The Next Generation

I'm going to be getting a Xbox 360 when it comes out, thanks to my incredible wife. She went and reserved one for me recently and I could not be more excited. My only concern comes when I think about the 360 in general and the prices that are soon to be associated with gaming. The console will be at least $299.99. If you want the hard drive, add $100.00 to that. Couple that with the fact that the games will be $59.99 and it gets expensive if you want to be an early adopter of this hardware.

I personally have never been an early adopter of any hardware. Hell, I got my Saturn on clearance at Wal-Mart and have a used Dreamcast. What worries me is that the "budget" games will become even more scarce, and the used prices will be hiked significantly. Gamestop wants to get their piece of the pie, all while giving you little to nothing for your trade-ins. I got 2 bucks for my Bomberman GBA game the other day. They'll sell it for at least $10.

Now, I've never been one to pay full price for most of my games. I can count on one hand the one's that I actually shelled out the full $50. But how long will it take games that start out at $60 to drop to a level that us non-rich gamers can afford them. It takes a lot of money to maintain this gaming habit. Controllers, games, headsets, Xbox Live, etc. Yes, they're in the business of making money, but gamers are trying to keep up with the latest and greatest, while still being able to afford rent, car payments, and food.

My question is this. Wouldn't more games sell at a cheaper price point? The ESPN sports games sold incredibly well at $19.99. So well ,in fact, that EA had to buy the NFL liscense in order to keep the price high. I really think that in the next generation, we'll see a lot of people just having one console in their house instead of two or three. At least until the price drops to below $200.

Check out the prices on these Xbox 360 bundles. It's insane!

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