Buying a console a few years into it's "lifecycle"

Have you ever bought a console years after it was first released? What are the very first things you do?

Well, for me I have done this numerous times. My Wii and PS3 were late purchases, only my PSP and 360 were day 1(ish).

The first processes into owning a new console are extremely daunting. You start by researching exactly what you'll need, and then you set it up. Those first steps are fine but afterwards? It's hard.

Day one of my PS3 I was overwhelmed by what to buy and what to do. I'm one who can spend up to and over an hour playing around with settings, and the PS3 is very in-depth. From it's wifi to HDMI connectivity, to PlayStation Home and PSN.

Even transfering from Xbox to PS3 was odd, because PSN did things differently, you don't buy anything for a starters and you go through what I deemed to be a primitive sign-up process.

Afterwards, there is the choice of games to buy:

The PS3 is a terrible console because of this. There is MGS, LBP, inFamous, Killzone, the early "hiddem gem" titles like Folklore, Motorstorm, etc. (I should note that I got my PS3 in 2008)

When you have these games the process of "settling in" is still odd because you don't really treat it as a gaming console just yet, it's really new. You may play for a few hours of each game but it's SO daunting, especially if you have a pile of back-purchases lined up.

Even if you "settle in" there is a tough choice if you held onto your previous console : which platform do you buy multiplatform titles for? I chose the PS3 because it was my newest console, it was a decent investment (£320) and the fact is you still need to make a small collection so you have all genres (this may be just me).

Luckily my experience with the Wii was different, for starters getting it online for the update was too simple. Then signing up was simple. There were no extras, the only odd thing was using a motion controller.

With back-catalogue buying of a Nintendo console it's much easier. You get the franchise you like the most, my first game being Metroid Prime Trilogy. Enough gaming to get along with in itself, and then after that it's a case of nitpicking.

Then the choice of buying multiplat games for it was very easy: don't. The wii version is essentially what would be the PS2 version or PSP version with motion controls added.

This is by no means slagging the Wii off, I think that the Wii is great when the game is good but otherwise I do believe my points are valid.

I wonder what your own experiences are of buying a new console are? Did you find it daunting? Exciting? Spent a lot of money? Spent as little as possible? Any problems?