Draven

I've been going on and on to my wife about purchasing a Gamecube. I've had every Nintendo system, and it seemed to have the games I wanted to play. But we just bought a townhome, and I agreed to put the big purchase off until after we close at the end of December.

The X-box, while having Halo, didn't really seem to offer anything else I was interested in.

The PS2? Please, I bought one when they first game out and sold it on Ebay for twice what I paid for it. No way I was getting one of those.

Then, I saw a GTA III commercial.

Now, I've been following the rabid raves about this game. I have a co-worker with a PS2 who rented it and gave me daily reports on what he did the night before. But I hadn't actually seen it in action.

All I could say is...wow.

So I went to Blockbuster last night, in the hopes of renting a system. Of course, they didn't have any, nor were they helpful at all. (I used to work in a video store, and I always tried to help people out, but that's another thread ) While I was there, I saw GTAIII, then noticed they had Devil May Cry, Twisted Metal Black, MGS2, Agent Under Fire, and a few other games I'm interested in.

Now what do I do? I could buy a GC now, get Rogue Leader and Smash Brothers and be happy until Mario, Zelda, or Metroid come out. I haven't seen much else interesting (besides Resident Evil) for the next 6 months or so.

Or I could get an X-box and Halo, and wait for GTA III to be released at some point in the future. But I hate the controller with a fiery passion, so I'm uncomfortable paying that much money for the system and being "stuck" with it until some better games come out.

Or I could get a PS2, and three or four great games right now. I've always bought the latest and greatest hardware. The consoles I personally bought were all purchased on launch day (Super NES, N64 and Dreamcast) so I, probably irrationally, feel that paying $300 for a year old console is the wrong move. But it has a bunch of great games, sitting there ready to be played.

And is it so bad, buying an "older" console? I still play my N64 and DC, so I must not have a problem with older systems. But $300 seems a little steep, when I could pay the same and get an X-box, a "fancier" system, then wait for GTA III and other good games to come out.

*sigh* When I told my wife I wasn't going to get the GC anymore, there was a long period of silence, followed by a "...what?" I am still a GC-fan. I was very excited by the cool portable monitor I saw at IGN today. It will have a ton of games I'll want to play eventually. And I would still take it over an X-box in a heart beat.

But I'm leaning towards PS2, because it means instant gratification and zero hassles tracking one down. What does everyone else think?

Cyberock

I say buy the PS2 now for the instant gratification. You'll end up buying the other systems down the line. I have the PS2 and the XBOX now. Debating on the gamecube cause that Star Wars game looks cool but that's about it right now.

SpacemanSpiff

cube

a lil melee game will be instant gratification

Gallant Pig

Try harder to rent the PS2, go to other places, call around, I'm sure you'll find it for rent somewhere. If you only want GTA3, then I say do that, otherwise if you are interested in more than just that, try and buy it used somewhere.

simpsonsfan04

Buy The PS2, You Will Be Highly Satisfied! Especially If You're Interested In GTA3!

Outlaw

Do what your wife says or you'll never hear the end of it (well maybe not that far) but still, she sounded like she was disappointed....I wish I knew more girls who were into gaming though .

I think GTA 3 is coming out for the PC but I could be wrong. If you do decide to get the PS2 make sure you make it up to your wife somehow with dinner or something. Maybe get her a bracelet from Nieman Marcus. Of course that would probably cost more than getting a GC, PS2, and 2 games for each system combined.

edit: BTW, If you have a virgin megastore near you you can get 30% off any console system when you use a American Express Blue Card. I don't have either though so unfortunately I can't take advantage of it but many people are. Just thought I'd throw that in there just in case.

twikoff

get yourself the PS2 for christmas

and buy HER the GC for christmas

its a win-win situation

Nefarious

Surely she'll understand when you say it was buy one system, get one free *wink*, *wink*.

Don Catchpole

I doubt she'll buy it. I tried that once with my wife with a hockey jersey. I couldn't decide between a Canadians one or a Penguins one and the shop owner said he'd give me a discount on both. It was 10% off. They were 100 dollars each and boy my wife was PO'ed. I got to keep them though so the b*tching doesn't kill you. In your case it would be worth it.

Lethal Nemesis

Although many thought that Sony would have dropped the price of the PS2 here in the US by now, it doesn't look like they're going to go through with it. Yes, $300 is a little steep, but it's a great system with many great games that are out right now. I'm pretty sure that the Xbox and GC will succeed as well, but neither system has as many "must-have" titles out at the moment as the PS2 does. If you want to play all of those great PS2 games right now, then I say go for it. You can always buy it next year if you want, but that's another year of waiting to play DMC, MGS2, and GTA3! (unless you want to keep searching for a place to rent it)

Low RG

Agreed! Go with the PS2...

IC_Freeze

disagree, save your money.

KrackerBox

just rent it first, i bet you won't want to buy one as much after u played it for like 5 days. if u still do, then buy it.

WepaMan

I was actually set on choosing a Gamecube this Christmas up until yesterday. I was looking at all the systems at Best Buy along with their respective games.

First I looked at the X-Box games and there really wasn't anything that looked good for the exception of Halo which they were out of, and the Snomobile racing game from Midway that I know would be fun for like 20 minutes.

Next came the Gamecube and right away Star Wars caught my attention and being a fan of the Original WaveRace that looked cool too. This just fortified my want to pick the Gamecube this year.

Then came the PS2 aisle.. Ace Combat 4, Capcom vs. SNK 2, Devil May Cry, Gran Turismo III, Guilty Gear X, Harvest Moon, Half Life, ICO, Klonoa 2, Metal Gear Solid 2... and this was just one of the aisles I still had another one to go. (Silent Hill 2, Soul Reaver 2, Onimusha etc.)

Suddenly it became clear to me that the PS2 was the only choice. Sure the Gamecube has some awesome games for it, but I couldn't help to remember that I felt the same way about the N64 upon it's release. Yes, I had fun with that system, I still play it even now, but I ended up buying the PS afterwards and played that alot more. Times are different now, the economy is struggling among other things so I really can't afford to keep up with more than 1 system, for the time being I'll enjoy my Dreamcast. Once the PS2 drops a little in price I'll pick up one.

I won't tell you what to do, but for me the choice is obvious. Besides, if I ever want to play the Gamecube I'll just go over to my friends house... he's already picked one up.

Draven

WepaMan: That's exactly how I feel. Thanks to everyone for the comments. I ended up renting a PS2 last night, with GTAIII and Devil May Cry.

Except for the fact I realized that I didn't have a memory card I had a blast with GTA. Didn't even get to DMC yet, but that's what the weekend's for.

I think I am going to go with the PS2. Thanks for the advice

Deadpool

By chance, do you think she got you a GC for Christmas to surprise you? That kind of reaction would make me think she could've gotten you one. Just a thought



At this point I thought you were going to say you rented all the games and brought a PS2 from some store near by

stingo

Indeed deadpool, those were my thoughts too - that she probably got him a Gamecube, and now he says he wasn't going to get one...