Poll: Spend Major Clanger's Dosh!

[major_clanger]

My PC is getting rather long in the tooth (it's a bit of a Frankenstein's Computer now, but at heart is a 350 MHz K6/2, with 3.5 Gb HDD but a moderately new GeForce 2 graphics card). I've been thinking about upgrading, but the only thing that really needs more performance would be games, and having just had a chance to try out both an XBox and GameCube I am sorely tempted just to get a new console instead.

A check of my shoebox confirms that I do have some dosh (the various potential financial catastrophes that prevented us from going to Worldcon having receded, if not disappeared). A console plus some games would be £250 or so. A new PC (2GHz CPU, 60 GB HDD, GeForce 4 graphics, DVD drive etc) would be perhaps £750 - I'm planning on hanging on to my current 17" monitor until 18" flatscreens come down a bit. So, what should I do...?

[Poll #56981]

MC

Comments

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Other: You should have given us an `Other' option :-)

How about:

`Life memberships of his favourite organizations'

(this can work out to be a good investment too, if they outlive you :-)

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

But you should also try to get a broadband connection so you can kill your friends online.

Actually this does add an extra dimension to games like Half-Life and its offshoots like Counterstrike which can give them a new lease of life.

And then there are all those moral problems with various consoles, especially M$'s XBox.

You should also consider PS2 as well as XBox and Gamecube.

And remember, Halo is being ported to the PC and Mac...

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

Major Clanger Should Buy...

... a superb data analysis system to calculate the statistical significance of the results of this poll, followed by a fast on-line profiling and selection tool to determine for future polls which LJ users are most likely to give him the answer he wants - then only allow them to vote. :-) See the website of the place where I work (selling database marketing systems) for more details.

Bug

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

Well, on the basis of this the gerbils might be getting lucky!

I'm not actually sure what the next size up tank is. Their current one is about 30cm x 30 xm x 90 cm, and for the two of them plus babies that is usually fine. What might benefit them would be a *taller* tank, as this would allow use of a deep layer of peat-based bedding instead of their current inch or so of sawdust and paper shreddings. The advantage with this is that it requires changing much less often and allows the gerbils to excavate proper tunnels. However, it also makes it a darn sight harder to catch them!

MC

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

Well, re M$ there is the argument that its move beyond the OS/applications market should be encouraged on the grounds that it makes it harder for Bill to claim that the company will fall apart if its OS segment is split off. Of course the counterargument is that M$ are trying to take over the console market, but the competitive pressures are so intense that the chances of anyone doing this are tiny.

(Indeed, when we looked at different sorts of markets in my business studies course, the games console market was given in one recent textbook as a good example of a sort of market characterised by a small number of competitors, intense competition and very high costs for entering or leaving the market. Interestingly, the other common example of this sort of market is the competition between UK supermarket chains. This is actually even more intense, as customer loyalty is much more fluid.)

Not sure I fancy XBox though. It's rather big, and I don't need the DVD playback capability. Halo is very pretty, but as you note it will be ported to the PC, and I'll be buying a new PC at some point anyway.

I've been looking at the GameCube more, and am not yet convinced. It's small and neat, but so far Star Wars is the only GC game I really like the look of. I understand that Resident Evil is on its way, but if I buy a games platform I want at least half a dozen games available that I really want to play, otherwise the effective per-game cost is ridiculous.

I suppose I'd not looked at PS2 as it's, oh, two years old. But I have seen a comment that games for it continue to get better, as the stability of the platform means that programmers are getting better and better at wringing performance out of it. And the games range available is huge.

Still undecided!

MC