At
What Cost?
How
much are you willing to shell out for these luxuries?
Microsoft has said that they are figuring on a final
retail cost of "around $300". That could
mean $300, $350 or $399. This could go one of two
ways. With Microsoft out of the gate first, months
ahead of the PS3, they'll have no competition in
the next generation at first. Looking back on the
Xbox launch of 2001, Microsoft brought the system
in at roughly the going rate of the PS2 at that
time. Without any competition at the time of launch
and the amount of technology that it will offer
right out of the box, Microsoft might stick it to
the early adoptees with a price above the $350 mark.
If it's too cheap, people will avoid it thinking
that it's junk; too expensive and they'll convince
themselves there's nothing wrong with the old Xbox.
The price point has to be just right.
|
"...the
PS3 (will be) 7 months away. In gaming terms
that's too long to wait."
|
Expect
Sony to drop the price of their PS2 to an all time
low this Fall, most likely coinciding with the launch
of the 360. But this leaves Microsoft in an unenviable
position. They'll most like follow suit with a price
drop on the Xbox system (I'm predicting a price
drop to $99 for both the PS2 and Xbox) which means
they'll be competing with themselves as the current
Xbox is still selling well. The possible one way
around this dilemma is the complete and utter halt
to Xbox console production. We've heard rumblings
but they haven't been verified yet.
Microsoft
could also lowball the 360 at a $299 price point
which would make upgrading very appealing especially
to gamers sitting on the fence who are attracted
to the fancy system and visuals and who know the
PS3 is literally 6 - 7 months away. In gaming terms,
that's too long to wait.
Whatever
happens, expect things to get extremely heated when
the PS3 launches. Microsoft will surely drop the
price of their Xbox 360 at the time the PS3 heads
into stores.
Next
Gen DRE's
I'm
actually only half-kidding about this, but it really
needs to be addressed. Sony utterly dropped the
ball when it came to the shoddy parts used in the
production of the early PS2 systems. Charging customers
for repairs to units which were the result of faulty
parts used is really unconscionable. I'm not sure
why there wasn't a class action law suit against
Sony for this, as it would have been quite possible
as tens of thousands, maybe more, gamers were out
of pocket for repairs due to the PS2's predilection
for Disc Read Errors. I should know, I was the recipient
of two PS2 systems afflicted. Sony also hurt their
reputation this past year with thousands of defective
PSP systems rife with dead pixels and sluggish buttons.
Microsoft
didn't fare that much better with their Thompson
Drive problems, which were later replaced with Samsung
and Phillips drives.
Let's
hope that the practice of using inferior parts to
save money on the front end is eradicated once and
for all and gamers can safely use their systems
without fear of a next gen epidemic of DRE's and
DDE's.
In
Conclusion Your Honor
Ultimately
your choice in games, you're love of the controller,
the first party titles and extras that each system
has to offer will be the deciding factor of where
you put your hard earned cash. Until all of these
factors are well known, it's simply fanboy gushing
to announce the winner of the next generation right
now and as mentioned at the outset, Nintendo hasn't
even played their hand yet.
