Micro-monopoly-soft

Here's a "short" post I put on the xbox.com's forums today. It's a summed up version of what I;ve been hearing from alot of sources concerning the true expenses of the Xbox 360 system. It's a bit heated at some points, but remember that I love the Xbox 360, Live and its community. I'm just voicing some opinions on the price to pay in the end.

"Deep down everyone knows neither Sony or Nintendo can deliver the powerful gaming experience that Microsoft can with the Xbox 360. And because Microsoft knows this, I think they are ripping us off. Think about it.
To get started, you need to buy the console.
$280 for Core
$350 for Premium.
If you got Core, you're going to have to buy a hard drive to actually get something out of your Xbox 360. $100, is as cheap as they come.
An Xbox 360 will come with one controller. But to atleast enjoy 2 player co-op you need a second. $50.

You then discover that this system isn't like the $250 Wii that has a wireless adapter built in, but instead requires you to pay another $100 for a separate part that allows you to connect to your home router. Your only other option: if you don't have a router, hope to god your PC and modem setup is close enough to your TV that you can run a wire to it. No one likes wires stretching through rooms, so I'll assume you have the router setup, which most American households have.

Microsoft is so far the only system I know of that charges you money for online play. I could start an online match on my DS whenever I pleased, never paying the $50 a year (that's aproximately a dollar per week) that Microsoft then has the nerve to charge after all these expenses.

You need games for your 360, so you get some good titles. The cost of a game is the cost of the game, and if it's good, I see no problem in forking over $60 for it. But then to really enjoy it, Microsoft nickles and dimes me to death so I can download all those leftovers. Like "missing pieces in the story" and "special features" the game should have included anyways! You could end up spending around $20 just buying all the missing parts for your game you already paid big cash on to enjoy.

You would think Microsoft would have a heart and respect the money gamers slap on the counter for their systems and games. Instead they charge more. In the hundreds of dollars. I can't believe that all this is necessary.

Look at the numbers. After all these expenses you probably spent about $460 just getting set up with your Core, or $520 if you went Premium for the real deal. And those two figures don't factor in how much you end up paying for Live. Quality doesn't come cheap. But it sure as hell should come cheaper than THAT. Next time you hear someone crying about how the Xbox 360 should be leading console sales instead of the Wii (which is doing incredibly well, along with the DS), remember that it doesn't come at people charging all this money to play games (the world is still realizing what an impact games have on everyday life and don't see it as an equal to music and movies yet, like gamers do), it comes with a reasonable price and no funny-business later.
I'm not saying Microsoft should cut the price on its consoles. Those are fine. It needs to make the other after-purchase-purchases you'll inevitably make less intimidating. From a logical point of view, what would you rather buy? A system that costs $250 that includes a wireless adapter, or a $350 system that will then charge $100 later for the same wirless adapter? The adapter should have been included in the system, micro-transactions should only be for Xbox Live Arcade, Gamer Pictures and themes should be free, LIVE SHOULD BE FREE- there is really no excuse for that one. But I know Microsoft is fond of the billions it makes a year at our expense, and will not part with any of it. I by all means congratulate them on standing by their product in light of the "red quadrants of death" problem, and believe that if they had not, the only people still playing a 360 today would be those that were not affected."

Opinions definitly wanted.

-ProjektWikked