OK! The E3 show winds down and what have we learned? Really, what have we learned? We learned that ancient gaming rivals Sony and Nintendo continue to swipe at each other with their mighty blades called game consoles all the while some little geek with glasses from Seattle who happens to be the richest man on the planet is shoving his way into the fight with a sleek little blade himself.
These consoles will have wireless controllers, networking capability, gaming networks to hook into, ability to watch DVD movies, cup holders, a built in vacuum to clean the chips up off the floor, built-in refrigerators to keep drinks cool and a microwave to nuke pizza rolls so you don’t have to quit playing. OH, we’ve come so far since my old Atari 2600 and the Colecovision.
I learned that Sony’s attempts to control the minds of the world through game play are well on the way to fruition. They’ve crammed a lot of stuff into that little PS3 including their Blu-Ray technology, which, when combined with TDK’s announcement of 100Gb disks is gonna be cooler than school.
I also learned that Nintendo’s attempts to regain control of the minds of the world are well on their way to fruition. Once again, a lot of groovy stuff in their little box called Revolution but the coolest thing is access to all the games from past game consoles like Super Mario Bros. and Zelda and Donkey Kong and all their other franchise characters are going to be the bomb.
Then I learned, that Microsoft, who already controls the minds of a fair amount of the planet is coming out with a groovy new console and the best thing about the Xbox, other than a new Halo is that this one comes out before Christmas.
Did I forget to mention the zillions of games for the three consoles?
Now let’s add all this up:
PS3/Xbox 360: $400+
Nintendo Revolution: $200
3 Additional Wireless controllers : $120 (ya gotta play with your homeys their with you)
Quality Surround System: $50
Gaming Network Fees: $80 startup fees and $10 monthly charge
REQUIRED High Speed Connection: $40
Samsung’s New HDTV Specifically for Game Consoles: $1100
Games(not REALLY required because these are entertainment hubs that are convivial): $70. Yep maybe even more because Madden last years was over $50 and that was on the most recent generation, wait til the spread it out over 100GB.
Wow, that’s a little bit of money, let me figure here$1750 startup, $50 a month, and $50-$70 for new games? Wow gaming’s getting pricey.
Finally I learned, not to take my credit card to Best Buy or Wal-Mart when these consoles come out.
I wonder if anyone still plays Chutes and Ladders
John Stith is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
