Gasoline and Video Games
So yeah gas prices went up like 40 cents in a week. No one knows exactly why but maybe if we invade more middle eastern countries prices will eventually level off.
But I guess it's ok for gas to go up as time goes on because inflation happens, wages increase, etc etc. That's the cycle with all consumer products right? WRONG. There is one thing that is immune to the evils of inflation, and that's the video game.
Do you remember how much new video games were in the 80s? Fifty bucks. How much are they now? Fifty bucks. Sure, Sega threw in a game every once in a while that went up to $70, but that was pretty rare. It's amazing, no matter the year, no matter the technological advance of the console, video games stay at the exact same price.According to this inflation calculator, $50 in 1986 translates to $85.65 in 2005 dollars. Video games should have increased in cost by about 70% in the past 20 or so years, but they've stayed the same.
At least we can look forward to Christmases 15 years from now where we can buy our kids $50 video games.
posted by Romeo Foxtrot @ 12:06 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I hate to burst your bubble, but according to G4, the xbox360 and ps3 are both strongly considering a $60 price point for their games.
And also, btw, handheld games prices have increased over time.
zing
Here's my thoughts on this: I think video games get cheaper (appearing to stay the same despite inflation) because it's cheaper to make the games - eventhough they're hella more complicated now. But every new system tries to make their games start at like $60-80 and then the price always falls to $50.
Justrelac's right about portable game prices, though. It's probably because they're just as complicated as the original games.
What a good obeservation. I totally remember paying $50 for Super Techmo Bowl in 1991. The best part about that game was that Bo Jackson was totally unstoppable, like you could run over the whole defense with him. He was the best video game football player ever, right ahead of Michael Vick in Madden 2004. This information adds absolutely no value to anyone.
in fact it detracts value to me
i didn't include handheld video games in my thoughts because i'm not 10 and don't bring game-boys into supermarkets or church or whatever. and i'm not talking computer games either, strictly console games.
$60 is pretty reasonable for a video game, it's pretty surprising it doesn't cost more, i just think it's really weird that prices have barely fluctuated in 20-30 years of video gameage
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