It's not cheap, but I'm not sure we could have expected any better at this point.
N64 was a great $200, PS1 $300, Saturn $400.
Dreamcast also a great $200, PS2 $299, Xbox $299, Gamecube $199
Wii $250, Xbox 360 $399, PS3 $599
Wii U $300, Xbox One $499, PS4 $399
And yeah, I'll never understand why Australia and Europe always get prices in the same numbers as US$
Even adjusted for inflation, I'd say the current generation we had was far more reasonable in comparison (well, at least after the PS3 price drop
) To be fair Australia has to deal with shipping and localisation issues (or something idfk), but we're still likely looking at a 650-700 dollar price point for both consoles.
It feels like a role reversal for me. The folks at Microsoft made a gamble on fitting in a giant APU and some complicated-ass technology like Kinect and SmartGlass, and when they came up with technical difficulties and backlash on their core concept, the overall product and presentation got completely shafted. They made a gamble on its graphics and gimmicks and ended up with an overpriced box.
Sony seemed to have chucked in GDDR5 for the hell of it and hoped that it would have manufacturing support to make it cost-effective, and they got lucky enough for it to be just recently viable so they could tout it on announcement with a lower price point.
Either way, they're both way overpriced compared to the previous generation. The games look fantastic on both sides, but not enough to convince me to buy one anytime soon. I'm actually a little bit excited about the new 360 model. I don't care much for aesthetics either way, but it shows that Microsoft aren't simply banking on the One to sell units in the future, and it shows that they'll still put in current-generation support for people who are on a budget.
