totally agree. Yet they are happy to buy a new iphone or ipad every 6 months for double a console price.

I think what they do is, essentially sell on the old phone/tablet and purchase a new one by adding like 25% more, which isn't TOO bad I suppose.

Not trying to justify it at all, since I find it just as ridiculous but it's not like they throw the outdated model in the bin >_>.

still, in australia if you want the handphone for free or cheap you must go into a 24month contract. meaning most people will stick it out and wait till plan expires to upgrade. Then potentially sell old phone at lke half the price or give to a parent lol.

Galaxy SIII that launched today here, $59 per month bill. sure you get like $600 cap or something, but at the same time the cap plans charge per minute block upfront at like 80cents per minute. No cap plans use to be done per 30second block and cheaper, like 30cents or something. Both not including flagfall charges

eg if you talk for 5seconds you get charge a full minute. In the past 5seconds would be a 30second block, so 80cents vs 30cents. for the same time spoken. Not a bad way to inflate call charges aye?

I am a pretty weak Nintendo fan myself.  I simply didn't dislike Sony enough to have bought their PS3.

It's all about balance. PS3 was needlessly expensive and had to take massive losses... Wii was too weak to compete with the other platforms graphically. 360 was a bit expensive to start, but there weren't too many complaints -especially after the PS3 launched. a $400 system sold as a small loss makes sense... it's a solid system for a reasonable price. Going overboard/underboard leads to more media complaints.

As for the "gaming media", it's every media, about everything. An article summing up to "Good job Microsoft, a balanced console for a reasonable price" is a much less likely to be read article than, "WHY IS WII TOO WEAK? WHY WAS PS3 SO EXPENSIVE AT LAUNCH? WHY ARE THERE NO 360 PRICE CUTS?"

Again, not sure about outside UK, but there are Pay as you Go tariffs available for those who just want to buy the phone upfront - usually the iphones etc are about £500, whereas the monthly contract is something like £35-40 a month for 24 months. Alternatives are available to those not wanting the obligation of a contract.

Yes, we can have it both ways.  Who says that you can't have selfish greed that bankrupts companies on the drive to get impulsive desires met?  Yes, have Sony and Microsoft go under, so you can play another FPS in 1080p with additional dust flying about.  Yes, you can have a game that looks JUST like the infamous Motorstorm and Killzone trailers from E3 a number of years a go, at the price of $99 for the console, and $20 for the game!

My personal preferences?  Well, I feel graphics are enough for now.  Rather get more in actual gameplay.

To get really good and innovative games, why does one need to upgrade the PC?  High end PC games consist now of a very narrow band of stuff, even more narrow than those on consoles.   For innovative stuff, end up going into garage games, and guys working on that don't normally push the envelope.  You get innovative stuff that doesn't demand a ton of horsepower for it.