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When the PS2 was released in the UK, the lowest price was £300... £ not $...Quote:
Originally Posted by pkmusicmaker
I don't know what the conversion rate was back then but it would be over $500.
It wasn't uncommon to see stores selling the very hard to find PS2's at £400 and some auction websites trying (and apparently succeeding) to sell them as high as £800 - £1000!!
I can remember wishing I had pre-ordered one, just so I could try to sell it at £1000! :p
I don’t know why this had to happen, but I feel screwed a little bit by Sony. I mean, seriously, what they’re doin is down right insulting. From what I saw at E3, sony execs seem to cherish this conception that whatever they throw out at us, we’ll swallow. I Had a PS2 solely throughout this generation and a PS1 in the prior. I was even quick to buy a PSP (a move I somewhat regret), but this is where I draw the line. As far as I’m concerned, the games sure do make a system great, but a $500-$600 (BEFORE TAX!!!) Price tag puts it across my common sense. I just cant justify myself at my age (23) spending that much money on a freaking videogame console. Sony doesn’t seem to be really what they want to do in the console market, they just seem to want to try and ride out the wave started by PS1/PS2. I mean as far as innovations, they pushed graphics, threw in a nice processor (A REAL nice processor more later). All the innovations on the console seems to be coming from SCEE (Eyetoy and such), and the rest is just creating comparable services based on existing hardwares seen in competitors products.
The insulting part are the systems highlights. The Cell Processor, and the Blue Ray format. Why? These are hands down why the system is carrying the hefty price tag. I don’t think HDMI outputs on a device cost a company $100 to make, so I don’t see the real reason in price point behind that combined with saving gigs on the HD. Especially not a home entertainment company who has been pushing their Grand Wega TV’s for yrs. Instead the reason they’re even in our systems is because they want their proprietary format and their Multicore Processor to become the new status quo. They don’t expect videogames to drive the company’s bottom line. Sony is a multi-faceted hardware manufacturer/entertainment company. They know that if they push Blue Ray in their PS3, and it sells, Format wars will cease and HD-DVD will have to concede. They’re simply riding the numbers of the fact that PS2 has 100million brand enthused customers who they need to keep on this new generation which will inadvertently make the Blue Ray market share, (counting PS3 sells comparable to PS2), enormous. That’s where they’ll make their money. When all the Hollywood studios have to pay them to use their format cus all our PS3’s read Blu ray but not HD-DVD.
Where does that leave us, the consumers? Screwed cus we have to pay at least $500 for a PS3 (likely $550 with tax) and that’s just to take it home to power up the PS2 games you already own. If you want a friend, or actual PS3 that’s another $50-$60(more?) out your pocket. Why should I pay so much money to play MGS4?! You know in the good ‘ol days the best games cost 25 cents. The processor I feel I can excuse, that thing rocks. I’m sure in a few yrs when developers get good at using whats in their the games will crush the competitions (MMO Games will be HUGE thanks to the space and processor) But I flat out refuse to spend that kinda money on a videogame system, I likely wont even THINK to get one til they get around the $300 range just cus they patronized and insulted me with this BS.
hear hear
snkrock25 you've got it spot on, sony are using gamers as pawns in it's battle for blu-ray to win the format war. most programmers don't believe the extra space on blu-ray or hd-dvd will be a factor for games in the next five years (which is the usual life cycle between new consoles) and most people arent ready for a new video format, dvd's have been around a fraction of the time vhs was and was a much bigger leap forward than blu-ray/hd-dvd is.
Xbox360 has a product on the shelves already with games getting better all the time and price drops on the way.
Wii's has a cheap price point and new approach to controlling gameplay.
Ps3 has an over priced game console (could buy both the other systems for less) that plays expensive movies that might go the way of betamax. GAME OVER SONY
I never owned anything microsoft that wasnt software. I havent owned a nintendo console since the original GBA came that (SNES before that). I guess I would be labled a sony fanboy. I just liked it cus it was convenient. It had the games I wanted, and they were almost always cheaper than the competition (Ps1 games were only $40).
Sony moved themselves away from the realm of convenience with the PSP and are headed the same direction with the PS3. As such, I conceded and bought a 360. I wasnt going to, but it's controller is pretty much a better PS2's, It has free demo's, and i only spend $299 for the premium system. And yes, them making sure they have GTA4 on day1 allowed me to say 'screw it'. I may never play MGS4 or FFXIII, but then again I went a whole generation by almost never playing Halo, and playing Halo2 literally one time in my life. I realized I can live without some games.
Sometimes I just dont understand the rationality with some gamers and their money. I refuse to spend THOUSANDS of dollars for a few hrs of entertainment in front of my TV :confused:
while i still think the price of the 360 in the uk is ridiculous, it is still far more reasonably priced then the ps3 is going to be. we all know the uk gets screwed by every company - this is why i buy import systems. even those however are dearer than would be expected however because of ripoff britain. (import duties, tax whatever)
so i think im glad for once that a company is doing a near simultaneous release (same as the 360) and at a reasonable price point too - even if the games are slightly more expensive. and heres another tip - buying import games when they become used is the cheapest option because used game stores in this country - for the most part - wont take import games, so the ones that do, have to sell them well below the norm.
i think that people who are going to be buying the PS3 partly for the Blu-Ray reader will be the ones pre-ordering. For the rest of us, there are price drops eventually...
Revol..., erm I meant: Wii, because:
Emulation, Controller, Nintendo, GameCube-Compatibility, Price