I can connect to my Nexus 7 just fine so I'm not sure what to do here.
Basically when I try to do a command like 'adb logcat' both the Desire S and Xperia Play are not found and the console is stuck saying 'waiting for device'.
Both have USB debugging enabled and are connected through the exact same USB that seems to work for the Nexus 7, the computer does recognize both are connecting as well it just seems they are not identifying themselves to ADB.
Any ideas?
Do you have more than one device connected or emulator running? In that case you should test with "adb devices" to see if it lists everything you expect. Running "adb logcat" when there are multiple devices doesn't work. You have to specify a device with the -s parameter and serial number, or specify an emulator vs. a device if you only have one of each via other parameters.
If you only have one device involved, this is probably a driver issue. The HTC drivers are included with the HTC Sync download here: http://www.htc.com/www/help/ . Although I do not think it is compatible with Windows 8 yet. If you are using that, use the Device Manager to specify the Google driver downloaded through the Android SDK manager and choose the ADB Composite Android Device version.
Another good thing to check is to make sure the devices have USB debugging turned on in their settings, that they show a connection is made in their notification bars, and for the HTC, that the connection type is set to charge only.