Wish there were only 1 console...

[jpinard]

This next round of next gen consoles is going to cripple people's budgets and I wonder who is going to feel the heat because of it.

Pretty much everyone had (except me) a PS2 AND an X-Box, and their games were fairly priced.

I don't think people will have the economic strength to buy a PS3 AND an X-Box 360 and a load of games for BOTH at $60+... especially since they'll have another old X-Bo and PS2 sitting at home with games...

Too bad MS and Sony couldn't have combined their efforts for a single console.  Man that would have saved everyone a ton of money and it could have been directed where we really want it!  The games!!

[Chaz]

Watch your head, the sky, she's a coming down.

The next generation of consoles won't cripple the consumers any more than the last generation did, or the one before that, or the one before that.  Yes, they'll be expensive at launch.  They always are.  The only people who buy at launch are the minority, core audience, early adopters that have the money to burn.  Everyone else waits for price drops.  Same thing happens with games.  Every console has seen its largest percentage of sales after significant price drops, usually after it drops below $99.  A lot of people right now have multiple systems because we're at the end of a console generation, prices have come down on both systems and games, and they can afford to.

Also, is paying $10 extra per game really going to break the bank?  If someone is working on a set budget and only spends $600 per year on games, that comes out to two less games over the course of the year, which I don't think is going to kill anyone.  What higher prices may do is increase the trade-in/used game business, but that's another thread.

[jpinard]

You know...I never thought about the time factor and how many years it took for MS to really get going.  Good points Chaz!

Maybe I'm listening too much to the publishers who are saying the cost to develop is too high.

[mytocles]

Too bad MS and Sony couldn't have combined their efforts

Yeah, that would be great - but it's not all about US - it's all about THEM, lol.  Which may not be a bad thing, free enterprise and competition usually work quite well.

And,as for paying for more consoles - how many of us couldn't (if it was important enough) eat hamburger instead of steak, sell something on eBay, go without designer coffee, etc.? It's extremely important to me to have addictive video games to keep me happy... so I do everything I can to be sure to afford them.  Bear in mind that I live on disability income (60% of a not-great police officer salary.)   It just happens to be a priority for me - so unless you really are dirt poor - if I can do it - you can!  If you want to!  ... Uhhh, and if you don't have 3 kids, lol.

However, I have learned to live with the price-drop theory of gaming, as Chaz well knows.  That EB card is great for that.  I'll pay full price, now, for a few games a year - and the rest are either EB used games, or - gleaned from lurking on the Trading Forum.  You can, fairly routinely, pick up the crumbs from the folks who finish the games in a week, then graciously give you a discount of $15 to $20.

[Freezer-TPF-]

Perhaps you would like the state to choose the best console for you, Comrade Jeff?  

[CeeKay]

Well, if there was only one console, then you'd have people crying 'Monopoly! Monopoly!' which would result in congressional hearings that would take them away from more important stuff like, let's say, steroids in sports.

[jpinard]

Well, there's always the N-Gage hehe.  
Yea good points everyone.  :wink: