So I still don’t have a next-gen system yet, although they’re not even “next generation” any more. There are several reasons why, most of them revolving around my lack of extra money. Beyond not being able to pay for one, I’m pretty sure if I did get one, I’d spend all my time playing games as opposed to doing the things that will eventually let me buy luxuries like soft toilet paper and the good part of the chicken. So for now, I sit, watch, and wait.

I grew up on the NES and moved to computer games, returning to consoles only two years ago, when I bought my PS2. My friend Mr. Barrows tells me that they’re planning on making 180 or so games for the PS2 in 2008, so I’m not lacking for new content.

One cheap bastard benefit of waiting is the inevitable price drops for both systems and games, but there’s another one that makes me think of literature. Now, there are a lot bad books that are published, and there are lots of really bad games that are marketed. In both cases, the crap filters away over time, and future generations are left with only the best of the past. We still read Shakespeare because he’s just that good, and I still play Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas because it’s so well done. By waiting to buy a new console, I can let the market filter out the garbage, so when I buy games, I will buy only the best. True, I miss out on being on the trendiest conversations, but I still don’t own a cell phone and only got a DVD player last year, so you can see how much that bothers me.

I wouldn’t get a Wii because I get enough exercise in real life, I have testicles, and I’m not that popular. The best game I’ve played so far is probably the one it came with: Wii Sports. Most others don’t really use the motion controls, and the ones that do mostly involve frantic and futile arm-waving. It’s all very silly and great for parties, but that’s what alcohol is for. The Wii is a great concept but I think it will be a generation or two before the reality matches the idea’s brilliance. I hope they call it the WiiWii.

So when I have enough money to really waste my time properly, it will either be a 360 or a PS3. The red ring of death bothers me and almost seems a scam designed to help out the service warranty industry. On the other hand, the lack of backwards compatibility between the PS3 and the PS2 annoys me as well. If my PS2 dies, I can't just save up and play my PS2 games when I get a PS3. That seems either stupid or greedy on Sony's part, or probably a little bit of both.

What it comes down to really are the games and, to a lesser degree, downloadable content (DLC). DLC is great and all, but it bothers me that we have to pay extra to get a complete game. The games themselves are at an interesting place. The established genres of first-person shooter, platformer, third-person sandbox, driving and crashing games, and RPGs have all been more or less perfected and repeated, so as a gamer who doesn’t really care too much about hyper-realistic blood sprays (although that is very cool), I have to wonder why its worth near a thousand dollars to get a new system and library of games. We’re soon getting to the point where it will be cheaper just to buy friends.

Speaking of which, online multiplayer is the biggest draw to a new system; being able to kill random strangers is fantastic stress relief. The PS3, for me, wins the online competition. For one, it’s free. Also, I’m not a hardcore gamer, and the super-virgins with wasted digital manipulation skills on the 360 would make pretty much any game an exercise in futility and frustration. And about Achievements: there are already things you can earn for skill and effort, and you don’t need a 360 to get them. They’re called paychecks. The only good thing about Achievements is that they give you a numerical record of the time and effort you could have spent doing something more productive.

The PS3 might win on games, just because there are two countries making them. I am a big fan of Japanese pop culture (what a surprise) and I like the idea of controlling anime schoolgirls and samurais. If there is an eventual evolution to Katamari, it will be on the PS3, and I like the quirky, odd games that only a repressive, honor-based, increasingly childless, and spiritual nation like Japan could produce.

And then there’s the Blue Ray player, which can play things at a higher definition than a dog can hear. I’ll just say that I still watch things on my VCR and leave it there. “What does ‘tracking’ mean Grandpa?”

Of course, I won’t get a really good idea of either system until I’ve played on them for a while, and I’ve played more on the PS3 than I have on the 360, but the fact that I’ve only played three games on it, GTA IV, Warhawk, and Echochrome, and will take a NYC MTA bus to do so again, says something. But then again, if I played more on a 360, I might lean back in that direction. Only time and a major economic upswing will let me know for sure.