Early adoption, discuss

[Samface]

Well, yeah. See above. Are you an early adopter? Do you rush out as soon as a shiny new machine hits the stands and wave bundles of cash at the bloke behind the checkout? Or do you wait for the price to drop, more games to come out, or a specifically nifty bundle to present itself?

Personally, I've only ever once gone in for a first-day buy: the Dreamcast. With Sonic Adventure. Ah yes. I'd been whipping myself into a frothing frenzy for the best part of the year, to the point where my parents actually let me take the day off school so I could play it (an unheard of thing in my house). Other than that I tend to hang back, often for years (Master System? 1994. Mega Drive? 1995. PlayStation 2? 2008. Xbox 360 and Wii? Both 2009).

So what's your angle?

[Badly-Drawn Manchild]

To my recollection I've bought two consoles on launch day; the Dreamcast and the GameCube. I think they were the only consoles I was excited about enough to get as a day one purchase. With other consoles I tend to just wait for a bit until it's got games on it I actually want to play.

[Arch]

I thought this was about Samface deciding to adopt already, before realising where this was.

Never bought a console on launch day, but I got the Dreamcast quite close, I think. Everything else has been pretty delayed, I reckon the PS2 was my longest wait for a console.

[Turbocharge]

Never bought a console on launch day. Closest I've ever been was when I bought my 3DS - a month or two after launch. I don't like the idea of early adoption; The prices are too high and the game selections are poor. Having said that, I'm a gadget nut and I like shiny things. This sometimes overrides my common sense.

[Sam]

Xbox 360 and GBA are my only two launch console pickups.

[madhair60]

None that I can think of. I try to avoid getting into situations like with the 3DS.

[ShayMay]

The DS and 3DS have been my only 2. In hindsight, both were terrible ideas.

[Devo DrakeFox]

None at all, though I bought the Gamecube within the first month of its release.

[Ringo (2015 Edition)]

Only ever bought 2 on launch day: my 3DS and PSP. But the others came pretty damn close.

[Nam]

I seldom even buy games on there release day, certainly never bought a console on release day. I didn't get a Playstation 'til Xmas '99, a Game Boy Pocket in 2000, (upgraded to colour in 2001, because the regular Game Boy didn't play Pokemon Crystal) a PS2 'til 2002, bought a DS lite in 2007. Longest I waited was for a Mega Drive, didn't get one of those 'til 1999.

I never buy straight away, A) because it costs far too much (most I ever spent on a console was £180 for a PS2), B) because the release line up is almost always [censored], and C) because it's not just the console your buying, but the games, extra handsets, memory cards, etc (less so for portables natch), and that all costs an additional small fortune.

[Blizz]

None.

I think the earliest was my GameCube, which I didn't get til Wind Waker was out.

[Juliett. Bravo. Alfa.]

Never picked up a console on day 1.

I think I got a Gamecube and GBA 6 months within release though.

[Balls]

I got an N64 in 2010, which was pretty close to launch.

My brother got a Dreamcast on release day, which almost counts.

I'm very careful when it comes to paying money. The most I ever paid for any console was £100 for my XBox360. Considering I now own all three current gen consoles, I'd say that's a massive success.

[Turbocharge]

Blimey. You must be a master haggler, Mitch.

I die a little inside when I think how much money I've shelled out on consoles and games over the years.

[Alex]

I don't usually buy hardware on day one, but I am usually quite happy to get the first generation of that hardware within the first year on release. So far, the only systems I've bought on day one have been the DS, DS Lite, Wii and 3DS - all basically 'cos I know that no matter what else comes out, I will always have Nintendo games (especially Pokemon games) to make those systems worth a purchase.

In the Wii's case, that wound up being pretty [censored]ing disappointing, but that's also 'cos there's been dick all else out for it, Pokemon or otherwise.

This conversation is obviously inspired by the 3DS situation at the moment, so addressing that I do have to say that I wasn't particularly disappointed with it until they announced the extra circle pad attachment - even the price drop etc, I was fine with since I managed to knock the cost of my 3DS down to less than what GAME are selling it for now anyway. However, the circle pad attachment is pretty much a confirmation of the accompanying rumour that a new version is due out next year - at least a year earlier than it should be going by Nintendo's previous pattern. Now there's going to be the very real possibility that before I even really get anything to play on the system I bought day one, I'm going to have to get a newer one. Especially if it places the circle pad in a better place and avoids the ugly, awful attachment you need for the current 3DS.

I got to play MGS 3D yesterday and jesus christ the set up to play it without that extra circle pad is IMPOSSIBLE. Your camera is controlled by the A,B,X,Y buttons and it becomes impossible to use in any real sense. This isn't the only game that will be affected by this - which is why so many seem to have been delayed just to use the extra circle pad at all - and it's going to make the decision boil down to paying out for the awful, ugly attachment, or getting a whole new system with it more sensibly integrated.

[Mambo's Here! Look Busy!]

I've never had a console upon launch, simply because of not having the money to pay for it.

I still don't have a PS3 - I've always used my stepdad's when I am at home.

[Beeth]

I've never bought a console on launch, and never would. For one, it's too expensive, and for two, there aren't enough titles yet established to justify getting a console at that point. It's often at least a year before I get a console, sometimes longer.

I didn't get my Mega Drive until Christmas Day 1994. Playstation was Christmas Day 1998, I think, so they were quite late. Gameboy Color, Christmas Day 2000. Gameboy Advance was sometime in the first half of 2002, and Gamecube on Christmas Day 2002. Xbox (the first one), I got sometime in 2004. DS was probably my nearest, getting it on my 16th in June 2005. Xbox 360, Christmas Day 2006. PSP was in mid-2007. Wii I think was early 2008.

So the nearest purchase to launch day I made, console-wise, was getting a DS about 3 months after it came out here. Unsurprisingly, I only had two games for it for a couple years or so, one of which was the Metroid Prime Hunters demo that came bundled with it. It's quite a bit bigger now, however.

[MentalAnalysis]

None whatsoever.

Either I got consoles as gifts or I bought them myself a few years later when there's a decent selection of must have games.

[rj]

3DS is the only one
and even then, that was because my ds lite had broke
and the 3DS was announced the week it broke
so I decided that was a nicer replacement
end scene