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A Look Back At Expensive System Launches
As the launch for the Xbox 360 approaches, with incredibly expensive bundles up for offer, Joystiq takes a look back at expensive system launches of the past. From the article: "Commodore 64 - $1207.04 (originally valued at $595 in 1982) Despite being the most popular computer model of all time, selling between 17 and 25 million units, the Commodore 64 was a relatively expensive games machine by today's standards. However, it offered extremely good value for money by offering unprecedented sound and graphics quality."
i spent many an early '80s morning trudging through the snow delivering papers to come up with the $1,200 for it and it's external cassette drive!
I forgot what I wanted to say, but honestly, it was important.
The Apple II and C64 were not game machines. They were home computers that could be used to play games. I had a C64c growing up and my sister and I typed out all of my school stuff with it. My dad did spreadsheets for work.
Comparing the XBox 360 with the Commodore 64/Apple II is stupid. They aren't comparing the 360 vs. my home computer even though it plays games. Why? Because then their stupid article won't be taken seriously by the 16-year-olds who have never even seen an Apple II.
I'm waiting for the XBox 360 vs. graphing calculator articles. "The 360 is expensive but a great grpahing calculator can cost a fair amount of money. And really aren't all 3D games just complex math anyways?!"
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry
A while back there was a C64-in-a-joystick sold for something like $25 on QVC, of all places... I got one and it plays a lot of old games (stored in ROM) just fine ... Makes you wonder what the 2025 retro versions of today's high powered and expensive boxes are going to look like.
I sit back and read all the posts concerning the pricing options of the 360 and possible future consoles and wonder why this did not occur to the same degree in the last round of releases. I would say that the current state of the economy as compared to the days of the previous releases tells part of the tale. We simply were in better shape in early 2000 and people had more flexible spending cash. Its true that the economy has recovered from the dismal state it was in around 2003, but with rising gas prices and worries about job exporting and the like, people do not feel as at ease with forking over large cash on luxury items. We had all simply hoped that the cost would not increase, since many of us are in far worse economic shape than we were after the great internet boom.
I don't have the numbers in front of me, but check consumer confidence summer 2000 and compare it to now. And without an increase in salaries, any price increase (especially an investment like a game system) can seem overwhelming and unfair.
In 1990 vending machines sold Coke for fifty cents. Was it even less in 1982? Movie ticket prices have more than doubled. Car prices kinda have, but perhaps the quality and durability of them have doubled?