Saturday, August 12, 2006

Official Playstation Mag Editor. "I'm Getting A 360."

360 Wins Again...


Quoted from the OPM Editor's blog:

Contrary to popular belief, editors of the Official PlayStation Magazine don't get free hardware for their own personal use. So I've been having an ongoing debate with myself about the PS3 since E3. After Kaz announced that the price would be $600, I found my enthusiasm sagging.

It's not that I find the concept of a $600 console insulting. Inflation happens, and it's natural that eventually inital prices will be higher than they used to be. But when I know that a console's direct competitors cost two-thirds or half of that price, it becomes harder for me to justify shelling out that kind of money--especially when I can probably get the Wii and the 360 combined for the cost of a PS3.

$600 might be worth it if there were several huge titles on the near horizon that were PS3-exclusive. But for the first year at least, there are very few big titles that are PS3 exclusive. GTA4 and Assassins will be available for the 360 at the same time. And most of the big guns--FFXIII, MGS4--won't be hitting for quite some time after the launch.

The other big reason for people to shell out $600, BluRay, is frankly something I don't care about. I have a crummy 12-year-old 21-inch very-non-hi-def TV sitting on my stand at home, and while we've been talking about upgrading it for the past three years, we always end up walking out of stores TV-less. And I don't buy movies; I rent non-BR discs from Netflix. Much like I've never been an audiophile--as long as I can hear it, I don't care if it's mono, stereo, 5.1, 7.1--I really don't care how high-res the picture is. My bottom line is that as long as it has color and is free from static, I'm good to go.

So ultimately, I can't justify it. $600 is a lot of money, especially when I can get what--for me at least--will be a very similar experience for $400. I would like to own a PS3, and I hope that the price drops soon so I can consider it. But until then, this Official PlayStation Magazine editor will have to join the dark side.

Isn't this what I've been saying the whole time...

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