Comparison of 1996 game and console prices to today.

[Tamron]

irstupid said:

Tamron said:

irstupid said:
I hate when people bring up inflation.

If I was making $10 an hour back when I bought an N64 and am still making $10 an hour today. The N64 was cheaper. Inflation means nothing. It's all relative to the individuals income.

If you were making $10 in 1996 and are still making $10 an hour at the same job in 2014, you've got bigger issues than how much you're paying for consoles, namely legal ones.

I'm not, heck back in N64 days i was too young to even have a job legally I think.  Pretty sure I was only like 12 or so when it released.

I'm just saying.  There are PLENTY of peope making around $10/hr in this day an age, and there were tons of people making $10/hr back then too.

To those $10/hr people $300 is more expensive than $200.  Inflation means NOTHING.

What someone with their pay grade could afford in 20 hours now takes 30 hours.  (excluding tax takin out of paycheck and tax included in cost of system)

There being $10 an hour jobs now doesnt make a difference to the value of an item, You could argue that in 100 years some people may still be working $10 jobs, but in 100 years the $10 an hour jobs of today would no longer be $10 an hour.

Look at kids on minimum wage, for an accurate example, a kid in 1996 paying for consoles/games on their paper round minimum wage job would be on $4.75 an hour, the average minimum wage for the US at the time.
A kid doing the exact same job, right now in the US would be earning $7.25, with some states increasing that since the federal adjustment in 2009. Kids in Washington, for example, would be on $9.32 minimum wage for the same job.

The reason for this adjustment?, Inflation and tax increases.

BECAUSE OF INFLATION, $10 now, is not worth as much as $10 in 1996, so even if you're earning $10 and were earning $10 in 1996, you are not spending the same amount, you are spending less, and being paid substantially less than you were in 1996 for the same job.