The 360's Towering Pricetag Explored

Last week Gamasutra had up a call for commentary on the revelations about the Xbox 360's pricing structure. This week, comments are available on the groaning pricetags gamers will have to endure if they want to jump on the next-gen bandwagon. This commentary is especially well seen, given that Gamestop has just come out with a 360 Bundle that clocks in at a whopping $1,199.83. From the article: "I don't think the prices for the $300 or the $400 bundles are unreasonable, but anyone who buys the $300 bundle is going to end up paying more on expensive accessories. $99 for a 20 gig hard disk? You can get a 250 gig hard disk for less than that! If you don't want to get the hard disk, you have to pay $39.99 to save your game."

Comments

Re:Heh. The Circle is Complete

[EvilMagnus]

Oh, wow.
Crawl out of the wrong side of bed today, did we? Or did your mom pitch you out so she could get at the washing machine?

Well, now we've got the petty insults out of the way, let's turn to the real meat. My point, suitably embellished for the internet, was thus: "As price of PC hardware declines, price of consoles increases".

Remember PS1? Remember how much that cost relative to the cost of a decent gaming PC of the time?

Now look at 360 (let's take the $400 one, since it comes with the hard drive). Now compare that to the price of a semi-decent gaming rig. I'm betting (and my point being) that the ratio between these two values has decreased over time, eroding one of the big selling points of consoles.

In conclusion, you are a moron. Also, you smell.

Re:A fool and his money...

[Cadallin]

Firstly, Gaming has become cheap due to inflation compared to other forms of entertainment. A PS2 + extra controller and memory cards will run you a little over $200, then you can go out and buy a game for either $20 (cheap title), or $40-$50 (new title). Note that at the low end, it's already cheaper than 1 (count'em) date to the movies for 2 people. Think about it. Most games provide at least 10 hours of entertainment, so $2-4/hr. The movie is going to run $10/hr, not counting transportation etc. The cost cost of the system gets amortized over the cost of what, 8-10 games? Even then you're still looking at a hobby that runs $5-7/hr of entertainment. Price increases this generation will push gaming into and over the $10/hr bracket.

I think I have provided reasoning to explain why gaming has gone mainstream. Now if one goes back in time to the 80's when gaming Decidedly WAS a niche hobby game prices were near the levels companies are proposing pricing the next gen games. Just check the release prices for '80's games, it's scary, prices were $60-$80. I would also note that the income for the target market hasn't notibly increased, and I mean, inflation may have occured, but minimum wage has stayed horridly low throughout the period, and 20-somethings ain't known for their outstanding income power. But, note that movies were much cheaper per hour in the '80's, compared to gaming which easily pushed over $10/hr.

Regarding production times for games, the OP was relying on information available from the only people who should know, Gabe Newell, Carmack, etc. HD gaming is very resource and time expensive to produce.

As an aside, I don't understand WHY people bitch about the N64, and GC controllers, my hands aren't huge, in fact they are somewhat small, but I find the GC perfectly comfortable, and it can't be that the GC controller is too small, because the PS2 controller is even smaller, so much so I find it uncomfortable. It's also much easier to finger-press face buttons for rapid control (as in an arcade controller) with a GC than a PS2 controller. Held normally it's very easy to find the buttons on the GC, they're all in easily reached locations and easily recognized by touch.