Metacognition: Long Past? Your Past

We’re back with our “thinking about thinking” series! If you’re interested in our previous deep thoughts, check out the Metacognition series.  Join us for some deep thoughts (and maybe the occasional not-so-deep thought) about gaming. If you find one you’d like to answer, you can either comment below or write a post and share the link so we can all read your fantastic thoughts!

What consoles do you own/have you owned/would you like to own? What console (if any) do you not care if you own or not, and why? Or do you prefer PC altogether?

This seems like a huge set of questions, but they’re pretty straight-forward at the same time.

I’ve owned: Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Super Nintendo Entertainment System(SNES), Nintendo 64 (N64), Wii, PSOne, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Playstation 4.

I currently own all of these except the Super Nintendo, although I’ve recently reacquired the NES and Nintendo 64, so my game collection is much smaller than it once was.

Regarding what I would like to own, I’d go for a Nintendo Switch and a Playstation VR, although I’d want to try out the VR before purchasing… I can just about almost play first-person games without feeling like I’m going to be sick, so VR would either be terrific or horrific.

I’m not much of a PC gamer, although I used to play on the computer more when I was younger. There’s not reason for this, other than I sort of fell off the bandwagon, I suppose, and now I have neither the time nor the money to build/buy a decent rig (although my gaming laptop does the job as far as I’m concerned), and with most games I’m interested in playing being on consoles, PC really doesn’t give me anything to convince me to be a complete convert.

Regarding which console I have no interest in buying, honestly it would be any sort of Xbox. I think they’re perfectly fine systems, and I’ve been tempted to purchase one mostly so I can bother Shelby and Jennifer from Falcon Game Reviews and Nerd Thoughts Blog. But… again, with pretty much the same games being released on all platforms, I don’t see a reason to have two consoles that pretty much do the same things.

That’s sort of an interesting concept, considering how hard Sony and Microsoft try to draw lines between themselves and create separate societies around themselves. They certainly try to cater to different people at times, as we saw at the last E3, during which Microsoft – the same people who do the computer thing – tried to sell their console based on specs, while Sony – the same people who do the electronic entertainment thing – tried to sell their console for the experiences it could offer.

Pasts

Did you ever wonder if that was the real difference between Xbox and Playstation?

Microsoft has historically dealt in computers, and so it utilized those ideas – so heavily mired in not wanting people to share program discs – when it botched the “sharing” aspect of the Xbox One while simultaneously focusing on specs, which are important to computer owners/PC gamers .

Sony, on the other hand, has been mired in the world of entertainment, and had more of its thumb on the pulse of how people actually interact with entertainment media, namely wanting to have a memorable experience and be able to share it without punishment or someone watching them.

To this day, Microsoft focuses on technical prowess and Sony talks about storytelling. And sweet Nintendo just quietly plays in the corner with the young and the young-at-heart.

What about you? What consoles have you owned/do you own/do you want to own? Does each company have its own personality because of its past, or because it’s trying to create a niche for itself? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll see you soon,
~ Athena

What’s next? You can like, subscribe, and support if you like what you’ve seen!

– Support us on Patreon, become a revered Aegis of AmbiGaming, and access extra content!
– Say hello on Facebook, Twitter, and even Google+!
– Check out our Let’s Plays if you’re really adventurous!