Last month, a friend of mine – whose only other gaming systems were a PS2 and a Wii, neither of which he’d touched in years – went out and bought a PS3. Knowing I had a decent collection of games, he came over to borrow some. I thought I was helping him out. I didn’t know I’d be punching myself in the gut in the process.
I just felt so jealous. As a video game obsessive, someone who works in and around them literally every day, I consume every game upon release then move on to the next, like a hairy, bipedal locust.
This helps satisfy my cravings, sure (not to mention staying on top of my job), but it also means that moments of true enjoyment, of hitting those special games that stay with you for the rest of your life, can be months and sometimes even years apart.
It also means there is a lot of shit to put up with in between.
My friend, though, he’d missed the entire PS3 generation. The years 2006-2013 just passed him by while he was working, playing sport, getting married and having kids. So in April 2014, when he arrived at my house to catch up, he was not signing up for eight years of waiting, punctuated by brief moments of brilliance.
He was skipping straight to the brilliance, and leaving everything else – the bad games, the average games, the waiting and the disappointment – behind.
I handed him a bundle of discs. There were Uncharted games (“hurry up and get to the second one”). The Last of Us. Red Dead Redemption. Burnout Paradise. The first Modern Warfare (“don’t get any others”). I think one of the good Assassin’s Creeds, too (maybe Brotherhood).
This guy was going to sit down and over the next few weeks and binge on the very best the PS3 had to offer. It’s as close to “all his Christmas’ come at once” as he’s ever going to get. He is having a blast, just putting in one classic after the next.
Imagine playing the first Uncharted, loving it to death and, instead of waiting two years between games, being able to move straight onto the sequel, which is even better? Or for the first 3D action game you’ve played since Sands of Time to be the best Assassin’s Creed game yet.
It’s an experience people are probably more used to in other forms of media. Getting the box set of a TV show once its off the air, or the collected trade paperbacks of a comic series after it’s wrapped up. Gaming, by virtue of it being split across platforms, tends to compel people to buy into a system early then keep returning to the well for games.
The rush of experiencing the very best a platform has to offer after its essentially done for is just so rare. Or, at least is in terms of those talking about video games online. Yet from the jealously I felt to the sheer thrill he’s having now, maybe it’s something we could try more often.
Get the systems you need to get, sure, but if there’s ever a console you’re on the fence about, why not wait? Let it age, let it get cheaper then, when it’s got all the amazing games it’s going to get, dive in and enjoy them all at once.
You might feel left out for a few years, but the binge you get to experience at the end might be totally worth it.
Comments
45 responses to “My Friend Just Bought A PS3, And I Am Very Jealous”
I was really late to the party also picking up a PS3, as I only bought mine around 2011. Its quite awesome buying a console and having a wealth of classic games already sitting at bargain prices because they’re already a few years old.
Also, hand him a copy of Demon’s Souls ASAP. 🙂
I kinda wish I could get a gaming buddy and create playthroughs together of his first experiences with games like Resident Evil 4, Alundra, Halo: CE, etc. Being able to live another first experience through someone else.
Playing those games by myself today is still fun, but it’s gotten to the point where I’m like Neo from the Matrix, I can see the coding within the game and can walk through with no trouble.
No, I disagree. Having no downtime can really burn you out. I experienced this with Half-Life 2. Right after the original game I moved straight on to Episode 1. The problem is that using the uber gravity gun at the end of HL2 was paced perfectly to the point that once you get to the end it stops before you get bored of it. Moving right into the start of Episode 1 where you’re using it again felt very tiring.
Similarly to how people are just sick to death of Call of Duty. There’s a game every year, we’re expected to move on to next years model before we’re done with the previous game. Even people who like the franchise (like me) are just burnt out and wish the franchise would just go away from a couple of years.
Yep, agreed. Sometimes it’s the abstinence/anticipation that can make a sequel all the better. I played a bunch of Civ IV because I was too impatient to wait for Civ V. When Civ V finally dropped, I was kind of bored of it before I’d even started.
I did that with Assassin’s Creed, Did AC I, II and Brotherhood back to back, was pretty awesome.
🙁 I got AC1 with my first PS3 purchase and AC2 came out like a few months after and I can say AC2 is the reason why I am a big fan of the AC franchise even though AC3 almost killed it for me. I just remember back Ezio with… “FORTITI!”
Ohh, I did AC 2, Brotherhood and Revelations back to back…mid way through Revelations I was burnt out of AC 🙁
i did the same thing. Went back a few months later and was really compelled by Ezio’s last outing. Was a great ending for him.
Oh nice, good to hear.
HOLY CRAP SOMEONE ELSE RECOGNISES REVELATIONS AS A WORTHWHILE INVESTMENT!!
I did the same but by the time I got to Brotherhood I was over it – Brotherhood just sat on the shelf for a year until recently when I took it back up (up to Seq 8) I’ve enjoyed a lot and even since bought AC3 (more interest than either Rev or BF) but damn you need the break – esp with II and Brotherhood being so similar
I have a mate who done the same thing, she bought a ps3 last year and the latest Tomb Raider, she then moved onto The Last of Us, now those are they only 2 games she will play, she now has a ps4 with Tomb Raider and guess what she’s waiting for? …The Last of Us.
PS3 users should start with demon souls 🙂
I tried to play it (bought mine in 2012) but it was just a bit old and clunky for me, missed the boat on that one.
It’s not old, it’s tight.
2010 to me is old
Then your mid-life crisis is gonna come a lot early for you.
Ok dudebro
This news/rumour that there’s a PS4 only sequel has all but cemented my next-gen console choice
As if you didn’t give him Dark Souls as his first PS3 game.
Lies, We all know Black Flag is the greatest assassins creed game yet.
Nice. I picked up a PS3 in early 2012, and a 360 in 2013. So I have a nice back catalogue of cheap games to start, haha.
My next machine is absolutely going to be a PS3. I’ve had fun with the 360, but can’t afford to jump to next gen. So I’ll get a cheap PS3 and hit the exclusives I’ve been eyeing off jealously for years.
Same here. Convinced a friend to sell me his PS3 for $100 instead of trading it in when he upgrades to the PS4… So many exclusives to catch up on!
I just have an Xbox 360 but I borrowed my brother’s PS3 over Xmas and binge played all the Sony exclusives. Was awesome
Small objection: Assassin’s Creed II is the best AC game yet. Everything after that is a steady downhill progression with Brotherhood and Revelations being glorified filler and ACIII being just plain terrible.
I hear there’s even some non-cannon pirate thing that EA used to print money but I ain’t touching that with a ten foot pole.
I’ve been able to do this somewhat by getting stuck on Skyrim for the last 12+ months. I have a lengthy backlog of games I want to play (Batman:AC, Crysis 3, Last of Us, AC:Black Flag), which are just getting cheaper as the months go by!
But how many people are still playing any of the Uncharted MP? Those were fun times too between the waiting.
I would say on Modern Warfare he missed the boat. The first one (CoD4) isn’t that great as a single player experience, but man was it brilliant online at the time. I guess that’s a big thing for last generation. It was the first generation to really hit home with online functionality. It was frustrating to have online functionality jammed into games that didn’t want/need it, but the XBOX 360 and PS3 were really social animals (in a good way, not in the social media broadcast rather than interact way).
There was like a three year period where none of my friends had the same days off work but we still played XBOX together every single night. As a result there are a ton of games that I wouldn’t trade for the world but I wouldn’t recommend today. Stuff that isn’t critically acclaimed but was still a great experience.
I think rhythm games fall into that category too. I mean you can’t get the same experience pulling out Guitar Hero III today that you could a few years ago.
There’s also a ton of great games that combo with terrible games. Saints Row 2 is one of my favourite games of the generation, but what really pushed it above the rest in my mind was how unsatisfying I found playing GTAIV. If GTAIV didn’t make me change spare tires in the rain and mud I wouldn’t have appreciated Saints Row 2’s every car is fast and you can just have a friend deliver any car stored in your garage, which respawn if you smash them, because nobody plays a mayhem driven open world crime game to drive a totally realistic simulation of a broken down 1968 Dacia 1100 philosophy.
I mean it’s nice to picture just playing the gems, but at the same time it’s almost like watching a clipshow episode. You play through Mass Effect and rather than exploring after you’re done and really digging in deep you just move right into the sequel. You don’t experience that space where you really hype yourself up for the next game. You don’t sit there thinking about the potential it has. What may happen with it. It’s just like ‘Mass Effect, that was cool, on to Mass Effect 2, then ME3, then I’m done’.
If you only play games every once in a while it’s no problem, but I think if you really love playing games just the hits in one steady burst would ultimately be a pretty hollow experience.
Is this guy me? I am actually picking up a PS3 in a few weeks time for the exclusives (I do have a PC that I use, and will continue to use, for crossplatforms)
Mainly going to be used for the Naughty Dog games, and to unleash my inner child on the later Ratchet and Clank games, maybe with the HD remakes of the originals, Sly and Jak and Daxter. And maybe Sly 4. And inFamous. And Bad Company. And Red Dead. And GTA5. And Metal Gear Solid 4. And the remakes of the originals ones. And LittleBigPlanet.
Damn, I’ve missed a lot of games.
And maybe after I finish Dark Souls on PC, Demon’s Souls might be good.
VALKYRIA CHRONICLES!
Journey.
And if you’re into the HD remakes, you can’t go past the Ico / Shadow of the Colossus collection. Especially if you never played them on PS2.
Journey I’m in the middle about, mainly because it’s only on PSN and I don’t want to take a huge chunk out of my quota downloading it
They did release it on disc, too, as “Journey Collector’s Edition”, which also included thatgamecompany’s other PS3 games Flow and Flower (also well worth a look).
It is pretty rare, but can be found if you shop around.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Journey-Collectors-Edition-PS3-BRAND-NEW-SEALED-/141250032346
Amazon have it for less than 20 bucks, it’s always in stock. I nearly bought it myself being a late purchaser of the PS3 last year and going through exactly what this article is talking about. I have 14 games in my PS3 library now and they are all killer and no filler!
I only picked one up in January this year! I had a 360 last gen and got fed up with having missed The Last of Us, Uncharted, Ni No Kuni, Metal Gear Solid 4, Demon’s Souls + various obscure japanese titles. Four months later and I can’t stop buying titles for the thing! PS3 games are so cheap atm!
VALKYRIA CHRONICLES.
Heavy Rain was fantastic.
It should be noted that once he’s finished his binge, which will have been long enough for him to form habits and expectations around his method of consuming videogames, he will be left in the same rut as the rest of us. I suspect he’ll feel the delays and downtime even more than we, thanks to his golden opportunity to taste the very best of the previous generation, until he is left living on dirt between hot meals.
I can relate to this article with my PS2 purchase. I bought the console at the end of its life, and whilst I was fortunate to experience quality game after quality game, it sort of burnt me out over time, and made the whole experience seem like a complete blur.
I played games like God of War, Kingdom Hearts, Gran Turismo and Ratchet & Clank within week’s of each other. It was amazing playing so many quality games within such a short period of time, but then it sort of became overwhelming, to the point I walked away from the whole thing – which is sad because these are amazing games that were system-sellers back in the day.
Unsurprisingly, I actually enjoy the starvation method console developers use (sometimes deliberate, sometimes not – with delays and other issues). The dull periods during the life of a console often means you get more time to enjoy certain releases – knock them over – and then move onto that next game you’ve been anticipating for some time.
In terms of each generation, Sony consoles are usually the last ones I pick up due to their premium price, and ability to go a little bit further than the Xbox.
It really is, but the AC series has taught me why annual release is a bad idea. In some cases, you need to let that nostalgia build up a little.
I cried at that ending, and it’s not a sad one, just a perfect one as far as I’m concerned.
reply fail thanks to this stupid comment errors. *sigh*
I skipped this generation also (note that I am ignoring the true ‘this’ generation as it is devoid of any decent games thus far and therefore doesn’t deserve acknowledgment).
The PS3’s launch offering might aswell have been a pile of smashed glass. My brother had a PS3 though so I played Resistance all the way through, before doing MGS4 when it landed. After that it reduced to a bunch of ‘one-sessions’ of various games when I would visit, whatever new game he’d gotten at the time, we’d play that once and then it would have dust on it by the next time I popped in.
As someone who knows what a quality game is- having indulged in the 90s, There was nothing, nothing that ever came along that made me want to buy a PS3 until GTA V, but as well all know at that point last year the x360 had truly defeated the PS3 in terms of user experience, so I instead found myself buying an x360 just for GTA V.
The games I sampled or saw on the net of the PS3/x360 generation just looked so empty and rushed, depriving you of the ability to sink your teeth into them and proverbially ‘live them’. Throwaway stuff.
+1
Did something very similar. PC gamer and had a 360 for the odd exclusive from 06 until December 2012 I decided it was time I picked up a PS3 and played all the exclusives I missed (GoW series, Uncharted Series, Infamous Series, Heavy Rain, Journey. 2013 the wonderful Ni No Kuni & Last of Us). Man that was a great Christmas break from work.
I think this is how a lot of people should do each gen if they can hold themselves back. 1 console for 90% of the generations lifespan then at the end buy the competitors console for a fraction of the price and all the great exclusives you missed out on. You get to play some AAA titles for a discounted price and all the sequels at once. Binge Gaming!
Y u do dis? D:
Just as my ps3 kicks the bucket *epic cry face*
Maybe ill try this with the WiiU. In another 5 years there might actually be a game worth playing!!