You greedy bastards!!! $650 for an X-Box???

[dalovindj]

Went to the video game store next to my work yesterday, my hard-earned cash in hand, and went to buy the $299 X-box. They had 'em all right. I says "Got any X-box's left?". He says "Yeah, we got 2. You gotta buy the box plus 4 games plus 2 controllers plus the DVD controller. $650. Cash only."

Go fuck yourself, fucknut. I wanna buy it piece by piece you money-grubber. I was ready to drop $400 or so for a game, a box, and a controller. Now I'll just do it somewhere else. Screw you. I'm not buying any more games from you either.

DaLovin' Dj

[geepee]

Bah you should see exporters of the PS2 when it came out in japan asking $4000+ for them

[RainbowDragon]

Just out of curiosity, which video game store is this?
Doesn’t sound like a big retailer if they only have two in stock…

Also the “Cash Only” stipulation sounds rather odd. I don’t know of any reputable retailer that has this policy on some items, but not on all…

[Airman Doors, USAF]

Let me get this straight...you're willing to throw down $400 on a system just so you can say that you have it first, and they raise the price and put conditions on you, and you get mad about it. Hmmm...

WAAAAAAAAAAA!!! It's just a game, dude. That's it. This is not a tragedy. You just have to wait a little longer, that's all.

-Dave, who hasn't had a video game system since the Atari 2600 and doesn't get why someone would shell out 400 ducats for something like that.

[mouthbreather]

Hate to tell ya DJ, but I'd be doing the same thing if it was me.. They're going to sell out that way.

I assume he meant he had two left, not he started out with two. So if you own a store, and you have the option of moving 100 units at $300 (+ a few extras here and there) or moving 100 units at $650, And you're going to sell them all regardless, the choice seems easy to me.

The cash only thing is a little weird, though.

[pepperlandgirl]

The real question is: Why would anybody spend any amount for an X-Box when the PS2 is available?

[Niobium Knight]

why did he want cash??? that's well dodgy man. if he wouldnt accept debit card it's seriously dodgy.

[mouthbreather]

Originally posted by pepperlandgirl
The real question is: Why would anybody spend any amount for an X-Box when the PS2 is available?

Here's a list of about 20 reasons.

[Whack-a-Mole]

Originally posted by mouthbreather
The cash only thing is a little weird, though.

Not really. Obviously these guys are grubbing money anywhere they can find it. When you buy something with a credit card a certain percentage of the purchase goes to the credit card company. That money comes off of the retailer's bottom line. If they can save that cash then they will.

Still sucks though. In this day and age its rare for people to tote hundreds of dollars incash around with them and you can't get that kind of money out of an ATM. You'd need to visit your bank first for the 'pleasure' of giving that merchant your money. Sounds like too much trouble to me.

[Whack-a-Mole]

Originally posted by mouthbreather
Here's a list of about 20 reasons.

And here are some counterpoints.

The hardware of the Xbox is superior, but at this time, the first-gen Xbox graphics are still only a modest improvement over the second-gen PS2. With only a modest improvement, recruiting developers away from the solid PS2 userbase will be difficult. It will also be a challenge to sell consumers to the Xbox platform. Certainly, as developers become more comfortable with pixel and vertex shaders, we can expect to see a large jump in graphic quality. However, this is center of the test that the Xbox will face.

[Enderw24]

I remember when I got my ColecoVision. First one on the block, baby. 16 colors, 8K of RAM, and 8 bits of hard packin' Arcade action, aw yeah. Kids lining up to get a load of those number pads. I'se da shit, baby.

[andros]

Coleco???!!!??

Dude, yuo suxxor!!!!

ATARI 2600 is tha shiznit, babeee!!!

[DocCathode]

The last system I bought was a Gameboy. Not gameboy pocket, gameboy color, or gameboy advanced, it's just the original model. I got it used, no game, at a garage sale for $4. My Atari 2600 finally broke a few years ago. Fortunately, I found an emulator that comes with Every game made for the 2600. It's bliss.

Even with inflation the price of PS2's, Xboxes, and Gamecubes stuns me.

I am hoping that the Xbox replaces the Edsel as a term for failure. I have hated MCPsoft for a long time.

[mouthbreather]

Originally posted by Whack-a-Mole

[/b]

That's certainly not specific to XBox. Anytime a new, more powerful console comes out against a one-step-down, established console this is the case. See also Dreamcast vs Playstation, circa sept99. The high-end Dreamcast games now blow the high end PS1 games out of the water.

[thinksnow]

The cash sales thing is easy to explain: they are gouging and with cash sales, they can hide it.

[mouthbreather]

Originally posted by DocCathode
Even with inflation the price of PS2's, Xboxes, and Gamecubes stuns me.

I certainly could be wrong here, but I seem to remember my dad dropping $120-$150 for an Atari 2600 in 1977. If I am correctly remebering, the prices for new systems don't seem that unreasonable (in comparison), when adjusted for inflation.

[mouthbreather]

I certainly am starting my posts with "I certainly..." a lot in this thread.

[kabbes]

And yet even the PS1 still seems as popular as ever whereas the Dreamcast is whithering away.

pan

[mouthbreather]

Kenny G more popular than Eric Dolphy, I don't think we'll assume that means he's better.

[kabbes]

Who's talking better? I thought that we were talking about commercial viability.

pan, who bought a Dreamcast.

[Munch]

http://www.gamesradar.com/news/game_news_1611.html

What I find funny about that link is the last two items. They are apparently highlighting which system wins each particular category. However, I don't see the advantage the X-Box has over the PS2 in "European Release Date". It seems to me that your average European would find the fact that PS2s are in the stores, and X-Boxes are not going to be in stores for 3 more months, that the PS2 would be a *bit* more favorable.

But that's just my opinion.

[mouthbreather]

Originally posted by kabbes
Who's talking better? I thought that we were talking about commercial viability.

pan, who bought a Dreamcast.

Well, I was talking better to start with (hardware specs), but Whack-a-Mole's quote from the article is challenging it on commercial viability.

I also bought a DC.

[TwistofFate]

The playstation is more popular than the dreamcast because Sony pushed it right.

While I acknowledge that the Dreamcast is a better system, I love my playstation. They have better playable games.

Sega Bass Fishing? even Vibribbon shits that.

[DocCathode]

I seem to be seeing the past through rose-colored glasses and the present through my cheapskate filter. I will henceforth not complain of the cost.

[Demise]

List of reasons the PS2 is, and always will be, better than the Xbox or Gamecube:

Final Fantasy
Metal Gear Solid
Gran Turismo

[SpaceGhostofArrakis]

Originally posted by Demise
List of reasons the PS2 is, and always will be, better than the Xbox or Gamecube:

Final Fantasy
Metal Gear Solid
Gran Turismo

Hate to tell you this, but Microsoft bought the exclusive rights to Final Fantasy.

Just FYI

[Slacker]

Originally posted by SpaceGhostofArrakis


Hate to tell you this, but Microsoft bought the exclusive rights to Final Fantasy.

Just FYI

Link? I've heard forever that FFX is PS2 only.

[llamasex]

Originally posted by SpaceGhostofArrakis

Hate to tell you this, but Microsoft bought the exclusive rights to Final Fantasy.

Just FYI

I am almost postive you are VERY wrong about that.

Surely almost postive. Mind if you prove it?

[SpaceGhostofArrakis]

Huh.

I was absolutly sure I had seen it on Gamespot.com.


Guess I was wrong, sorry.

[SpaceGhostofArrakis]

Ah, I see what the problem was. For some reason I misread the article on this link.

Final Fantasy is going multiconsole, not exclusive. I apologize for the snafu.

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2781619,00.html

[Demise]

Huh, that's crazy. Sony owns 19% of Squaresoft, you'd think they would want to keep it exclusive to the PS2.

[llamasex]

Originally posted by mouthbreather

I certainly could be wrong here, but I seem to remember my dad dropping $120-$150 for an Atari 2600 in 1977. If I am correctly remebering, the prices for new systems don't seem that unreasonable (in comparison), when adjusted for inflation.

They are too much for me (you can't steal free games from for the X-box PS2 ... YET :P), but the companies sell these systems at a loss, or at cost. They make it up on games.

[erislover]

Er, I think you put the cost of the Atari too low. I think almost every sinlge video game system ever released started at $200-$250.

Right now i am personally dedicated to getting a GC. Then its a toss up between PS2 and X-Box. All I really want right now is Silent Hill 2. Because of that I'm waiting to see what games come out. I'll pick something up next spring, I think.

Ain't no hurry for me. If it is a good system I got at least three active years to play with it.

And damn if I didn't drop a tear (metaphoric) for the Dreamcast. What a great, great system. I think I will shit on Sega's head for not releasing Shenmue 2 on the DC.

That is fucking BULLSHIT. They were talking about these games before the DC even came out. I am very upset with Sega and I plan to avoid, if at all possible, ever purchasing another Sega produc again.

[FairyChatMom]

Originally posted by thinksnow
... they are gouging ...

Sounds to me like supply and demand, reminiscent of Tickle Me Elmo and Cabbage Patch Dolls and Furbies and whatever other fads have come and gone. I can see use the term gouging when speaking of necessities. This is just capitalism. Nobody ever said that was fair.

Then again, I don't give a flying fig about the thing, so it's hard for me to get worked up.

[pesch]

Actually, it sounds like gouging on the part of the clerk who's going to register the correct price on the register and pocket the rest.

[theendisnear]

The price is right, you aren't just buying the xbox for 650 instead of 300, but the xbox with as much bundled crap they think they can stick you with. They know people are going to buy them anyways so why not stick them with 4 games an extra controller and whatever else they are bundling?

[erislover]

I dunno, FairyChatMom... I think you're right. If I had a flying fig I wouldn't trade it either.

[OneChance]

Originally posted by mouthbreather
Here's a list of about 20 reasons.

All those numbers don't mean a thing. It's the games that make a system, not the system specs. Look at the GameBoy for proof of that.

[Odesio]

Originally posted by erislover


Right now i am personally dedicated to getting a GC. Then its a toss up between PS2 and X-Box. All I really want right now is Silent Hill 2. Because of that I'm waiting to see what games come out. I'll pick something up next spring, I think.

Silent Hill 2 is not that great of a game. I'm not saying that it is a completely crummy game without merit. It just isn't a game that should influence your choice of console systems.

That is fucking BULLSHIT. They were talking about these games before the DC even came out. I am very upset with Sega and I plan to avoid, if at all possible, ever purchasing another Sega produc again.

I feel like Sega dropped the ball with the Sega CD and the Sega Saturn. That was part of the reason I didn't get a DC.

Marc

[SPOOFE]

All those numbers don't mean a thing. It's the games that make a system, not the system specs. Look at the GameBoy for proof of that.

Damn skippy.

[VarlosZ]

Chances are that neither the store nor the clerk is "gouging" or ripping you off (that is, if you don't call this sort of bundling a "rip off"). Lots of businesses (of all sorts) only accept cash for some or all purchases. In the large majority of cases, it is done so that their income (or a large chunk thereof) is effectively unverifiable, which means big savings come tax season.

Hope that helps.

[VarlosZ]

If you can only find the system bundled with games/equipment you don't want, you should see about the store's return policy. Except in smaller stores, you're likely to be able to return unwanted stuff.

[astro]

I think supply should be fine. I was getting some CDR's this evening and there were 6 new XBOX units @ $ 299. each in the local Circuit City when I left the store at 8:45 PM tonight.

[PaulYeah]

Originally posted by DocCathode
I am hoping that the Xbox replaces the Edsel as a term for failure. I have hated MCPsoft for a long time.

Who are you calling program, program?

Paul "Brutal and needlessly sadistic" Yeah

[nightshadea]

software ect eb babbages all did this when the gba came out also it would of been 200 dollars .. except they didnt let you pick the games or the accesories

I bought one from k-mart for 79 becuase it had been returned and there was nothing wrong with it getting 30 off the cost

Of course the other practice I dislike is preordering but since the ps2 mess I think thats fallen out of favor generally

Although for the gc they were smart they made capcoms resident evil series gc only for 6 games

But I'll end up wowning all of them eventually so its all good

[kabbes]

FYI, the X-box is debuting at £299 in the UK ($450) - the same price that the PS2 was originally (it is now £199).

Box only, nothing bundled.

Sometimes you folks need reminding just how cheap you have things anyway!

pan

[SPOOFE]

Hey, Kabbes, if you don't like it, you can always move to America. "Give me your poor, your tired, your console gamers..."

[kabbes]

Yes, but you can't make decent tea.

[Gary Kumquat]

Originally posted by kabbes
Yes, but you can't make decent tea.

How kind of you to offer, kabbes - milk please, half a sugar.

Got any biscuits?

[kabbes]

Digestive?