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Looking over the past 10 years of my life I have many things come and go. Trading cards, pogs, marbles and well the list goes on and on and on. Fads. Are they great or a waste of money? And more importantly does this happen to consoles too?
Fads are great, amazing things. One day you may find yourself bored to death and then the next someone brings trading cards in and you all stare. And gasp and run to the nearest retailler. It's crazy, but boy is it fun. Which now brings me to my topic. Do consoles go through the same process? Are consoles the same as fads? Are they expensive, pointless garbage? Read on and find out.
The hype
When a console is due for release the hype is enormous. People pre-order and buy magazines to play the demos to make sure they have their copy. Adverts are everywhere and you're constantly talking about how cool it's going to be with your friends. So we can say the hype occurs before a release and perhaps a little after. But can the same be said for marbles, pogs, Merlin Premier League stickers and Pokemon trading cards? Well not really. The hype occurs when someone else buys them, or during the release of the item. If someone buys one then you buy one so you can be involved. It's a cycle. You only usually buy the item if you happen to pass it or someone else has it.
Price. "Uh Oh."
Buying a console can take a kilogram or two off your wallet as they don't come cheap. £150 plus £40 for the games all at once. And another £30 for extra controls. But luckily looking at this we can safely say adding them together it is quite good compared to the other fads like Pokemon cards. They may look cheap now but after a year or so of constantly going into Toys R Us for one or two more packets at £2.50 each it does add up to give you a triple digit number. Or even 4 digits.
The Next Big Thing
You have your console ready to play and wait... what's this? X Box 2 or Playstation 3 is already out. What do you do? Well I've asked 40 people at my school and 32 said they would trade in their old one and buy the new one, 7 said they'd keep their old one and the last guy said he'd never played a console in his life. Regarding this it looks as though people are treating their consoles like fads. Fads are exactly the same. You get £100 worth of Pokemon cards and are ready to play. After 2 weeks or so Magic cards hit the stores and everyone goes to buy them. No need for these anymore.
Selling Your Old Unwanted Stuff
GAME, Gamestation and any games store will take your console off you hands for around half the price. Give or take. After buying your console it loses value and becomes less wanted after a new console has been released. Unless it's a rare game or one that isn't made any more. Pokemon cards and other fads can be worth money if you find the right guy. Some cards can be worth £50! But usually after you buy something like this you usually try to get rid of them and no one wants it so you're stuck with them.
The Aftermath
After buying a console and owning it for quite some time you'll find that it's still worth keeping, even if you are getting a new one. Classics like Goldeneye and Mario 64 can never be beaten and you'll keep going back to play again. Heck! I still have my Snes! But with fads sadly this is hardly ever the case. My brother bought hundreds of pounds of cards and pogs and marbles and not once has he got the out again. Never.
So after looking through this I think it is safe to say that we treat our consoles as if they were fads. Exchanging them for a better and new thing. But then again it is for the better. Would you rather be playing the Snes than a PS2 or Gamecube? Think about it. But the main difference I can see is that we keep our consoles whereas fads are lost forever and never touched again.
The main reason I can think of is the constant competition going on between Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. Trying to beat each other is resulting in slight up-grades in small periods. It's making consoles more of a fad than a treasure.
So remember, don't treat your consoles like fads. They are much more than just some phase that will pass. They are fun forever.
Thanks for reading
Fads are great, amazing things. One day you may find yourself bored to death and then the next someone brings trading cards in and you all stare. And gasp and run to the nearest retailler. It's crazy, but boy is it fun. Which now brings me to my topic. Do consoles go through the same process? Are consoles the same as fads? Are they expensive, pointless garbage? Read on and find out.
The hype
When a console is due for release the hype is enormous. People pre-order and buy magazines to play the demos to make sure they have their copy. Adverts are everywhere and you're constantly talking about how cool it's going to be with your friends. So we can say the hype occurs before a release and perhaps a little after. But can the same be said for marbles, pogs, Merlin Premier League stickers and Pokemon trading cards? Well not really. The hype occurs when someone else buys them, or during the release of the item. If someone buys one then you buy one so you can be involved. It's a cycle. You only usually buy the item if you happen to pass it or someone else has it.
Price. "Uh Oh."
Buying a console can take a kilogram or two off your wallet as they don't come cheap. £150 plus £40 for the games all at once. And another £30 for extra controls. But luckily looking at this we can safely say adding them together it is quite good compared to the other fads like Pokemon cards. They may look cheap now but after a year or so of constantly going into Toys R Us for one or two more packets at £2.50 each it does add up to give you a triple digit number. Or even 4 digits.
The Next Big Thing
You have your console ready to play and wait... what's this? X Box 2 or Playstation 3 is already out. What do you do? Well I've asked 40 people at my school and 32 said they would trade in their old one and buy the new one, 7 said they'd keep their old one and the last guy said he'd never played a console in his life. Regarding this it looks as though people are treating their consoles like fads. Fads are exactly the same. You get £100 worth of Pokemon cards and are ready to play. After 2 weeks or so Magic cards hit the stores and everyone goes to buy them. No need for these anymore.
Selling Your Old Unwanted Stuff
GAME, Gamestation and any games store will take your console off you hands for around half the price. Give or take. After buying your console it loses value and becomes less wanted after a new console has been released. Unless it's a rare game or one that isn't made any more. Pokemon cards and other fads can be worth money if you find the right guy. Some cards can be worth £50! But usually after you buy something like this you usually try to get rid of them and no one wants it so you're stuck with them.
The Aftermath
After buying a console and owning it for quite some time you'll find that it's still worth keeping, even if you are getting a new one. Classics like Goldeneye and Mario 64 can never be beaten and you'll keep going back to play again. Heck! I still have my Snes! But with fads sadly this is hardly ever the case. My brother bought hundreds of pounds of cards and pogs and marbles and not once has he got the out again. Never.
So after looking through this I think it is safe to say that we treat our consoles as if they were fads. Exchanging them for a better and new thing. But then again it is for the better. Would you rather be playing the Snes than a PS2 or Gamecube? Think about it. But the main difference I can see is that we keep our consoles whereas fads are lost forever and never touched again.
The main reason I can think of is the constant competition going on between Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. Trying to beat each other is resulting in slight up-grades in small periods. It's making consoles more of a fad than a treasure.
So remember, don't treat your consoles like fads. They are much more than just some phase that will pass. They are fun forever.
Thanks for reading
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LOL! I still need to get No Mercy for the N64. I played my friends one and it rocks. I can't find it anywhere though. I'm going to go into town tomorrow though. But if anyone can help, please do.
I recently bought some rolls of wallpaper and a couple of tins of emulsion from my mates X-Box?
I still have my Snes. Although I suck at Donkey Kong Country it is still great fun to play. I can't believe people only pay £10 for the Snes. It's crazy!
Cheers guys. I'll keep that in mind.
Ghost Killer
Mega drive is worth keeping They have such great classics on like the Sonic Collection?
Why not Buy the Sonic Mega Collection on Gamecube, 7-8 Sonic Games all in one.
Mega drive is worth keeping They have such great classics on like the Sonic Collection?
Why not Buy the Sonic Mega Collection on Gamecube, 7-8 Sonic Games all in one.
what an idiot.
i only sold my PS! to get a GC, i keepevrytin else
SNES rulz
i only sold my PS! to get a GC, i keepevrytin else
SNES rulz
My friend traded in his Snes yesterday. What an idiot. It told him what a mistake he made and he didn't listen. See the fad is happening already.
The nes and snes pads were awful though, they killed your hands if you played on them alot, which I often did.
sore memories
sore memories
the snes was the best console ever, for sure, it may not have the capabilities of the GC but it had the best games - Mario Kart all the way
Good for you. I feel Snes and Mega drive are worth way more. They have such great classics on like the Sonic Collection and the Mario series. You can never preplace them. Unless they're released for the GBA.
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