Op Ed Piece: The Biggest Blunder of the Next-Gen

[rocketpig]

mrstickball said:
Compare it to computers. In the past 10 years, a "good" system in 1995-6 would set you back $2500, in 1990, it'd be $3000 or so. Now a good system is $1200 or so, and economy class computers start at $500. Video games should be trending the same way, as they use the same components.

Not exactly an accurate statement. A premiere gaming rig will still run you ~$2000 for a box. $400 processor, $400 vid card, $200 mobo, $300 in RAM, $150 HDD, etc. When a console is released, they are premiere hardware and over the past two generations, are often initially sold at a loss.

But I understand your point. Sony and MS decided that it was time to raise launch prices on their consoles and it's obvious that consumers aren't buying into it in large numbers. Nintendo took a more classic approach (they're actually overcharging for what you get with the Wii) and the console is selling like gangbusters.

Personally, I hope things are scaled back a bit next generation so that companies can come in at $300-350 at launch and deliver a solid hardware experience, but nothing outrageous like the Cell/Blu-Ray/I'm going to take over the world approach of the PS3, but also nothing as woefully underpowered and overpriced like the Wii. Somewhere in the middle would be nice.