Dear friends,
As a long time game enthusiast and techno nerd, who is also(!) professionally working as an economist and college professor for the last 17 years, I regret to say that my interest and time gaming has been on an inevitable decline. Yet I will always stay a gamer geek at heart, which is why I just got an rtx 4060 gaming laptop even though I will probably hardly ever have time to utilize it, at least not to the fullest. However, gaming has been too expensive and too time confusing for me lately, and I miss the good old days. I don't know why I feel this way. Is it the quality of the games that are on a decline or is it just me as a much older 40something guy? Who knows... Anyways, I just wanted to come clean and share all the consoles that I currently own.
Ignoring the consoles or gaming PC I previously owned such as Commodore 64, here is my current list...
ps1 (x2): Original Ps1 and one modded PS1 mini
ps2 (x3): Two fat PS2s (one modded with HDD) and one PS2 slim
ps3 (x2): One PS3 with 320 GB disk and another with 500 GB
psp (x5): All psp models, 1000, 2000, 3000, go, and street
ps vita (x2): Both vita models, fat (Oled) and slim (LCD)
ps vita tv: The vita that hooks up to your TV
saturn: Sega's 32 bit machine
dreamcast: Sega's so called 64/128 bit PS2 competitor
xbox: the OG Xbox modded with a 500 GB HDD
xbox 360: The slim Xbox 360 model
wii (x2): Two modded wii's
wii U: Nintendo's wii successor, failed switch attempt
switch (x2): Both original switch and the switch lite
3ds (x4) : Two regular 3ds's, one 3ds xl, and a new 3ds
So as you guys see, I am a pretty console neutral guy, I buy whatever suits me. However, a few points to raise...
1) I am an early Sony guy, my console story pretty much started with Sony and I bought all first 3 Sony consoles in addition to both of their handhelds.
2) The 8-bit and 16-bit era console did not pique my interest, when I was solely a computer guy starting from Commdore 64 to Amiga 500; and only after Doom, switched to PCs. And only after the release of Tekken and Crash Bandicoot, I also hopped on the console bandwagon.
3) My interest in consoles and PC gaming in general started to cease after PS4, where games became too serious, too time consuming, too unoriginal etc...
4) Only several years after the introduction of switch, I hopped back on the console world, though half-heartedly, due to time constraints.
5) Today I have three main channels of gaming
a) Switch and Switch Lite, where I mostly play racing, platform, fighting and sports games...
b) My PC, where I play strategy, FPS, puzzles, and emulated games etc...
c) Retro consoles (such as those from Anbernic), where I satiate my itch for retro content on the go.
However, I just bought a 4060 gaming laptop, which may spice up things a bit. I believe the future is like a PC-like environment, both traditional and mobile, in a steam like platform. My long time Sony fan friend, who has owned all Playstations including the 5 Pro, was saying, the other day, that he now has a strong gaming PC and a Steam account and will be happy with it instead of dealing with console prices. So Switch-like mobile consoles + Steam-like PCs will be the way to go. MS understood this but it puts Sony in an awkward place....unless they can transform themselves into a closed Steam-like PC-based gaming environment, in a Switch-like form factor (mobile + traditional).
Playstation 5 vs XBox Series Market Share Estimates
Regional Analysis (only MS and Sony Consoles)
Europe => XB1 : 23-24 % vs PS4 : 76-77%
N. America => XB1 : 49-52% vs PS4 : 48-51%
Global => XB1 : 32-34% vs PS4 : 66-68%
Art by Hunter B
