The PlayStation 4; don't be surprised if it is "free" at launch

[mjk45]

Aielyn said:

Farsala said:
AU$ is worth about the same as US$. But because I imagine manufacturing and shipping in AUS is harder then US it is about 300$ more. 900$ is still too much.

The Aussie dollar is worth more than the US dollar. But we get royally screwed by most industries, the games industry included. In addition to being screwed, we also include our sales tax in our prices - when it says AU$300, it means you have to pay AU$300, not AU$300 + sales tax. It's got nothing to do with shipping or manufacturing costs - Europe gets royally screwed, too, even when the manufacturing is local.

Nintendo's prices have at least improved a bit since the exchange rate came to parity. We now pay AU$80 for US$50 games, rather than AU$100. We paid AU$400 for the US$250 Wii, but we pay AU$350 for the US$300 Wii U. Hopefully, Sony and MS will follow suit on that change, at least.

It's not all bad  electronics dropped by 6% in Australia  last year , and like has been mentioned  games that where once retailing at a standard $99 - $109  if Activision published it (and that was despite the fact that nearly all games are made locally)   have dropped price as well.