Game console status?

I’m keeping a mental running tally of the relative values of game consoles I could purchase. That shifted one way a tiny bit yesterday while talking to Pi, then shifted slightly back the other way today.

He pointed out another traditional RPG for the Xbox360 that wasn’t on my list. It, Enchanted Arms (Link dead), was good enough to go on my “might-want” / “possible rental” list. I also found another Xbox game to add to the list bringing the “must have” total to 4 games for the 360. Scanning through various lists brought the might want and rental list up to 4-5. Still needs 2-3 more must-have games before I’d consider it at $300, but getting closer. Before I started looking it was 3 must-have and with about 2-3 rentals. 

Enchanted arms, according to the above link, won’t be an Xbox360 exclusive. Lucky for Pi, it won’t affect my decision to purchase or not purchase the xbox360. If Gears of War, Blue Dragon, or jade empire went to PS3 then it would be a huge blow to my chances of buying it. 

Xbox? Still only 1 game. Jade Empire. Only about 3 games I’d like to try on rental (or buy from Pi. :) 

PSP is up to about 5 games, and will be on the must-buy list in November when it gets PS1 emulation… (It’ll be 7-10 games more on the must-have list when that happens. :)

Wii? There’s currently no real games I want for it. The old game emulation throws it to 1-2 must-have game weights, but the descriptions of the control schemes just make me want to go hide in a cave… It needs only about 7 points for me to buy it though if its $250 compared to 8-11 points for a $300-400 Xbox.

The last 3 times I bypassed this method of selection I got burned quite a bit… The Gamecube still has only had about 5 games I like made for it. The DS? 2. I actually had the DS for 6 months before I bought my first game for it… used it for playing GBA games. The Tapwave Zodiac? I bought 2 games for it and both of them sucked. At least it was a good PDA for that time… 

Where this scheme succeeded? PS2, PS1, GBA, Dreamcast (Yes, the dreamcast had more games I enjoyed than the Gamecube does.) N64 worked out too because I only paid $50 for it at a yard sale. That $50 was worth the 4 games for it.

The PS3 will only be the 3rd time I buy a console within a couple months of its launch. There’s already 6 must-have points scheduled even before its released. At my above scheme the $500 PS3 needs about 12 points before I’d consider it, but I’m going off sony’s past strength here and rooting for the FUD target/underdog. With luck, it won’t be like the prior two launch hardware purchases that let me down… (Curse you Tapwave Zodiac and Nintendo DS! Given the chance, I’d probably buy the tapwave again just to see if they’d actually survive this time… I guess I’m a sucker for the $400+ underdog.)