Well… I finally did it.

The PlayStation 5 was released in North America on November 12, 2020. Since Sony only shipped about 37 units to stores nationwide, it was kind of hard for a lot of folks to get their hands on the next generation video game console. And because there was such high demand for the console, those 37 units were purchased within 18 seconds of being stocked on store shelves. And about 37 opportunists made it their mission in life to sell those 37 PS5 units on eBay for about five times the actual retail price.

The preceding history of the PlayStation 5’s release to the public is slightly exaggerated. But only slightly.

So this thing has been on the market for more than two years now. Which I find incredibly hard to believe, but here we are. A few weeks ago, knowing that I had some extra tax return money coming my way, I decided to, on a whim, look to see if any new PlayStations were available to purchase online. And what do you know? I lucked out.

I simply Googled, “Where can I find a PlayStation 5 for sale” and I got a link to the Walmart website, where they had several versions of the PS5 available.

I opted for the digital only version, without the disc drive, since my internet is pretty decent where I am. Especially if I should decide to hardwire the thing into the router and ignore the Wi-Fi. Oh, and it came with a code for God of War: Ragnarok. Nice to get one of the versions that comes with a game.

I’ve only had it for a few days and have not had a great deal of time to play with the new toy, but what I’ve explored thus far is pretty freakin’ amazing. I mean, the visuals with this system are just gorgeous. I’m not even talking about the graphics involved with the latest games. I’m talking about the look of the menus. I wish the sound was a little less repetitive when you’re going through the many areas of menus that you can look through. But that’s a small complaint.

While I was at it, I upgraded my PlayStation Plus membership, so now I have access to tons of games that I can stream or, in a lot of cases, download and play for free. Sure, there are a lot of available games that are independents that I’ve never heard of. But there are also a lot of big name titles like Spider-Man, the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Final Fantasy games, and the Batman: Arkham series, to name a few.

As of this moment, I have not developed buyer’s remorse. I don’t think I’m likely to. Even though I know myself quite well. I’m incredibly fickle when it comes to video games. It’s rare that any title will grab my attention and keep me interested long enough to play the game all the way through. More often than not, I go through phases with video games. I’ll want to play something that is really entertaining for a few days… then I’m done.

So the newness of this PlayStation 5 will fade. It’s just a matter of time. But at least I now have the option to experience the latest games that are released if I decide I want them.

The big one that sort of acted as the catalyst for me to look for the PlayStation is the recently released Hogwarts Legacy. I’d seen some of the gameplay on YouTube and… y’all… I just need to express how gorgeous that game is. Exploring Hogwarts castle, I assume, will be as much fun as playing Spider-Man just to spend time swinging through the city.

After that, the next big title I’m anticipating is Final Fantasy XVI. I know very little about the next game in the Final Fantasy series, but it’s one I’m sure I’ll be willing to devote hours on end to completing.

I will never describe myself as a gamer. Because I just don’t make time to play often enough to consider myself good enough to be considered a gamer. But I do like games. From time to time.

But this begs the question… Are you a gamer? What’s your console of choice? Do you have a favorite game or franchise? Let me know what you’re playing these days down in the comments!