Charting the seven seas of video gaming [Update 1]

Great "novelty" charts. I think that coming to the conclusion that the PS3 will fail from a launch price comparison is rediculous, and frankly, unscientific.
Lets take a look at basic console economics. As someone has said before "content is King" Most, if not all, console manufacturers sell consoles at an initial loss then make up the initial loss by the sales of games and perephrials. By time the middle of a consoles life rolls around, the cost of manufacture has typically receeded enough to turn a small profit on the main hardware and even more on the software and perephrials. Of course there are always exceptions to these rules.
Now, let's tie this all together. The success of any next-gen console is the same as the last gen: Content. Look at the inflation graph again and look at the sucessful(as in what we are talking about: content) consoles: Atari SMS NES S-Genesis SNES PSX PS2 XBOX All these consoles had amazing content for their time. And relatively speaking they were all sucessful regardless of price.
Now lets take another look at the reasons for sucess in our modern market: Value added features. If you think that Sony is the only one who stuck a golden salt shaker in with your lunch then you are gravely mistaken. Any one who has studied marketing should know that the more value a product "seems" to have, the more likely it is to be sucessful. What reason would you have to buy a console from nintendo, sony, or microsoft if all the features were the same. If system X looks like it can do more than system Y, Joe consumer will pick X over Y. A good example is the guy who said "Yawn...I'm glad I can afford the best. That's why I'm buying a PS3." A very uninformed decision. However think of how many "joe's" there are out there that think like this or might no even know the "value" of the competitors. Lets look at it like this:

3 consumers walk ito a convenience store.
consumer1: Hmm 3 brands of cola soda. Coke, Pepsi, or brand X. I think I'll get a coke because all the commercials tell me to. An plus, I might win a sweepstakes.
consumer2: Oh wow, They have my favorite, Pepsi.
Consumer3: Hmm, brand X is new. Let me look at that bottle. OMG it has twice the caffine and some extract that will make my wang produce more wii.

All consumers got a bottle of cola. And yet all consumers were satisfied with the value they got.

In the end, all consumers who buy a console, be it sony, microsoft or nintendo will get a game machine that satisfies their own needs. And they will make that decision based on factors other than price.

Do any of you really think that the PS3 is not going to sell every console they can make? Six hundred is not what it used to be, its a very good price for the PS3.

I agree with Copa.
By the way, wouldn't a "solid gold salt shaker" be entirely useless since, by being solid, it would lack a cavity in which to place the salt?
Which, I suppose, makes it all the more perfect analogy to a Blu-Ray player.

Sony is dead in the water. That's what I see, at least. If that system doesn't sell well, guess what they lose? Exclusivity rights. Particularly from the biggest RPG maker in history, Square-Enix.

They lose Square-Enix, and the Final Fantasy and Star Ocean series, you can put the final nail in the coffin of Sony.

I just love the nintendo pattern there.
I remember 3DO and really not wanting one.
If sony doesn't pump out those killer apps like the ones which made me get a ps2, the ps3 will be doomed.

I think many of the people who own a PS2 will buy a PS3 simply because of the 3 attached to it. I remember hearing a bunch of people who bought the PS2 simply because it was 2 and therefore it must be better and it even has shiny things!

>:|

Copa, Your service to Nintendo is excellent! Star for COPA!