The true cost of next gen gaming

People keep looking at the cost of the consoles. $499 for the XBOX 360, $599 for the PS3 and it’s currently unknown for the Wii (although rumors put it at $200-250). No one looks at the cost of the games.

Currently, games for all three consoles cost $50. For someone’s allowance, it’s a considerable price if you want kids to play the game and parents to buy it. But when it reaches a certain point where it’s too expensive, that’s where things get to be a bit iffy.

The most expensive 360 game is currently priced at $60. As a games used to the $50 mark I was shocked. I settled then for the used game so the priuce point would still be at the $50 range.

But as reports come out that games for the PS3 may reach as high as $99 I think Sony is crazy for placing prices that high. As it stands, console makers already lose money per console and the only way they can hope to earn it all back is to sell many games. But putting it at $99 will put the games beyond the reach of the mass market, the very market that they want to reach. If they want these consoles not just in hands of fans and gamers but in the living room, they have to lower the prices.

At this rate the Wii seems to have won the battle without a single console out in the streets. But who knows? Amazon Japan pre-sales are higher for the PS3 than the Wii. Will it be the same for the rest of the world? I guess we have to wait until November to find out. Unless Nintendo releases their console earlier than expected.