Opinion: PlayStation has come Full Circle for me
While most people went from Nintendo console to console (and handheld to handheld) as kids, I started gaming with PlayStation. The PS1 turned twenty recently, and it was the first home console I owned. I got to play on a SNES and NES at cousin’s houses and such, but never owned anything until my aunt in the US happened to ask if I wanted a PlayStation. I had only heard a little about it from friends at the time, but hey, it played video games and I wanted a video game console.
I ended up with a PlayStation along with Tekken. I still remember the journey to the airport to pick up my aunt. Getting the PlayStation is one my happiest memories. I spent days playing wrestling games on it. I was a huge WWE (WWF, then) fan back in the attitude era. I even discovered region locking the hard way when a PAL copy of WWF Warzone bought locally in India wouldn’t work, with all the drama that ensued. As a kid, having unregulated (for a few days) access to wrestling games led to the PlayStation being given away so I could focus on studying. I don’t blame my parents for it now – I understand why it had to be done. Back then it was a horrible feeling seeing your console and games get packed up and given away. I only got to play home console games on the PS2 at friend’s houses so I completely missed out on that era of games barring the wrestling games.
After getting an iPod touch second generation for my birthday, I ended up getting back into gaming through whatever was available on the App Store. I played Prince of Persia Retro (not the terrible Classic HD version), and discovered how much I loved playing on a portable device. I never owned a Nintendo handheld, either, until last year. A friend of mine who collects every console and has multiple variants of each console was kind enough to lend me his Xbox 360 when Fez was released so I could play it. Fez on Xbox 360 and Sworcery on iOS got me back to playing games and not just using games as a distraction or time waster. To this day, Spelunky on Xbox 360 is one of my favourite games. It is to modern times what wrestling games were to me as a kid. I still can’t get over how much I enjoy playing it nearly everyday.
The same friend who loaned me the Xbox 360 also told me to consider buying a PlayStation Vita. I scoffed at the idea of buying a handheld with a lower resolution screen than my iPad. Sound Shapes involving Superbrothers and Jim Guthriem being PlayStation exclusive was the first time I considered owning a Vita. When Spelunky was announced for Sony’s handheld and I discovered a lot of games I enjoyed on Xbox 360 and PlayStation either being available on Vita ,or coming soon, I took the plunge.
Buying the Vita along with a massively overpriced 32GB memory card in August 2013 was the best gaming decision I have made. It has gotten me into JRPGs, let me discover classics like Vagrant Story, it’s helped me relive childhood memories with games like Tomba!, and do so much more. I’ve spent way too much time playing Persona 4 Golden and Final Fantasy X HD.
Having these amazing console games on a handheld console is astounding. GTA V was a major factor into getting me to buy a PS4 two months ago. The other important factor was being able to play games like Metro Redux and GTA V on a handheld via remote play. Regardless of what people say about each console available, I always find some gems in the catalogue. I’ve spent way too much time playing Final Fantasy XIV on PS4, and I never thought I’d ever get into MMOs. While playing WWE 2K15 last week, I realised gaming had come full circle for me, and took me back to those days where I played WWF Warzone after school on PlayStation.
I’m cautiously optimistic for both these platforms in 2015, with games like Cosmic Star Heroine and Persona 5 on the roster. I also look forward to getting a Wii U in a few months because I’ve missed out on a lot from the Wii and Wii U platforms, but that’s a story for another day.
