Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Well, that didn’t last long. You may recall how ecstatic I was about the consumer-unfriendly features of the Xbox One, which offered me sound and sustainable reasons to skip the next generation of gaming. I thought for sure Sony would follow Microsoft’s lead, but I was totally wrong. They’re kicking it old-school for the PS4, with hardware that honors the traditional notions of ownership, and now my erstwhile plan has been completely derailed.

There’s a part of me that’s disappointed, of course, and if that isn’t a stark manifestation of a first-world problem, I don’t know what is. Originally, I had pictured untold amounts of time and money liberated from the clutches of gaming. Some of this still holds true, I suppose, only at about half of what I imagined. I thought I would be completely free, and now, it’s more like I’m on probation. By and large, though, I’m glad to be able to gain access to the next generation and all the eye candy it has on offer.

I even went so far as to pre-order the stupid thing, a move that firmly plants me in the ninth circle of nerd. Amazon just makes it so effortless, you know? Two-day delivery, no tax, no charging until the item actually ships, no fighting the crowds. All that’s left is to determine how to fund this man-toy, and the answer is simple: eBay. I’ve finally healed from the first batch of sales, and now it’s time for round two, armed with an antiquated digital camera as I hawk the refuse of old for coin and cause.