What sold you on your system?
There's always a lot of industry talk about "system selling titles." In marketing speak, at least these days, that usually means "Games with a 4 in the title somewhere."
To us gamers, though, a system seller is just a game that finally made up our minds to buy a given system. Doesn't have to be a blockbuster, just a game that piques the interest enough to get us to spend the money.
So, what were your system sellers? Console or PC, doesn't matter. What made you decide you wanted to play games on the platform(s) you play games on?
I'll go first, going through my history chronologically. I'm not proud of all of these, so don't judge me too harshly. 
Atari 2600: Don't remember, though I recall playing a lot of River Raid and Moonsweeper.
Nintendo NES: Batman
Sega Game Gear: Mortal Kombat (I was in the "blood = good game" phase of my life, also known as high school)
Atari Jaguar: Aliens Vs. Predator (which I still maintain is one of the better sprite-based FPSs out there)
Nintendo 64: Turok. Rented the system and this game to try it out and was blown away. After I bought the system and the game, I played it through enough to realize the game wasn't all that good. But I still bought Turok 2!
Dreamcast: Soul Calibur
iMac: The Sims (like I said, I'm not proud of all of these sales )
Sony Playstation 2: Grand Theft Auto 3 (I was getting toward the end of my "if it pisses off certain people, it's a great game" phase)
Gamecube: BMX XXX... just kidding. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (more for my wife. She's a big Zelda fan, and the 'Cube was a wedding present.)
Game Boy Advance: Super Monkey Ball, and the ability to play ports of old NES and SNES games on the road.
PSP: Pursuit Force and Me and My Katamari. I have since traded in PF, because it's too fricken' hard for someone who's already lousy at driving games.
PS3: The combination of the new Incredible Hulk game and Vikings: Battle for Asgard (I'm beyond my "blood = good game" phase, but I can still get behind hacking evil undead vikings to bits with an axe)
I've owned a PC laptop since before I got the PS2, but I didn't buy it for gaming. I use it for gaming from time to time, but I don't consider it my main platform for gaming.
L337 is not a word. BA7F is a word.
My most recent one was Culdcept Saga for the 360; I had no intention of getting a 360, but the fact that Culdcept Saga is (cruelly) available only on the 360 left me with no choice, given my wide, wide love for the PS2 version of Culdcept.
Metroid Prime for the Gamecube; I hadn't owned a home console since the original NES before the gamecube. My girlfriend and I played through Metroid Fusion on the GBA and had such a great time with it that we thought we'd hunt up some more new Metroid stuff. We saw a display kiosk at Wal*Mart, played Prime for about an hour and enjoyed it so much that we began to look for a system. The deal was sealed when they had a cool black gamecube with Metroid Prime included as a bonus!
Dragon Warrior VII for the PS2 (Yes, I know it's a PS1 title, but I discovered it in 2001.)
8-bit quizzes: http://www.pucemoose.com/g-quizindex.htm
Xbox Live: aFifthofGin aFifthofGin + Frank Sinatra's Hotdog Hut
Dreamcast: Soul Calibur
PS2: Guitar Hero
Fedaykin98 wrote:
Gamers With Jobs - 360: Everyone here praised it so much and Dead Rising sounded so much fun, that I had to pick it up. It is a purchase that I will never regret, until the next Red Ring of Death that is
"Uranus is positioned for summer surprises." - from Tarot.com's mailing list
Xbox Live Gamertag - Yoreel
I've owned pretty much all of the systems over the last ten years...
My 360-- GTAIV
My SNES-- My parents took my brother and I to the only CES show that was open to the public (the year it was in chicago). I got to play around with it there, and got hooked on Super Mario World... as soon as I got home, I went to TRU and plunked down my $129.99 (or whatever it was). First game system I bought with my own money.
My PS2-- Hype, coupled with my love of the PS1. Bought at launch.
My PSP-- Hype. Bought at launch.
My Genesis-- bought 3 years ago at goodwill.
My Dreamcast-- Bought right at the system's death at Gamestop. I was a "hater" for a while, but realized it had a great library and was worth owning.
My N64-- bought to play Zelda; came in a bundle pack at Sam's Club.
My xbox-- bought used several years after system launch. No one specific title...
My Gamecube-- can't remember
My NES/Atari 2600-- bought for my brother and me by our parents
My DS-- bought a DS phatty used, 3 months after launch, and immediately sold it to one of my students (game selection was garbage). Re-bought a Slim on launch day... New SMB was a big part of it.
xbox LIVE: NatsuMatto
That's What She Said -- A Podcast About NBC's THE OFFICE
Original Gameboy: Link's Awakening
NES: Mario series
SNES: Super Mario World
Genesis: Sonic series
N64: Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time.
Gamecube: Was a present, but my wife got it because she knew I wanted Rogue Leader and Rebel Strike.
Wii: Gamecube backwards compatibility, Wii Sports, House of the Dead 2&3.
DS: Nintendogs for my wife. Zelda: A Link to the Past (GBA), Brain Age, and Puzzle Quest for me.
And while I don't own one, if I get some decent money coming in I'd like to grab a PS2 for the Guitar Hero games. And We Love Katamari for the wife.
IronClad Online: PurEvil
NES, Game Boy, Super NES, DOS PC, Genesis, Windows PC, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Newer Windows PC, Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance, Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Newer Windows PC, Xbox 360, PSP, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3: They play games.
I'm a gamer, and if the device plays games, I want it. There are times when I can't get every system I want, but for me, anything with more to offer than a Phillips CD-i is a box that I want.
I can only think of a few games where I specifically chose one system for that game.
Dreamcast: NFL2K (and the promise of a future football game that uses the dial-up modem, which came as NFL2K1)
Xbox: Ethernet port. It was the first console with a built-in Ethernet port, and it was obvious that it was going to be used.
PlayStation 3: SOCOM.
PSP: WipeOut Pure, which was originally talked about as a remake of WipeOut XL, but turned out to be "just" a return-to-form, which was more than good enough.
Gaming / PC Tech Blog: www.blastprocessing.net
Xbox Live: Legion SB | PSN: Legion_SB
Stop whatever crap you're playing and join us in SOCOM.
Prior to the NES the only games my parents allowed in the house were Carmen Sandiego and Oregon trail on the Apple IIGS. I had to go to friend's houses to get my fix
NES - Probably Ikari Warriors or Rampage both of which have not aged well.
Game Boy - Zelda (don't remember the subtitle) Awesome game for long trips.
Genesis - Golden Axe - I guess I just liked beat em ups.
PC (486) - Doom - Self explanatory. Prior to that, the only other really cool computer games I played were "Sim" games and "Out of this World" on an old color Apple. Doom's graphics just blew me away.
Saturn - Sega Arcade Racing ports & Virtua Fighter
N64 - Mario 64
Dreamcast - Sega faith (and soul caliber wasn't too shabby!)
xBox - Halo
DS - The promise of another portable Zelda which came allot later then expected.
360 - Perfect Dark 0 & GRAW. PD0 turned out to be an average shooter but I was really impressed with GRAW.
I never owned the SNES or PS b/c I had a good friend that lived next door who had them. Super Mario World and Mario Kart would have sold me on an SNES & Resident Evil & GT for the PS.
Edit: Added DS in b/c I forgot about it.
Xbox Gamertag: Armchair Jockey
Ikari Warriors is awesome, but controlling it with a single D-pad is not.
Gaming / PC Tech Blog: www.blastprocessing.net
Xbox Live: Legion SB | PSN: Legion_SB
Stop whatever crap you're playing and join us in SOCOM.
PC (Commodore VIC20) - you typed in your own programs on this one; I had a wicked cool Breakout variant I coded
NES - drunken Super Mario Brothers in college
Genesis - my daughters bought it at a garage sale with a bunch of games
N64 - Zelda Zelda Zelda
PS - Wild 9, Gex: Enter the Gecko, Metal Gear Solid and bunchteen others
Dreamcast - Sonic Adventure II, Soul Caliber, Fur Fighters, and Space Channel 5
xBox - bought at launch for most of the launch list; the Parental Controls are what really sold me the system
PS2 - Metal Gear Solid 2, Final Fantasy X
360 - bought at launch for pretty much most of the launch list
DS - just sort of hit critical mass on a bunch of titles and got a really excellent deal offered to me
PS3 - Metal Gear Solid 4 or Final Fantasy XIII (whichever came first) ; I've got a list of other titles we're going back and getting now that we bought the hardware
Duoae wrote:
Dreamcast: NFL 2k
Xbox: GWJ + NFL 2k5? 3?
Xbox 360: GWJ and all the talk about the new iteration of Live. It just burned me that I wasn't able to do all the nifty things on my Xbox. By the time I bought it, Dead Rising, PGR3, and GRAW were the top selling points.
NDS: Mario Kart DS!
XBox Live/X-fire: firesloth
It was this year's The Show for the PS3 (not to mention the HD-DVD format going under).
Wii Sports and the now-fulfilled promise of Mario Kart for the Wii.
The 360? I don't know... some blend of Live, product loyalty (now dissipated) and techno-lust, I guess.
Lucky Ghost: Network Stars
Not too many systems from me. I don't remember getting into game hype until after I had the early systems. I really wanted an for baseball, but my parents never got me one, as we had an Atari. So the 2600, C64, and the and the NES, were purchased for system hype more than game hype. By the time it came down to my money, here's what sold me.
SNES - Madden 94 and Super Mario World
PC - The Internet
Dreamcast - NFL 2K1
I bought this within a month of Sega shutting it down. I bought it used on eBay for $140, and I got NFL 2K1, Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventure 2, Soul Caliber, and crappy driving game I don't remember. That package led me to believe that gamers were retarded, and I would have to get used to quality losing out to mass merchandising over and over. It was the closest to gaming perfection of any system I have ever played.
Gamecube - NFL 2K3 and Zelda: Wind Waker
I had never played a Zelda game in my life, but I really wanted to get a new system so I could play the new NFL 2K game. My wife and daughter were intrigued by the commercial for Wind Waker. So when it came time to buy, I chose the GC over the Xbox because of Zelda.
Xbox - Deus Ex: Invisible War (obviously I had not played it first!) and PGR 2
I had no real need for an Xbox, but my brother finally convinced my wife to buy me one so we could race on PGR 2. But it was really the opportunity to play Invisible War that excited me. Well, PGR 2 was great! It took a while, but I learned to love first person shooters on a console because of Halo. Made it very easy to junk my PC.
Mac - Lack of Windows
Gameboy (daughter's choice) - Pokemon, Pokemon, and Pokemon
Xbox 360 - PGR 3
I didn't buy this, and despite how much I wanted to play PGR 3, I'm not sure I was close to getting one when I lucked out in my first donation drive. I definitely kicked my $$$ in order for a chance to play it. Like Invisible War before it, I was underwhelmed by the game. But the 360 won me over completely. Can't call it gaming perfection like the Dreamcast, because there are too many little issues. But it is my favorite console ever because it does so much right.
DS (daughter's choice) - Nintendogs
Wii - Zelda: Twilight Princess
PSP (for the wife) - Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core
My wife wanted to play an adult version of FF after having played quite a bit of Crystal Chronicles. We really didn't want another console, as two already feels like too many, so the PSP was a fun choice for her. While she enjoyed Crisis Core, she decided to wait until she finished Lost Odyssey on the 360 first. But the game she is now obsessed with is Patapon.
Xbox Live: JayhawkerGWJ
last.fm: JayhawkerGWJ
Atari 2600: Combat & Space Invaders
Atari 5200: Pac-Man
Intellivision: Sports Games lineup (Skiing and Baseball more specifically)
Vectrex: Armor Attack
TI-99: Parsec
NES: Mega Man 2
GameBoy (brick): Tetris & Chessmaster
Genesis: Sonic 1 (Sega CD: Sonic CD)
SNES: Super Mario World
N64: SNES
PSX: Resident Evil 1
Dreamcast: Crazy Taxi (Don't laugh, I played it at a Best Buy kiosk and bought a DC on the spot.)
PC: Half-Life
Xbox: PGR & hard-drive (custom soundtracks)
360: Xbox
GameCube: Metroid Prime
PSP: that sexy screen and Lumines
GBA SP/Micro: Advance Wars 1 & 2
SNES: After playing Sonic on my uncles Genesis I told my mom I wanted one for my birthday. Instead she got me an SNES bundled with Donkey Kong Country and I never looked back.
Gameboy, GBC: Both Gifts.
N64: Got it for my birthday, I NEEDED Mario 64.
Dreamcast: Got one for christmas the year it was released. I played the crap out of Shenmue and Jet Grind Radio.
PS2: Pure hype! I saved up some extra cash and got it without any games!
Gamecube: 50% hype, 50% the inevitable release of another Zelda. Wind Waker is amazing.
Xbox: Halo and counter-strike of all games.
DS: Besides the shine factor, Mario 64 DS.
$1500 gaming rig: Bioshock, Orange Box, and a bunch of other games I couldn't run on my old hardware.
Wii: Twilight Princess.
360: Call of Duty 4, Halo 3 (sucks), Mass Effect, and GTA4.
PSP: Besides the hackage, Jeanne d'Ark.
Oh, I forgot one. I think I got my original PC (286) to play Star Control 1.
The Atari 800 and Intellivision were family purchases that I had no input into. If I had to pick games for them that would "sell" them, I'd say Ultima 4 or Alternate Reality: The Dungeon for the Atari, and ...... probably TRON Deadly Discs for the Intellivision.
Fedaykin98 wrote:
Every system I own: the fact that it was released
Beware the Gazebo
BGG: Deliverator
Veteran Gamers' Board: PretzNChz
I pretty much bought my 360 to play Carcassonne. Halo 3 was a nice reason as well, but mostly Carcassone.
It ought never to be forgotten that the past is the parent of the present ~ J.C.Calhoun
"Your broken corpses will taste delicious lightly seasoned with nutmeg." ~ The Creature in the Darkness
Space Invaders! That's what drove us to badger the parents into getting us one! I almost forgot!
No laughs here. It not only hooked my wife on gaming, I had several friends that bought a Dreamcast after playing Crazy Taxi with us. In fact, I'm pretty sure my brother, Infinitely Loopy bought a Dreamcast after playing Crazy Taxi. In fact, I'd say Crazy Taxi, if not a system seller, definitely was a technology seller for many, many, casual gamers.
Xbox Live: JayhawkerGWJ
last.fm: JayhawkerGWJ
Gotta agree with you there. That blazing 60 fps wrapped around a big, bright & colorful world certainly sold me. Oh yeah, that and The Offspring (Yah! Yah! Yah!...Yah! Yah!).
Atari 2600: My parents bought it and it was an Atari.
Commodore 64: Way of the Exploding fist, Archon, and Mail Order Monsters.
SNES: Street Fighter II
PSX: Tekken 2
PS2: Tekken Tag Tournament
Xbox: nothing in particular. PS2 started acting up so I figured I would try something else.
PS3: blu-ray movies and Soul Caliber 3. Chose the PS3 over a 360 because of the movies, though.
Getting killed, though? In a way that you don't like? Suck it up, Gertrude.
Atari 2600 - I'm pretty sure my father bought it for himself.
NES - Same deal as above.
SNES - Super Mario World
Sega Genesis - Sonic the Hedgehog (1)
Sega 32X - Knuckles Chaotix
Virtual Boy - "New! Shiny!" syndrome
Game Boy - Tetris
N64 - Super Mario 64
Dreamcast - Sonic Adventure (1)
PlayStation - Final Fantasy VII
Game Boy Advance - Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
PS2 - SSX
GameCube - Luigi's Mansion
DS - Kirby Canvas Curse
PSP - Mega Man Powered Up
360 - Gears of War
Wii - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
As you can see, there was never a "waiting period" when a new system came out. My brother and I just wanted it and we always picked launch titles to play. We usually got the system for Christmas that same year. I didn't start waiting for "the one game" until late in my high school years.
XBL / Art / Blog / Buy me!
All Nintendos (except Wii, don't have one) - Marios, Mario Karts, Super Smash Brothers
PS2 - Guitar Hero
PC - gaming in general.
PS1 - Final Fantasy VII
PS2 - Final Fantasy X
PS3 - Final Fantasy versus XIII
Xbox - Project Gotham Racing
Xbox 360 - Project Gotham Racing 3
GameCube - Tales of Symphonia
I had other consoles, but since I didn't exactly buy them... I figure no point in listing them.
Xbox Live: Nei HD | Playstation ID: Nei_GWJ | Too Human | simExchange
NES - Can't recall one specific title. I just knew that my neighbour had this thing and I begged my parents to get me one.
SNES - Actraiser. Seeing and hearing that in action excited me on a level I've rarely gotten to since.
PC - It was Day of the Tentacle (the non-talkie version) and Jagged Alliance which were both illegally installed on the PC's in my first year of high school. It made me die to own them when my family finally decided to invest in a very pricey 386DX.
PC again - After completely losing interest in gaming from late high school all the way to the third year of university, I finally invested in a new computer. It was an integrated graphics chip, so it couldn't play much, but after Neverwinter Nights, Max Payne, and NOLF, I suddenly recalled why I loved it so much.
XBOX - I purchased this console for no other reason than to play KOTOR, even though I wasn't a sci-fi fan nor did I care for the Star Wars universe. This started two trends in my gaming life that still exist to this day: a) Huge fanboyism for BioWare and b) A desire to make expensive, frivolous gaming purchases made even more insane by the fact that I tend to spend more time reading, listening to, and writing about video gaming than I do actually playing games. (For evidence of this, see below or my thread in the tech forums).
Wii - I don't know what to say other than it looked like fun.
360 - Bought it because so many people were talking about games on it that I felt like I was missing out. Plus, my DVD player was starting to die out anyways. Plus, I was aching for a way to stream media from my PC to my television.
HDTV - Bought it because it seemed wasteful to own a 360 and not have an HDTV to play it on.
PS3 - Bought it because it seemed wasteful to own an HDTV and not have a Blu-ray player for it.
I would think the first rule of PR is to ignore forum people, because they vacillate between crazy and liar. - Elysium
In chronological order.
I can't remember if I bought my snes or not but I was hoping to find a copy of U.N. Squadron. One of the best shmups.
I bought the Playstation because of the commercial for Warhawk, even though I had played Panzer Dragoon in the store and it was one of the best gaming experiences I had ever had. What can I say, I know how to pick winners.
I bought the Playstation 2 because of Twisted Metal: Black(so really I bought because of TM1-4). In fact, it was the first ps2 game I bought. I was hoping there would someday be another wipeout as well. I'm still hoping.
Game Boy Advance SP. I bought it because of Castlevania: Circle of the Moon which looked an awful lot like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, oh and the regular GBA looked awful.
PC, Freespace 2. I happened to see a copy at Big Lots of all places, read the description, bought it instantly, and had to wait a few months before I could play. I'm just lucky it was an old game cause I was stuck with a gf4mx for years.
Nintendo DS vs PSP. The greatest battle of all time! As it relates to video game system purchases. I knew the DS had Castlevania. I knew the PSP had Twisted Metal & Wipeout and was more powerful. The DS was cheaper so it won and I'm quite happy with that.
PC upgrade, UT2k4 What's worse is that the SOB still doesn't run that fast and I still suck at it. FPS controls are just so very very counterintuitive to how people/anything in existence move(s) and I didn't grow up in that genre.
Go buy Bangai-O Spirits and make some levels!
What sold me on the 360, my first console, was the cost I was looking at to upgrade my PC.
And Guitar Hero 2.
kuddles wrote:
Sega Genesis: Sonic, Sonic, and more Sonic. I played other games on it, loved Mortal Kombat, but Sonic was my true love at the time.
Nintendo 64: No clue. Honestly. I think it was probably something along the lines of going with Sega the first time I went with Nintendo the next. Sure I missed out on the PlayStation bandwagon completely but I did play the first 3D platformers like Zelda and Mario. And lo, they were good.
PC: Going to college. I got some amount for a computer, so I doubled it with my own money and got a good gaming rig for the first time since my parent's 386. Upgraded it for a while.
Nintendo Gamecube: I like Nintendo games. Really. my college roommate got a PlayStation 2 so I felt no need to double up. And I love me some Nintendo.
Nintendo Wii: I like Nintendo games. Also one was available for the low price of $250 and waiting line at 5am. Easy enough. The hype over the control scheme and party games helped, but it was mainly for the Nintendo titles.
Xbox 360: jRPGs. Specifically Lost Oddysey, Blue Dragon, and Eternal Sonata. Knowing that I could play Bioshock (my computer wasn't near good enough at the time) and had access to the back library made it a pretty good buy.
PC: I got a bonus! What better way to spend it than to buy a kick-ass gaming rig for all those PC games I love. I'm sorry but the control method for FPS games on consoles simply does not cut it. I also got to play games like The Witcher and STALKER, plus Orange Box on PC. It was due for an upgrade, the bonus just made it come faster.
Playstation 3: A $100 gift card. I know it isn't much but I'm going to want it to play jRPGs coming out, quirky little games I hear of, better versions of some multiplatform games, and I doubted (still do) it dropping more than a hundred bucks this summer. So sure, why not?
Remember, only by treating everyone with dignity and respect can we maintain the element of surprise for that inevitable day when we wipe our enemies from the face of the Earth.
For clarification, "bnpederson" is pronounced "Brian."
PC - Monkey Island and Quest series (particularly Police Quest) since most of my friends were talking about it at school
Genesis/Megadrive - Golden Axe!
SNES - Street Fighter 2 easily followed by Mario Kart had SF2 not been around.
3DO - Need for Speed, followed by Road Rash and Wing Commander 3 which I could never run at the time I got it (on a 486 DX2/66) and ended up selling.
PSX - This was golden era, I'd probably say Squaresoft's entire lineup along with other things like Twisted Metal and Tekken 2, but there wasn't much that I absolutely OMFG had to have at launch though. Maybe Toshinden lol.
Dreamcast - Soul Calibur!! The soul still burns!
PS2 - War of attrition but missing out on multiple Suikoden games constantly hammered at me until I broke down.
360 - XNA Creators Club lol. It took me awhile since a cursory examination of AAA titles didn't reveal much that would interest me and I actually worried that I wouldn't have anything to play on it. This along with the PS2 was the begat my "you only know a system after you've bought it" philosophy
PS3 - Heavenly Sword, backwards compatibility, Bluray.
PSP - Crisis Core, GoW2 (in the-then future), Jeanne Darc when I got it.
DS - Phoenix Wright, Hotel Dusk and numerous adventure games that I would have preferred on the PC. Didn't find out about all the other gems until later *after I bought it* again
I've been a PC gamer for such a long time that I don't think there was a specific game that got me started. All I can remember is that I was completely in love the first time I saw a game.
Consoles, on the other hand, I'm way late to the party with. What finally convinced me to get a Xbox 360 (my first proper console) was Mass Effect. I felt quite sure that BioWare would eventually release a PC port, but for once I wasn't prepared to wait. Luckily the purchase was a solid one and I've been discovering the joys of console gaming for around 6 months now.
Swing harder! Swing harder!
-- Lilarcor, Baldur's Gate 2
Oh lord, what a list there is...
Pong: Heh...Pong. Dad bought this one for us.
Atari 400: Another Dad buy, he mainly bought this for me due to my interest in computers but it played some awesome games. Though I will have to say that if there was a particular game that would have made me bought this, it would've been Star Raiders.
Commodore 64: I actually bought this for the large library of quirky UK imports available.
NES: I was sold on this system the first time I saw the original Super Mario Bros.
Gameboy: No particular game sold me on this, I just loved the idea of portable gaming that didn't involve little LEDs and primitive "beep beep" sound effects.
SNES: Partly it was Super Mario World but I mainly got it for Super Mario All-Stars.
Playstation: Final Fantasy VII, sight unseen. It looked interesting and I had fallen in love with RPGs.
Nintendo 64: Zelda OOT, though I had borrowed one from a friend earlier to play Mario 64.
Dreamcast: I mainly bought it because it was $50 at the time, though I really wanted to play this odd game named Shenmue my friend kept going on about.
Gameboy Advance SP: I waited until the hardware revision for this one and because I wanted to play Metroid Fusion.
Gamecube: Got this one as a Christmas present with some massive prodding by me because I really wanted to play Metroid Prime. Oddly enough it took me until earlier this year to finish the game due to one frustrating section turning me off from it.
Playstation 2: Final Fantasy X. Still haven't finished it though, one of these days I'll get back to it.
DS: This was the first system I got for it's potential for good games, not for the games that were out already. Although come to think of it I was pretty psyched to play Mario 64 in a portable version (that didn't work out so well).
Wii: The combination of Wii Sports and Zelda: TTP did me in on this.
PSP: I've bought this twice now and I still don't know why. The first time was for it's homebrew and emulation capabilities (then sold it back when I ran into some sticky financial issues), the second time was for the Slim version and the same stuff. Funny enough, when I realized that hacking the PSP wasn't as easy as it once was I ended up giving mine to my Mom. So I still don't have one now.
Xbox 360: This is the oddest one because I had no interest in the Xbox series at all. I bought one for a relative and was impressed by Test Drive: Unlimited as well as all the built-in stuff like the media-playing and the Xbox Live Arcade. I think I mainly got it because I was getting an HDTV and wanted something to show it off with. Haven't regretted it since.
Of course this omits the various PCs I've owned over the years that were never specifically bought for gaming although that's what they were really used for. I wouldn't have my MacBook Pro today if I wasn't able to use Boot Camp to play games with it (it handles Half Life 2 VERY nicely).
Damn, I wish gaming was tax-deductible.
When you misplace something you do not "loose" it. When you sneak a look at something you do not "peak" at it. And for God's sake the words "funner" and "funnest" do not exist.