Poll: Not sure where to go next.

[delanofilms]

So I have considered myself a "gamer" (screw Yahtzee on that one) for a relatively long time now. I'm 17, and have gamed since I was about 6, getting increasingly more into it, but I feel I have reached an impasse. For about a year or so, I played WoW as my primary time sink and quite enjoyed it. The problem is that I only have a Mac, 360 and a DS lite, and very little money.
A few people have told me I should get a Wii or a PS3, but I see a bit of a problem with this. As it is, I have been out of the diversified gaming loop for what feels like so long, that I don't really know what to pick up, and I'm not sure if the console investment will be worth it, since the big companies are about due to pump out another generation of consoles.
In fact, the only new games I have played in any recent span of time have been WoW, Pokemon Platinum and HGSS, Halo 3, Bayonetta, The Orange Box, Brutal Legend and Bioshock, but this list dates all the way back to the release of Pokemon Platinum, and I feel that the one thing that has given me identity it starting to slip through my fingers.
But how to remedy the situation? Assuming I had any money, should I get a new console and stockpile a ton of games to try to reclaim the title I once held dear? Should I save all I can and splurge on the next generation and blitzkrieg gaming back into my heart? Should I get a PC and just use that? Should I quit whining and find something else to occupy my time, ceasing the futile attempt to cling to the comfort of a label (despite the distancing having occurred due to massive financial issues in the family)? Or should I just wait and see what life has in store for me?
Either way, I congratulate you, the reader, for reaching this point without commenting "TLDR". So your thoughts?

 

[Amnestic]

A few people have told me I should get a Wii or a PS3, but I see a bit of a problem with this. As it is, I have been out of the diversified gaming loop for what feels like so long, that I don't really know what to pick up, and I'm not sure if the console investment will be worth it, since the big companies are about due to pump out another generation of consoles.

No they're not. Nintendo might be working on something, but with the imminent release of the Kinect and the Playstation Move, both the 360 and the PS3 are going to be stuck around for a while longer while MS and Sony try to milk the motion control teet for all it's worth.

If you've not got a gaming PC yet, I'd say invest in that. If your PC is still fairly decent, then you're probably better off getting a PS3 as it does have a fairly decent library of games, especially with the PSN giving a backlog of PS1 titles as well.

If you do get a PS3, pick up Valkyria Chronicles. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

 

[Jonluw]

From what I hear, the big companies won't release any new console generations for some time yet; though if you are worried the current gen consoles will be outdated soon, you would probably be better off with a PC.

Edit: For what I'm concerned, you don't really need more than one console though. I only have a 360, and I'm doing fine. I would rather recommend you take a look at your gaming habits, and try to figure out the reason you haven't been gaming much lately, instead of just buying a new console. Alternately you could buy Kinect when it comes out.

 

[TimeLord]

If you have the money, get a PS3 and a monster gaming PC (no offence t your Mac but even with Steam support, you don't have alot of game choice at this point in time)

You could wait for the next console generation but you could be waiting a year or 2,

 

[minarri]

Here's what I did: I researched the existing consoles extensively, weighing pros and cons of each one. Also I made sure to get the one that has the most games I give a crap about.

 

[Dark Knifer]

If money is a issue maybe try getting games for your exsisting consoles. The 360 has a plenty storng collection of games that should make you feel like a gamer. If you don't mind maistream, try halo reach. If you enjoyed bayonneta try devil may cry 4. There are tons of games for it, just look 'em up and you should be allright.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Only get a PS3 if you have to play the Sony exclusives like Uncharted, God of War, Heavy Rain, Metal Gear Solid 4, The Last Guardian, LittleBigPlanet, etc. That's how I chose the PS3 over 360, I much prefer Sony's first party games over Microsoft's.

Without spending much money, go buy the games you missed out on that are cheap. For example, Mirror's Edge is a great game, it's the best 3D platformer this gen IMO, and it's dirt cheap. You can try out Fable or Mass Effect since you have a 360. Play some original Xbox games as well like Beyond Good and Evil, Mercenaries (best sandbox game ever, not Mercs 2 - it sucked), etc. There probably a good amount of games from last gen and this gen you probably haven't played.

 

[mikecoulter]

I'd say buy a PC. It doesn't even need to be that good. I use my baseline iMac with an Nvidia 9400m for a lot of my gaming, things like Borderlands, any Valve games and Knights Of The Old Republic run fantastic. It even runs Mass Effect at a good-enough-to-use 25 fps.

Look for any computer with at least 2-4gb of ram, a recent C2D processor or AMD quad (Far cheaper) and an ATi 5770. That would run pretty much any recent game released.

 

[hyperhammy]

Just buy some cheap games for the xbox 360... =P
You said you don't have a lot of disposable income, so why even think about buying a new console now?

 

[inFAMOUSCowZ]

since like you said your low on money just keep what you got. I have a 360 and a ps3, and both have great exclusives, but of course most games are multi platform. So IMO just pick up some games unless you can get enough money for a new console.

 

[Keepitclean]

Do. Not. Buy. A. Wii. They are the biggest waste of $300 ever.
I'd wait it out until the next gen of consoles come out. Have you tried Oblivion or Mass Effect on the 360? They are both pretty cool and have a lot of playtime.

You will get more hours out of Oblivion alone than a Wii.

 

[delanofilms]

Do. Not. Buy. A. Wii. They are the biggest waste of $300 ever.
I'd wait it out until the next gen of consoles come out. Have you tried Oblivion or Mass Effect on the 360? They are both pretty cool and have a lot of playtime.

You will get more hours out of Oblivion alone than a Wii.

Ugh. I tried oblivion on a pal's console and I couldn't stand it. Although i swapped the disc out with borderlands and ironically loved it. Although I was considering a Wii at first for SSBB and Pokemon snap cause i had it as a kid, played it on a pals console and loved it just as much as I did then.

I'd say buy a PC. It doesn't even need to be that good. I use my baseline iMac with an Nvidia 9400m for a lot of my gaming, things like Borderlands, any Valve games and Knights Of The Old Republic run fantastic. It even runs Mass Effect at a good-enough-to-use 25 fps.

Look for any computer with at least 2-4gb of ram, a recent C2D processor or AMD quad (Far cheaper) and an ATi 5770. That would run pretty much any recent game released.

Ill prob. go with the PC. I have a New Macbook that runs WoW flawlessly if it's nice and cool, but both computers are good for different things.

Thanks again for the advise folks

 

[interspark]

i have 3 digits for you

[HEADING=2]N 6 4[/HEADING]

i became an N64 game collector and ive never been happier! ive got a console, two controllers and more fan-smegging-tastic games than i can count off the top of my head and i havent spent enough money to buy 3 modern games!

 

[DustyDrB]

If you like Nintendo games, it's a good time to get a Wii. I mean, sure the console hasn't had as many games the average person here would really enjoy as the 360 or PS3, but if you've neglected the Wii this whole generation and finally get one now, you'd have a good many games to play. Plus, the lineup is looking good for next year.

Plus, the market is flooded with Wiis. I'd be surprised if you can't find one cheap on eBay.

 

[mikecoulter]

Do. Not. Buy. A. Wii. They are the biggest waste of $300 ever.
I'd wait it out until the next gen of consoles come out. Have you tried Oblivion or Mass Effect on the 360? They are both pretty cool and have a lot of playtime.

You will get more hours out of Oblivion alone than a Wii.

Ugh. I tried oblivion on a pal's console and I couldn't stand it. Although i swapped the disc out with borderlands and ironically loved it. Although I was considering a Wii at first for SSBB and Pokemon snap cause i had it as a kid, played it on a pals console and loved it just as much as I did then.

I'd say buy a PC. It doesn't even need to be that good. I use my baseline iMac with an Nvidia 9400m for a lot of my gaming, things like Borderlands, any Valve games and Knights Of The Old Republic run fantastic. It even runs Mass Effect at a good-enough-to-use 25 fps.

Look for any computer with at least 2-4gb of ram, a recent C2D processor or AMD quad (Far cheaper) and an ATi 5770. That would run pretty much any recent game released.

Ill prob. go with the PC. I have a New Macbook that runs WoW flawlessly if it's nice and cool, but both computers are good for different things.

Thanks again for the advise folks

If you want to cool your Mac, install smcfancontrol. Itallows you to up the speed of the fans which should help smooth out gameplay, I use it on my iMac, extremely effective.

 

[delanofilms]

If you want to cool your Mac, install smcfancontrol. Itallows you to up the speed of the fans which should help smooth out gameplay, I use it on my iMac, extremely effective.

Really? Cause when I played WoW it was on constantly and I had a little 6" fan on it at all times and it would still get pretty toasty. I'm thinking about getting a really good laptop lap pad.

 

[Thunderhorse31]

Ah, WoW ruins yet another life.

You already have a 360, I say post another topic of the "what should I get" variety and enjoy the results. For example, if you played Bioshock and Halo 3, would you not enjoy Bioshock 2 and/or ODST/Reach as well?

 

[mikecoulter]

If you want to cool your Mac, install smcfancontrol. Itallows you to up the speed of the fans which should help smooth out gameplay, I use it on my iMac, extremely effective.

Really? Cause when I played WoW it was on constantly and I had a little 6" fan on it at all times and it would still get pretty toasty. I'm thinking about getting a really good laptop lap pad.

It may be on, but using smcfancontrol you can manually turn it up higher. And I find that a flat food tray or something else flat works perfectly!

 

[delanofilms]

If you want to cool your Mac, install smcfancontrol. Itallows you to up the speed of the fans which should help smooth out gameplay, I use it on my iMac, extremely effective.

Really? Cause when I played WoW it was on constantly and I had a little 6" fan on it at all times and it would still get pretty toasty. I'm thinking about getting a really good laptop lap pad.

It may be on, but using smcfancontrol you can manually turn it up higher. And I find that a flat food tray or something else flat works perfectly!

By the way, as a new mac user, I have a windows xp partition, but on both partitions, depending on the site, there will sometimes be a series of strange symbols in place of apostrophes and other symbols, and symbols in other languages any clue what/why that is?

 

[mikecoulter]

If you want to cool your Mac, install smcfancontrol. Itallows you to up the speed of the fans which should help smooth out gameplay, I use it on my iMac, extremely effective.

Really? Cause when I played WoW it was on constantly and I had a little 6" fan on it at all times and it would still get pretty toasty. I'm thinking about getting a really good laptop lap pad.

It may be on, but using smcfancontrol you can manually turn it up higher. And I find that a flat food tray or something else flat works perfectly!

By the way, as a new mac user, I have a windows xp partition, but on both partitions, depending on the site, there will sometimes be a series of strange symbols in place of apostrophes and other symbols, and symbols in other languages any clue what/why that is?

Hmm, no idea sorry! Have you tried checking you have the computer set to the correct language? Just a guess.