 and XBox as well. My only current generation is the Wii.

[Lendorien]

Ha!

 

I got my first Atari 2600 about a year ago (What is that, 32 years after release?). Likewise with NES, SNES, 3DO, Genesis, etc. I bought my PS2 about 2 years ago and I currently have no current gen systems.

 

The first console I ever owned was an N64 I bought in 1998, used.

 

So yeah, I'm a late adopter.

 

Mainly it was simply not having money growing up. Parents didn't see it as a worthwhile investment. I can respect that. It's now that I'm a bachelor in his 30's that I have disposable income enough to buy the systems I missed growing up.

 

As for not having any current gen systems... I can't justify spending the kind of money the newer systems cost. (aside from the Wii, which I have a lack of interest for. It strikes me as a souped up gamecube with a controller shaped like a stick of butter.)

 

I may get a ps3 this year. The 360's reliability issues just scare me.

Edited January 31, 2010 by Lendorien

[Rybags]

For me it's usually come down to affordabiltiy.

 

One exception would probably be the 16-bit era, I didn't bother buying an ST until they'd been around almost 3 years, although I could have easily afforded one 2 years earlier.

 

I don't often have an entire system these days that's entirely leading-edge. But I did get in early with the Athlon Thunderbirds and Core2Duo.

 

Playing the waiting game a bit these days usually pays - give something 6-9 months and often the price will have dropped by a quarter or more.

[Blarginatorr]

Yeah, I've always been late on to every console.

Every except the N64,GC,GBA,DS. But that was the time when I actually was actively into gaming.

 

Back in 1999, I was reading about how game magazines were hyping about the NGPC and of course I was drooling for one, but eh, it never got here until I 10 years later bought it using the magics of the internet.

 

I'm too young to be an early adopter for early 90's and older units, but I got a NES in 1992, which also was my first console. It was the best my poor family could afford.

 

Last "new" consoles I bought were PSP-3000 and PS2-slim, last summer.

 

Also my console "collection" started only a year ago when I got myself an old DMG-01 GameBoy and found out about the Lynx and GameGear. Still lacking a GameGear though...

 

I never owned an actual SNES, but all my friends had one back when it was new, and the hours ive spent playing the games on friends units or emulated... so many hours...

[kool kitty89]

Oh yeah, outr family definitely applies, NES is one of the few we got new (it may have been a gift actually), it was in '89 though for sure. (I was an infant)

We didn't get an SNES until christmas of 1996 (used from a neighbor with a dozen or so games), gameboy in '97 I think, N64 christmas of '99, GameCube chrismas of '04 (I think), wii we did get around a year after launch, so not that far. (in part due to a pre-order of Twilight princess getting shifted tot he wii version and my grandpa strongly encouraging us to buy one)

 

We had a VCS the whole time packed aways, I didn't get to play it until ~2000 or so though. I think my mom's family was an early adapoter of the VCS though, they apparently got it new and it was the heavy sixer, so probably 1977. (could have been soem time in 1978 I guess, if soem of the '77 stock stuck around long enough)

 

If you count the Genesis, that's really late as I only got one last spring.

Edited February 7, 2010 by kool kitty89

[4Ks]

I'm most definetely a late adopter. The only time I ever owned a system that was still supported was when I got a PS2 in late 2005.

[Mord]

The topic title says it all: From the time you started buying/owning video games (which could go back all the way to the Atari 2600 or even before) all the way to the present day, have you been the kind to wait longer than most people before buying a console or handheld, for whatever reason?

 

I can say I've generally been a late adopter myself: I got an ADAM computer pretty late into its life span, and the same goes for the Super-NES and Game Cube. Heck, I bought an NES after I bought a Super-NES!

 

What about you retro-people?

 

Always a late adopter for me it seems. If there's an absolutely must-buy game on a console that I haven't bought yet I may buy the game before the console but the consoles have to be within a certain price range before I care enough to buy them. I seem to become more patient for price drops as time goes by. Probably because my backlog of existing games to play is always larger with each new generation.

[mbd30]

I've been fairly current with consoles until this latest generation. XBOX was the latest console that I've purchased. I've also never owned a PS2 (I should just get one now that they're so cheap).

[misspent_youth]

I've gone from being an early adopter to a late adopter. I'm in Canada, and some stuff used to be harder to get early here. My parents started it all with a ColecoVision the Christmas it was released. The next system I owned was an NES, which we got in the US because they weren't readily available here (always sold out). I got a Genny pretty early by trading the NES for it (had a gen 1 made in Japan, not Taiwan), and then went bleeding edge crazy. Got a Sega CD and 32X pretty much when they came out, since I worked in a game store, then got a 3D0 within about a month of release (someone traded it so I got it used - USED - for $500; great system for the time, but what the hell was I thinking?!?). After that, I turned away from the early adopter mode. Got a PS1 near the end of its lifespan, and then a PS2 a year or two after release. I just got a Wii a few months ago (probably wouldn't have bothered bu wifey wanted it for WiiFit), and only have mild desire to upgrade. I suspect most early adopters turn into later adopters as they age and life gets more crowded, and late adopters just stay late adopters.