System launches are very exciting

[Flojomojo]

There's only a little bit of software out at first, so you can know a lot about each title. The focus is nice to have.

 

You might even be able to buy most of them, depending on how many are released.

 

Then there's that first price drop, and the thrill of seeing what you still think of as a "new" game for half price or less.

 

There's usually at least one system seller that you can go back to many years later. I still think Ridge Racer on PSOne is something special. Mario 64 still holds up for me. Wipeout Pure on PSP is sweet. Oh how I loved Rogue Leader on Gamecube.

 

There are often goofy experiments that are truly unique from anything before or after. Remember Feel The Magic XX/XY on Nintendo DS?

 

Sometimes there are more third party games on a new platform at launch, even if they dry up later, because they're betting on the new system. Remember Batman Arkham City Armored Edition, Mass Effect 3, and Zombii on Wii U?

 

I am not particularly excited about the Nintendo NX, but I'm excited about the feeling surrounding a new system!

[spacecadet]

Some launches are more exciting than others, though. It's been a while since I was really excited about a new console launch - part of that's probably just me getting older, but fewer of the games have been appealing to me in a way I know some previous launch games would have. I think a big part of that too is the fact that neither Sony nor MS are really known for their in-house development in the way that Sega or Nintendo used to be. (Obviously any Nintendo system's best games are still from Nintendo, there are just fewer of them recently, and often at launch these days a lot of the big names seem to be missing.)

 

I wasn't all that interested in the launch of any of the current three systems. (I did buy a PS4 later, and will probably get an Xbox One S at some point.) I am curious about the NX, to see what it really is, though.

 

My favorite launch was probably the Dreamcast, which just had a ton of amazing arcade-style games, and that "feeling" you're talking about. I remember reading the Official Dreamcast Magazine leading up to it and just feeling like I couldn't wait until 9/9/99. I actually had already bought an import system but the US launch had a lot more games, and I bought a US system at launch too.

 

Around that time I was buying pretty much every system at launch - I also bought a PS2, PS3, GBA, GameCube and original Xbox either on launch day or as soon as I could physically find one. I literally lined up overnight for a PS2 (although for me that launch didn't have the same feeling as the Dreamcast launch.) But recently I've been more content to wait a bit.

[godslabrat]

I just get a thrill from buying new hardware. I've had to deliberately scale back the past two generations, because I love opening boxes and trying out new things.

 

I've found that being a little more critical of what systems I buy makes me even more excited for the stuff that makes the cut.

[negative1]

the last system i bought at launch, well, the only one, was the sega saturn.

and it came out early.

 

i don't think any system since then has interested me as much, and in fact, i usually wait 4 or 5 years if

i ever do buy a new one.

 

i think the xbox 360 is the last console i will get. all the recent ones (not including nintendo), require online to game,

so i haven't bothered with them.

 

later

-1

[+save2600]

I *was* excited about the RetroVGS. Since then, nothing compares.

 

 

 

in case some of the humor is lost with that statement, last time I *really* got excited about a launch, had to have been the SNES, then the Atari Jaguar. PSX, Saturn & N64 way up there too after the Jag. Gamecube, then Xbox. After the Wii/Wii U, PS2 and PS3, am done with modern gaming. Is going to take something *extremely* special in order to get me excited about video games from here on out.

 

[toiletunes]

Thinking about the VCS launch: Combat, Air Sea Battle, Star Ship (using the opposite controller port), Indy 500 (with the driving controller, never to be used again), Video Olympics, Street Racer, Blackjack, Surround, and (of course) Basic Math!

A good start to define the system...

[Flojomojo]

Thinking about the VCS launch: Combat, Air Sea Battle, Star Ship (using the opposite controller port), Indy 500 (with the driving controller, never to be used again), Video Olympics, Street Racer, Blackjack, Surround, and (of course) Basic Math!

A good start to define the system...

Wow, I never thought about thre VCS launch (too young). Were you there? I wonder how many Ritchie Riches early adopters bought a large portion of those first releases? The machine would fly so much higher.

[cimerians]

I got my VCS around 80' when Space Invaders came out. Before that I remember a friend of mine had an Atari with Combat and I was blown away. When I somehow learned Space Invaders was being released my parents got me the console with Space Invaders so I had two games with it the day I got it.

 

One of my favorite times getting a console cause there were so many games available to pick from. I think Activision was starting up around that time too so you would see all these cool boxes of games on the shelf wondering what to get next. I remember looking through the Atari/Activision catalogs so much I wore them out.