The real reason there is a cost difference in Australia is the higher minimum wage. Everybody working in a game store has to be paid twice as much in Australia. Everyone working at the loading docks, driving the trucks, everyone. That alone can account for a significant increase in price.
I'm an economics major in college, by the way. You can't just compare Australian dollars to American dollars, using the exchange rate as a measure. There are entire fields of economics devoted to this very issue.
There are also tons of taxes. Australia also has a Value-Added Tax, which is usually added directly to the price, and not assessed at the register: in the US, if something costs $50, you will be charged $50 plus a 5-10% sales tax on top of that. In Australia, the price is added in, and set to be a constant 10% (I believe this is how it works). So, basically, assuming they use the same currency, a game that costs $60 in America would cost $66 in Australia, but they would really cost the same amount!
But yeah, you can't just convert directly using the conversion rates. You have to take into account a ton of other factors.
Wii has more 20 million sellers than PS3 has 5 million sellers.
Acolyte of Disruption
