Jeremy Bent

My current gaming rig and beloved black monolith. I got mine through a friend for wholesale, tax-free, so I did ok in regards to the insanely high pricing for the PS3.

System: I was looking to upgrade to the PS3 as soon as I saw two things - Rock Band and Final Fantasy XIII. That was enough. Also, my PS2 only worked on alternating Tuesdays. I had a bit of money saved that was going to go to a new iPod after the death of my first one. I ended up not having to buy a new one, thanks to the generosity of my employers on my birthday back in ‘07. This money got rolled over into the PS3 purchase, along with the sale of my decrepit PS2 (very little gained there) and, heartbreakingly, my Guitar Hero collection (GH, GH2, GH: Rocks The 80s and two guitars) which would be useless on the PS3. Combined with an Amazon gift card and the return of the now-useless unopened PS2 version of GH3 I got for Christmas, I was able to afford both the system and the original Rock Band in January of ‘08.

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I have no idea what possesses me to buy these freaking things, but I bought this, I think, in the winter of ‘02. I suspect there was a sale.

System: Microsoft’s first real entry into the console world was pretty good. The controller pictured was not the one I had. I had the smaller, more comfortable PS2-esque “controller S,” which they had to introduce in Japan because people couldn’t use the monstrosity they originally released. The console itself was enormous and heavy, yes, but it boasted some excellent games and I can’t deny I got many happy hours of play out of it before selling it prior to moving to NYC. I used the money to buy an iPod. Sorry Bill.

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I saved for a while, adding $20 bill to my little stash each week to eventually buy a used PlayStation 2. I owned this from like 2002-03 and then again from 2006-08.

System: I had one of the original PlayStation 2s, which means in 2007 it stopped working consistently due to many of its plastic gears having worn out. That’s longer than many people got out of it, so who am I to complain. It also played DVDs. Sort of. I had a DVD player before I had a PS2, so I kept it because it wouldn’t freak out if there was a branching menu or a scratch on the disc.

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I don’t know what possessed me to get one, but I believe I traded in my PlayStation for this guy.

System: I know I got it freshman year of college, which might explain it. I had a crazy amount of disposable income freshman year, when all my work-study cash went to dvds and nonsense instead of what it should’ve been going to. It might have been because the Dreamcast had an adapter that let you use a computer monitor instead of a tv, and I didn’t own a tv at the time.

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I loved the Super Nintendo, but come 10th grade, there would be no denying the events of 7-7-97.

System: I remember going to Funcoland (still called Funcoland, not GameStop, at the time) to trade in my SNES and games for the original PlayStation. Final Fantasy VII was out, and it was not to be denied. In my nerdy teenage life, this was on par with like, a new album by the Beatles. Not only was it a new Squaresoft game, it was a new Final Fantasy, on a new freaking system. It would be mine. Oh yes.

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Ah, the SNES. Stately in thy countenance, worldly in thy repertoire. I definitely consider the SNES to be one of the finest gaming systems ever created.

System: I must’ve traded in my Genesis for the Super Nintendo, because I can’t remember owning the Genesis after I got the Super Nintendo. Clearly this was the right call. The SNES has so many of my all-time favorite games, it’s crazy.

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At some point in my life (around 1992 or 1993), I garnered enough cash to pick up the Sega Genesis.

System: By the time I got it, it was the late model Genny, or as it’s known, the “sexy Genesis.” I still don’t know why I would go for the Genesis over the Super Nintendo, other than the fact that the Genesis was probably cheaper. But at the time, the Genesis/Super Nintendo were on even footing in terms of popularity and I believe the Genesis had like 4 times as many games out. Looking back, I would tell myself to continue saving and get the Super Nintendo, because it’s amazing. But I’ll save my love for the SNES for later.

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Yes, I was a child in the 80s. Guess what? I had a NES.

System: We lived just outside a much nicer neighborhood, where it seemed like every kid in existence had a NES. My parents, wisely, deemed that we were allowed video games, but they would never fund the purchase of a system or games. Thus, my brother and I would frequently pool Christmas & birthday checks, along with allowance supplements, to obtain these altars of digital worship. I can remember as we proudly brought back the (at the time) ridiculously oversized box from the nearby K-Mart. My brother Andy had many friends who had already amassed wide collections of NES titles, and indeed, had gotten TWO copies of some games due to clueless relatives (we were waayyy behind the curve on NES acquisition). I can remember, on the same night we obtained the system, I plunked down a fair amount of a reserve copy of Mega Man III from one of his friends.

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In honor of the imminent arrival of my Nintendo DS Lite, I decided to do a series of posts on the ol’ blog where I go through my history with video game systems, from the first up to the DS itself. Without any further ado, let us begin a journey through the recent past.

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It’s a tense weekend for all us improv folk, but remember…

YOU… MUST… CHILL!!