theyr still charging you for LIVE/ wireless is an add on which I think is a bit of a ripoff even though the service is AAA

great first post, i agree with you

Love your avatar :)

Some people have no interest in playing online, and therefore have no interest in paying for Live Gold. I have several friends like this. There are also many people who have no use for wireless; my 360 is sitting right next to my router, why would I want wireless?

Nothing comes free; Sony charges for these things, they just do it indirectly. The built-in wireless makes the PS3 more expensive to manufacture, and therefore is part of the reason Sony can't afford a price drop right now. (Yes, the cost is small; far, far less than the 360's wireless add-on costs. But it is a contributing factor.) Sony's lack of subscription revenue for PSN is another, much larger factor. If they charged $50 a year for online play the way Live Gold does, maybe they could have afforded a price drop to $300. If not $300, certainly $350. People with no interest in online play would much rather buy a PS3 for $300 or $350 than buy one for $400 and never use the "free" online.

That said, I do think Live Gold might be a bit overpriced. It might be fine for those who play online all the time, but I spend most of my time playing offline. The wireless adapter is certainly overpriced; I feel bad for anyone who needs to buy one.

We all said: Wireless is useless.

People who wants it, they just go buy the add-on.

The majority just don't care about wireless.

Hell, even my PS3 is connected with Ethernet Cable.
Even if I have a wireless router.
My experience: Much better transfer speed with cable.


As for Xbox Live fees, I'm very proud to contribute to such an amazing online service.
5$/Month is nothing.

Cheaper than your cellphone fees
Cheaper than a McDo meal.
Cheaper than the monthly electricity fees required to power your console.

you can grab a belkin USB adapter(retail) for around $45. Now im going to take a big guess here and say the margin on that like standard goods would be around 15-20% so wholesale cost would be $30 and manufacturing around $20 tops. Which isnt a huge price for M$ especially if each 360 came with it. Mass manufacturing would probably bring it down to $15 ..

M$ charging 80 bucks is a ripoff though.. The 360 is cheap out of the box but not so much in the long run...

Wow, I have had a 360 since launch and I didn't realize I was missing out by not buying a wireless router.

The popularity of the low price Arcade 360 brings on interesting challenges for Microsoft.
I don't suspect the purchasers of Arcade 360's will be big on $100 for wireless (or re-wire their house), $100 for HDD package, recharger, optical audio...

I don't think it is a big problem, as I suspect most Arcade 360 purchasers just want to play the games (I am in that boat...). I do get a chuckle seeing many people not only trying to justify the high priced add-on's, but also demonize what are otherwise industry standard offerings.

Why need proof?? The Arcade SKU is a stripped down entry level console!!

You don't think the shoppers see the three different coloured boxes next to each other?

You don't think the customer will look at all three and compare?

You don't think the customer knows that the cheaper console of the three won't have the same features?

: Edited

wow that has no relevance to anything

It seems like a crap choice to me. Like if one car dealer was selling you a car without wheels for $1000 cheaper then their competitor was selling a car with wheels then turned around and charged you $5000 for the wheels. *Snicker*