I've lived through all console generations, but didn't own one until the Wii (if you exclude the Nokia N-Gage). I also own an Xbox 360 now (bought about a year ago).

Had an Atari 2600 as a little kid, but got an NES for my sixth birthday. Seeing Super Mario Bros. 3 under the tree was my happiest Christmas moment ever! Still have the NES. Still works, if you blow on the cartridges.

Bought an SNES too, and it came with three games. Never bought more -- too expensive on my limited kid money. Played those three to death.

Didn't enter the console world again until picking up a Dreamcast from my friend who sold it for $50 along with like 15 games in order to fund his purchase of a then-brand-new original X-BOX. Can't help but feel I got the better end of that deal - Dreamcast was awesome.

My (all four year) college roommate had a Gamecube, and despite never owning one myself, it (along with SNES) became my two favorite systems.

Bought a DS about 6 years ago, and a Wii about five years ago, and have had great fun with both... the Wii especially, with the Virtual Console and all. But after discovering GOG, Steam, Humble Bundle, etc., and being able to finally play some of those PC games (Thief, etc.) that I couldn't buy as a kid... I doubt I'll ever return to consoles. Perhaps through later emulation, or perhaps if I stick to consoles a generation out of date.... maybe. Otherwise they're just too damn expensive. $60 for one game? I can pick up 7-10 games for that much... if Humble Bundle, more like 60 games!

EDIT: Even when I was a teenager and big into PC gaming, I almost never paid full price for games. I'd wait a few months till they showed up at Sam's Club, which had fantastic deals. Ground Control for $10, No One Lives Forever 1 + 2 for $13 (I'm estimating prices here; I don't have THAT good of a memory). The only two PC games in my entire life I can remember paying more than ~$15 for were Half-Life 1 (good choice) and Red Baron II (not such a great choice, though if I'd waited and bought it cheap it'd have been ok). I like games, but even the absolute best aren't worth more than about $15 to me. This is why I won't go back to consoles, except possibly secondhand outdated systems. Same reason I never buy hardcover books, despite loving to read, and same reason I haven't bought a physical or MP3 CD in over a decade - the value simply isn't there for me.

GOG, however, does it right. $6? Sure!

Wish we'd get more OLD games though... Though I understand exactly why, some really big names from my childhood are still missing. (Where are you BattleZone? No One Lives Forever? Myth? Age of Empires? Dungeon Siege? Command & Conquer? Crimson Skies? etc. etc.)

I've lived through 3 console generations so far, but I only really remember it from the sixth one (so my second generation) on. All those friends who had a ps2, while I didn't have one... Luckily, I still had the pc and Age of Empires 2. The only consoles we own are from the previous generation: a PS3, a Wii and a DS.

I lived through them all from Pong and Odysee 1 to now. Now get the hell off my lawn.

The only console I ever have was NES.

Right after that I was a PC gamer to this day. My older brother do have PS2 and PS3, though, back at his house.

I think at that time, the problem was, the game was too arcade-ish. Or at least the selection of games available. And I'm just tired of side scrolling, top down scrolling, and side fighting games.

Imagine a PC where the only game available is FPS and RTS, then you understand my feeling.

My first PC was a monochorome that I studied programming on (and I loved programming). It was my second with CGA monitor and introduction to Ultima 6 and Faery Tale Adventure and I never looked back at console.

When I retired I might buy old console and old games and binge play it though.

I had that! My older brother gave me it. The one I had was made by Coleco. I got so good at that game, I could score on every single drive. The game only displayed two digits for the score, so after 99 it started showing garbage.

Famicon, Terminator, Sega Genesis and there i stopped... Bought a PS2 a few years ago but it was a mistake, now it's only collecting dust...

Jeez, this thread just reminded me that i'm an old fart. I lived through all console generations. :D
My first console was an Atari 2600 in 1986 and the last console i bought new was a Sega Dreamcast around 2001 IIRC. A few weeks before xmas last year i bought a cheap PS2 with a dozen games from a friend so that's the "newest" console i own.

I remember getting Pong For Christmas in 1975 - I guess I have been into Video Games ever since.

I started with an Atari 2600 (second generation) as well, although I should note that until I reached adulthood I was always one generation behind, so everyone else has NES consoles and C64s when I had the 2600, everyone had SNESs and Amigas when I had my C64. I only caught up when I got the PS1 and PC, and I haven't skipped a generation yet.

My first console was an Atari 2600, though that was well into the NES-era, so which one should I count?

Let's see, I have owned:

Atari Pong (1st gen)
Atari 2600 (2nd gen)
Mattel Intellivision (2nd gen)
NES (3rd gen)
SNES (4th gen)
N64 (5th gen)
PS1 (5th gen)
Dreamcast (6th gen)
PS2 (6th gen)
GameCube (6th gen)
Xbox (6th gen)
Wii (7th gen)
PS3 (7th gen)
Xbox 360 (7th gen)
Wii U (8th gen)

So I've been through all of them.

Everything past the crash, so NES on up. Although as a rude joke, I'll say I was a generation behind each starting with the N64, since I stuck with Nintendo until recentyl.