What if Microsoft teams up with Nintendo?

[VAMatt]

Ka-pi96 said:

VAMatt said:

I agree with most of this.  However, the big downside to "open" platforms is that the cost of hardware will go way up, as it must be sold at a profit.  

Is PC not an open platform? And considerably cheaper than consoles? So... how exactly did the cost of hardware go up?

Sure if all you care about is the maximum possible pixels on your screen or that kind of junk then the cost probably will go up. For everybody else though it would work out cheaper.

Where is gaming PC hardware cheaper than consoles?  Certainly not in North America.  Even a cheap gaming PC is $700.  The average is probably more like $1200.  That's 2-3 times the cost of a console.  

One could argue that since everyone will buy a PC anyway, the cost of upgrading to a gaming rig is not so bad.  That's true, to some extent.  However, most people these days use laptops for their home computers.  If you're going to get yourself a gaming laptop, its likely to cost $1500 or more, and be much less portable than a non-gaming laptop.  So, the math is a bit more complicated than it seems at first.