Why Are Gaming Consoles So Expensive

By Philip Woods

Why is it that gaming consoles so expensive? Many consumers have asked themselves this question over the years although they usually will acquiesce and hand over their hard earned money to purchase the gaming console they are interested in. Yet, some may make such purchases with a bit of hesitation. Namely, they may be concerned as to whether or not they are making a good purchase considering the fact that so many gaming consoles end up becoming obsolete.

So just what is the answer to the $475.95 question? You probably won't find this in popular mechanics, or video game weekly, but the culprit for gaming consoles being so expensive these days is computers. That's right, computers are the main cause of why gamers fork out not only hundreds of dollars on the platforms, but even more on games.

What is the reason for all of this? Long time gamers probably have an idea why it is so as they may remember way back when the Atari first debuted in the'70s. The system truly did amaze people even though it was an extremely primitive system that had little more than blips, balls, and squares moving across the screen. Yet, the Atari was state of the art for the time and it sold enormously well.

At the same time, while some households may have had a home computer, these were just basically word processors, and were still more like an advanced typewriter. Then, almost out of nowhere, the Commodore 64 came out, which was not only a word processor, but could also play games from a floppy disk. There were far more options that Atari, including flight simulation, which was a totally new thing in gaming. This opened up the doors to many air-real combat games, as well as many other combat situations.

To the consumer, it truly did appear that technology radically changed overnight. More and more gaming companies started to appear on the consumer landscape. Nintendo quickly emerged at the forefront and many of the most ardent gamers quickly purchased this system. Nintendo offered some things that no one had seen previously such as the strange fantasy worlds of the Mario Bros.

Then, more systems and companies arrived and fell amidst a great deal of marketplace competition. Although Atari did its very best to stay relevant in a changing world, it soon faded from the spotlight. More advanced systems along the lines of Intellivision, and ColecoVision appeared and then just as quickly faded away. From this rapidly competitive marketplace, systems such as Nintendo, Sega, and Playstation all seemed to come out on top as their own unique aspects all contributed to their success.

Success for computer manufactures arrived as well. The graphics and sound on PC games improved and consumers quickly became drawn to such interactive games that allowed one to be immersed in a completely new world.

As the technology continued to advance, CDs were developed and so much information could be placed on them the advancements in graphics and sound were significant.

Popularity continues back and forth between computer games and console games. At a time, console systems and computer games were limited to one or two players. This soon expanded into 4 and then grew to include role-playing games. With the birth of the internet, a whole new world for the gaming industry derived. Those with a computer could play games with others from all over the world. Today, there are gaming consoles that connect to the internet which further expands possibilities So when you are wondering what is the reason for the high cost of consoles just look at the computer section. - 29943

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