Strictly speaking, people don’t switch between games console manufacturers these days.
The bonds between the consumer and their console run so deep that they don’t even begin thinking about swapping sides come the release of the newest console generation. But I’ve got to hold my hands up, I am one of those seldom few who does, and god forbid I have done it multiple times over my gaming lifetime.
My gaming history starts off on arguably the most important console that I have ever owned, the beautiful Sega Mega Drive. My childhood days were filled with Sonic and Knuckles, Pete Sampras tennis, worms blowing each other apart and of course, casually flying around in an attack helicopter on Desert Storm. Looking back on the mega drive, is like looking back upon a book you really enjoyed. It was fantastic and enthralling while it lasted, but when it finished, you always want something more. I got that something more when my parents bought me an original playstation for christmas 1997, and on that day, my life changed forever. My love of Sony started there and then on that cold christmas morning. Crash bandicoot was in my life, I had a controller with 4 buttons and my console played discs. Everything seemed so new and excited for a boy so used to blowing on cartridges.
Fast forward to present day and Ive been through the Playstation, the PS2 and now I’m onto my 3rd xbox 360, having had 2 big old grey ones die from red ring of death. The PS2 was amazing, and some of the games on it were outstanding. It really was a console that I have a lot of love for, I’ve still got my original model but there came a point where I wanted a change and so I bought myself the xbox 360 and have never looked back since. Until now.
In the years between buying my first xbox 360 and now I have played a lot of games, some have been incredible for single player, multiplayer, or both. But one constant through it all has been the 360. Its served me amazingly well down the years and I’ve had some truly amazing experiences playing it, Call of Duty 4, Grand Theft Auto 5, Battlefield 3 and many other games. I even developed and had a long standing affair with World Of Warcraft eschewing into the realms of PC gaming. Things eventually broke down, we keep meaning to get back together for another go, but the time isn’t right just yet.
So, as we cross into the next generation i’m going back to Sony and getting a Playstation 4.
There’s a few reason I’m moving to Playstation 4. The first being my friends, we all play games together, online and at each others houses. Currently we all have xbox 360s and we’re quite content with them, all happy battling away on Battlefield 4. Some friends however have PS3s aswell and they made the call on getting the new PS4. If I’m honest, I’m actually very excited for this change. Things are going to be drastically different and Im eager to see how we’ll all adapt to this new gaming environment and what it’s going to be like…
Continuing in Part 2 coming soon.
Rhys Gibson / @rhysleopards