Kyros on 21 November 2008
Both gadgets are manufactured in China (and again, Sony uses some of its own components "manufactured in Yen").
The putting together may be in China but this only accounts for a couple of dollar. (Or yuan). The components of both consoles are very cosmopolitic. The memory is most likely done in Taiwan. The main processors could even come out of America, the mainboard could be China. In short the Yen or the dollar do not have much to do with the manufacturing costs. The only thing that counts would be the write-off for research and development costs by both companies. This could lower the profit of their entertainment divisions but it shouldn't change the calculation for console pricing.
MS can afford to sell at the chosen price because they can easily ofset the heavy manufacturing losses from very highly profitable departments within the division. Sony does not have that luxury.
Both Sony and Microsoft have other profitable departments. Sony is by far the bigger company after all. Doesn't change the fact that neither company will support big losses this late into the generation. That's simply not how capitalism works. Both companies try to MAKE money.
The point is that MS sells a 360 WITH hard-disc for almost half the price of the PS3 in Europe. And the gaming division is making some money. Now they are selling lots of software but please Sony should get off their lazy asses.
