Gideon

Day pme

It's being published by Microsoft. There is no chance it will ever go to PS3--in any shape or form. MS owns the rights.

When he goes "This is Sparta!"

Since the original argument was about economics, I'll respond in kind. You confuse two different economic concepts: market supply/demand and individal preference curves. For a market, if you assume equal demand for two goods (lets say Wii X and Wii Y), that means that given any, an equal amount of goods will be demanded. So, if one is sold at a lower cost, then the market will demand more of the cheaper one. Unless the price elasticity of demand was perfectly elastic, the market will still buy the more expensive one, it will just buy less of them.

Now, you actually didn't talk about that. You brought up the preferences of a rational consumer. You incorrectly said that a rational consumer would try and maximize their economic benefit. Instead, in economics we say that a rational consumer would try to maximize their utility. Utility could mean many things--it could mean perhaps that while Wii X is cheaper than Wii Y, someone with higher utility for Y may end up buying Y instead--or perhaps maybe they still buy X. The point is that it accounts for how much benefit the consumer receives from the item in addition to its economic cost.

Now, you said assume all things being equal--so I guess you mean that the two goods (Wii X and Wii Y) are perfect substitutes, meaning they have the same utility to the consumer. In that case, sure, the person would choose the cheaper good for their first purchase (their utilities might change after buying one).

Anyone who says the Joystiq poster was incorrect isn't taking into his account his premise of "assume all-things being equal." If by this he means two things are of equal utility (as in, I'd just as much have one as the other), then a consumer will ALWAYS buy the cheaper one.