So I was this kid back in the '80’s My mom and day bought me this new thing called a WALKMAN, and it was really cool.
We were really into high-tech gear, and so we signed up early with the local video store. VHS or Beta, it didn’t matter, they would rent us the right machine for the tape. Sadly, my parents divorced around then, as many did in the '80’s.
A few years later, I got to try out their new gear on the stereo, it used something instead or records or tapes called CDs.
And this was all happening before I could do anything about it. Thank goodness the United States of America came back and led the way in… Aww, fuck it.
You think that’s bad? Try dealing with console video games sometime.
As late as the 16-bit era, you bought one console, one joystick, and one, er, “programmer oversight correction device”, and that was it. Then came the Playstation, where the original reasonably-priced unit became completely unable to handle any game after around 1997, so everyone had to shell out again for a Dualshock, and the controllers invariably became useless after about three years. But there was still just one POCD, and if you were fortunate you could make do with two joysticks. Then the Dreamcast came along, with a myriad of controllers (nb. 4 players at once = 4 controllers needed), a system that broke down about twice as fast as even the cruddiest PSX, and two POCDs to choose from.
The the PS2 hit the market, and it all hit the fan.
(Don’t even get me started on the X-Box.)
Planned obsolescence? Fact of life, and sometimes it’s not even planned. Cost of keeping up with the times, I guess.