Price War: Xbox 360 vs. PlayStation 3 -- Fight!

Nov 25, 2008

Before you deep dive on our Xbox 360 versus PlayStation 3 consumer price guide, take a few deep breaths and remember, they're just video game systems. This isn't a political campaign. The election's over. We have no dog in this fight, and besides figuring out which system has the games you most want to play, neither should you.

All better? It's been quite a ride this year with all the models announced and discontinued, components introduced and retired, and prices generally lowered across the board. That said, video gaming is still a relatively expensive hobby. While it's possible to argue the increased price of games is commensurate with spiraling production costs and inflationary expectations, the cost of video game consoles is up radically this generation. That's in part because there's simply more you can do with a console these days, ergo more parts and widgets to build into a full-featured experience.

Let's get to the numbers, but first, why no PC or Wii? Simple, really. If I pull PCs into the comparison, I get into an asymmetric quagmire involving everything from thousands of disparate computer parts to the total cost of pulling together a decent home theater system. If I add the Wii (the current darling of video gaming in terms of unit sales) I'll just confuse consumer demographics. The audience presently snapping up Wiis in droves expects a very different sort of game experience than the one you get playing something like Gears of War 2 or SOCOM for six or seven hours every single day.

Source: PC World