Do not take the headline the wrong way. Both Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One are incredible gaming systems. At the recent Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) we got to see some of the amazing games coming out for these systems such as Uncharted 4 on the PlayStation 4 and Halo 5 on the Xbox One – which both look incredible. But as exciting as these consoles are at the moment there really is not enough out there on store shelves to justify buying one! They are slowly reducing the price of the consoles, and if you look hard enough you could find great bundle deals. However, with the short list of titles that are currently out there, you are much better off with your time playing through your backlog of video games that’s been sitting on your shelves – most likely still in shrink wrap (as is the case with me).
I am an early adopter of both consoles and honestly if Doc Brown came by in his Delorean and gave me a ride I would go back and tell myself to wait – as well as stopping some huge tragedies in history of course, but I digress. Early owners of the Xbox One were given a bad taste in their mouths when they had to spend $500 on day one, only to have the Titanfall Bundle released for about the same price (and in a lot of cases, cheaper). Had these gamers waited a few months and played their backlog, they would have gotten a great game, the latest console, and have paid a cheaper price.
Save Money, Avoid Headaches with Buggy Games
You see both consoles have a handful at best of great games. With many of them also being available on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Both machines look to have an incredible end of 2014 and 2015 lined up, but in the coming months rather than going and buying a new console, you should take this time to play some of those great games that are in your PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 library. There may be games in your collection that you picked up because they were on sale, and it’s now still in shrink wrap. You are going to buy the best games for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 anyway – but why not wait and save some money in the process. These games will no go away in a landfill (sorry ET), and if you pick them up after 6 months, you could get a better price as well as a fully patched game. Despite the developer’s best efforts, bugs and issues on day one is becoming the norm so why have to deal with it now? By waiting you give the developers a chance to fix and release game patches for a much better gaming experience.
I’m Guilty of Owning Games Still in Shrink Wrap
I am guilty of buying so many games that I very rarely finish them. But there are many games that I have bought and loved this past console generation, but never got around to finish. Enslaved, Resident Evil 6, Gears Of War 3 and God Of War Ascension are a small example of games I had a great deal of fun with, but never got around to finishing. Rather than spending (I cannot say exact amount in case my wife sees) I could have saved up and just enjoyed the games I already had. Then where there was a solid library of games for each system that I actually wanted to play I could take the plunge then! Also, I could have sold or traded in the games I finished and put the money towards newer titles.
As exciting as a new console generation is the early months are most of the time very barren when it comes to great games. Use this time to have fun with the games you never got around to finishing rather than buying a “next gen” game that you really do not care about. Bragging rights to your friends comes at a price – but not one that’s worth it.
