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PS4 Launch Date: November 15th
Today Sony announced the official release dates of the PlayStation 4 console: November 15 in North America and November 29 in Europe. From the article:
"The system will be available for $399/€399/£349 in 32 countries by the end of the year, the company said. The date comes just days before the Black Friday post-Thanksgiving sales, but given the strong pre-order interest for the system already, the PS4 might be hard to find on store shelves in the days after it drops. Sony revealed that one million PS4 systems have already been pre-ordered worldwide. The company notably did not mention a release date or price point for the system's launch in its native Japan."
EU price includes VAT, US price doesn't include sales tax, which evens it somewhat.
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There are quite a few US states that have no sales tax at all, so that explanation doesn't quite work. If I wanted the PS4, I can swing past a store in New Hampshire and pick it up for exactly its $399 price tag, no additional taxes.
Then, of course, being the fine upstanding citizen you are, you dutifully pay the sales tax due in your home state on goods purchased outside the state, so that difference probably evaporates. Oh, wait, no one does that. Never mind...
There are other more reasonable reasons why hardware may cost more in the EU than USA. For example, in USA, hardware typically only comes with a 6 months warranty. In Europe, your consumer protection is much much better; for example, it is not limited to month or even 1 year, but can be over a reasonable lifetime of the product, which maybe 3-4 years. Many consumer do not understand this and take out additional insurance covers which are usually unnecessary.
Even forgiving all of the dumb-ass scams Sony has pulled over the years that have alienated me as a customer, the one thing that keeps reminding me why I hate them so much is the forced updates that I have to endure almost every single time I turn on my PS3. I only use the thing a couple of times a month (for movies, usually), and it seems like almost every time I turn it on I need to apply some update, and if I refuse the machine refuses to let me do whatever it is I wanted to do. Why??? Because of this, almost every movie I want to watch on the thing becomes 15-30 minutes of dicking around with updates, rebooting, etc, followed by 90 or 120 minutes of movie. WTF. I've never seen any other product that was so antagonistic towards its user. It's a constant reminder that Sony doesn't give a shit about me and would gladly throw me under a bus if it meant they could make another dollar off me. I'm sure other companies think the same way, but at least most of them have the decency of not being so blindingly obvious about it. Up yours Sony, you can keep your PS4.
Actually 2 years is the EU minimum, but individual states may grant you more.
For example in the UK the Sale of Goods Act states that products must last a "reasonable length of time". For a laptop computer that is generally five or six years, for a TV say ten years, a car maybe 20 years or at least 200k miles. If it fails before then the vendor (not the manufacturer, the place you bought it from) has to either replace it, fix it or give you a refund. If the product is beyond the two year minimum period the vendor can offer a partial refund based on the amount of use you have had out of it, so a laptop that dies after three years might be due a 60% refund (50% expected lifespan, plus costs the buyer incurred like having to recover data and get it transferred to a new machine).
The key thing to remember is that the law states that the vendor must do all this in a reasonable amount of time. Often they will fob you off by saying that you should contact the manufacturer, but that is their responsibility. Sometimes they will say things like "it was a cheap laptop, you can't expect it to last that long", but you most certainly can. Sometimes they will take a very long time to resolve the issue, but in most cases anything over 28 days will be considered too long by a court and they should refund/replace immediately.
When you adjust for tax products are not significantly more expensive in Europe. Don't believe the hype.
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
This year for sure, right?
I'm just dying to replace my Eyefinity setup, eight cores, dual-Radeon HD7950, Cherry MX mechanical keyboard, gigabit ether, gaming mouse and 7.1 surround sound with an...iPad.
I'll get right on that. What I'm really looking for is a platform where I can only play games that Apple Corp has approved.
You are welcome on my lawn.