In what world?

$400 and especially the launch price of $500-$600 is far more than what most people are willing to pay for a video game console no matter what it does. The vast majority of all consoles were sold at a price of $200-$300 dollars whereas consoles priced above that have done rather poorly. The fact that the PS3 and 360 with their rather slow sales are the best selling consoles at their respective price points should tell you a lot.

Had the PS3 launched at $299, whether it would have been able to outsell the Wii is up for debate(personally, I think the Wii would still be outselling it), but it's pretty obvious that its sales would be a hell of a lot higher than what they are right now.

@Lord N: I don't know about other countries, but in Portugal the PS2 was launched for 500 €, and it sold out at launch due to the success of the Playstation. One of my friends only got one because he knew someone who worked at a supermarket. That person diverted one of the pre-ordered consoles to him (probably causing someone else to get pissed off about not getting a console).

He agrees with you, Dtewi.

I think he's saying that the PS3's year-over-year sales are up. And on a large-scale basis, this is more or less true: for most of 2007, the PS3 was managing between 250,000 a month and 500,000 a month (excluding oddities and holiday months). This year, it's averaging between 650,000 and 800,000 (again excluding oddities and holiday months). That's a fairly good jump, around 400,000 units a month more worldwide in fact.

Comparatively, the 360's 2007 range was about 275,000 to 550,000, and its 2008 range is about 500,000 to 700,000, a jump of only about 250,000 a month at best. The Wii, however, has gone from 850,000 to 1,100,000 a month average in 2007 to 1,250,000 to 1,500,000 a month average in 2008. Again, a solid 400,000 a month jump.

So there is some grounds to say that the PS3 is in fact picking up steam as fast as the Wii. However, it should be noted that this means that it's only managing to not be left completely in the dust by doing this; it isn't catching up with the Wii at all, or even closing the gap of per-month sales between the two systems. Picture it as a rapidly-widening chasm that the PS3 is trying desperately to pull back together, and is only managing to keep the chasm from widening any faster than it already is, and you have a pretty good idea of what's going on.

@Largedarryl: He said 'up 200% from last year'.

People seem to be able to find $500 when a peice of electronics that they desire ...

I'm not saying that people are used to spending $500 for a console, but people also weren't used to spending $400 on a MP3 player before the iPod was released ...

Are you sure about that? I wouldn't be surprised if something like the Neo Geo did the same thing.

Keep in mind we don't have any actual concrete data for any other of the "Super price" consoles.

It's not an unheard of phenomom for not as popular products in the general market.

Well skyrender nicely summed up what I was thinking when I posted my statement. My main reason is since the PS3 is already tracking at >100% YoY, whats the point of making a YoY comparison for a huge exclusive game release?

I know this wasn't your intent, Lord N, but I'm really tired of the "if the PS3 was cheaper..." argument. The whole reason the cutting edge tech is more expensive is that it's cutting edge tech.

If the PS3 had started at 299.99, it also would have been much less technologically advanced, and many of the people who like the PS3 now wouldn't have liked it in the first place.

This happens in every tech field:  the hardcore enthusiasts claim that the new, expensive technology would be outselling the older technology if it were cheaper, ignoring the fact that the reason it's more expensive is that the technology is more advanced. Then, once the new technology finally reaches 199 or 149 or what have you, it's no longer the cutting edge tech; it's now the old tech, and the hardcore enthusiasts have latched onto some new, even better technology, claiming once again: if this technology was 149, it would be outselling the once-new-but-now-old tech!

Asking for the PS3 to launch at 299.99 or 399.99 is exactly the same as asking for the PS3 to have lower tech specs and be more like the Wii. You cannot dissassociate the cost of the technology from the cost of the console.

Yeah, we do -- the 360. Regardless, the Neo Geo never got to >140k a week averages, or even close to it, so it's hard to make those comparisons at this point.

I'm not saying the PS3 is going to launch to victory, Kasz. I'm just saying it's bucking the historical trends so far (third place consoles gradually diminish in sales or, at best, stagnate) and thus it could surprise us again in the future.