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Is Console Gaming Dying?
mr_sifter writes "PC gamers love to obsess over whether PC gaming is dying, but bit-tech thinks it's time to look at the other side and examine if console gaming is really as secure as publishers would have us believe. All three console manufacturers suffered from the recession — this year, Sony announced its first net loss in 14 years; a stunning ¥989.9bn, which includes record losses of ¥58.5bn in its gaming sector. Microsoft also announced its first loss since it went public in 1986 in the second quarter of this financial year, with a $31 million US loss coming straight from the Entertainment and Devices division, which is responsible for the Xbox 360. Not even Nintendo has escaped the financial plague either, with sales of the Wii dropping by 67 percent in the US, 60 percent in Japan and 47 percent in the rest of the world. In addition to reduced profitability, casual games and the rise of the iPhone further suggest the current model is not invulnerable."
300 dollars for the xbox, 20 bucks for a SATA card to flash my drive firmware, the internet connection to download firmware and games, the screwdrivers I already owned to open the case, $1.00 for each dual layer disc per game... I figure I'm coming out a lot cheaper than your bullshit numbers.
Besides the fact that consoles are better suited for people who may not be able to afford 1300 dollars all at once for a top flight gaming PC. And yeah, I do disagree with you saying that people need to buy a new HDTV just to use their 360. Or that people are actually spending 60 dollars for two chatpads. Or even that people are really buying every game new for full price, versus just getting it used at Gamestop. Although they ARE getting ripped off versus PC gamers who are pirating games.
I've got an NES, SNES, an old gameboy in a drawer somewhere that still works (though nobody wants it), old PC's, a gamecube, a PS2, etc etc. The first ever truely dead console I've had was the 360 (I don't count the NES where the power brick got pulled on too much, besides that was easy to fix with solder and heat-shrink). With a failure rate of over 50%, I'd say it's not just a matter of taking care of the consoles. Other than needing a little bit of "blow-on-the-pins" magic, the old game carts tended to weather better than current-gen discs as well.
Similarly, I've heard of elevated failure rates behind various models of PS3, though not nearly that of the 360. An honorable mention goes to older DS's with scratched screens, but nowadays screen-protectors are easily available and I believe the screens are a bit more resilient.