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

[Bodhesatva]

DKII said:

He said a "good" system, not top of the line gaming rig. :P Capable of running most games on average settings. My 3.2GHz processor and 2GB ram with a crappy 128 MB video card suffices for most things and it cost me not much more than a PS3.

Also I'd be willing to bet that it's the high prices of the 360 and PS3 that caused the Wii to be $250. If the 360 and PS3 launched at $300, I guarantee the Wii would've launched at $200.

In that case, it's never been much more than 1500! The big difference now is that one can easily build their own system if they prefer. Having no assembly fee cuts costs dramatically. It's always been possible to build your own system, mind you, it's just much easier now than it was before the internet was so accessible. 

So, to repeat: you could have gotten a "good" system in 1990 that played most games if you assembled it yourself.