This is madness! This is South Africa!
Gamers in South Africa despair! Thanks to the rand's recent spectacular nose-dive, and various other international factors (mostly to do with the global credit crunch) the price of gaming hardware and the games themselves are leaping by ridiculous amounts.
PC gamers have already seen new titles leap on average from between R300-R350 to R400. (For the record, I haven't looked at graphics card prices lately).
Locally the Nintendo Wii is more expensive than the 60GB non-elite Xbox - despite the fact that it's supposed to be the budget-friendly, "family" console.
And the PS3 has always seemed to hover somewhere between the crazy figures of R5 400 and R6 000.
Now, the latest Xbox 360 price increases have been revealed, and it's similarly horrific. The guys over at LazyGamer, as well as their forums, are in quite a frenzy about it. LG has already written an article about the issue, as well as interviewed Microsoft’s Product and Marketing Manager - who pretty much confirms the increases as affecting all small countries and emerging markets Microsoft deals with. We will be paying more while our First World compatriots, with their strong gaming market, will remain largely unaffected. Hmph.
Anyway, here's the gist of the first LG article:
As of January 2009 the new Xbox 360 prices will kick in, with Arcade increasing by R700 to R2 499, the 60GB increasing by R1 100 to R3 799, and the Elite increasing by R1 500 to R4999.
On top of this, high profile new game releases could be as expensive as R900 a title.
LG has also been kind enough to create a chart comparing local price with international ones (converting to rands):
South Africa Australia USA UK
Arcade R2 499 R1 975 R2 046 R1 872
60 GB R3 799 R2 635 R3 074 R2 506
Elite R4 999 R3 626 R4 102 R3 155
What a fucking rip-off!
Most of you would probably have worked out by now that I'm predominantly a PC gamer. This doesn't mean however that I wasn't looking forward to one day buying a next generation console to sit under my brand-spanking new, giant, HD-enabled, flatscreen TV. That certainly will NEVER happen now... Not while I live in this country.
PC gamers have already seen new titles leap on average from between R300-R350 to R400. (For the record, I haven't looked at graphics card prices lately).
Locally the Nintendo Wii is more expensive than the 60GB non-elite Xbox - despite the fact that it's supposed to be the budget-friendly, "family" console.
And the PS3 has always seemed to hover somewhere between the crazy figures of R5 400 and R6 000.
Now, the latest Xbox 360 price increases have been revealed, and it's similarly horrific. The guys over at LazyGamer, as well as their forums, are in quite a frenzy about it. LG has already written an article about the issue, as well as interviewed Microsoft’s Product and Marketing Manager - who pretty much confirms the increases as affecting all small countries and emerging markets Microsoft deals with. We will be paying more while our First World compatriots, with their strong gaming market, will remain largely unaffected. Hmph.
Anyway, here's the gist of the first LG article:
As of January 2009 the new Xbox 360 prices will kick in, with Arcade increasing by R700 to R2 499, the 60GB increasing by R1 100 to R3 799, and the Elite increasing by R1 500 to R4999.
On top of this, high profile new game releases could be as expensive as R900 a title.
LG has also been kind enough to create a chart comparing local price with international ones (converting to rands):
South Africa Australia USA UK
Arcade R2 499 R1 975 R2 046 R1 872
60 GB R3 799 R2 635 R3 074 R2 506
Elite R4 999 R3 626 R4 102 R3 155
What a fucking rip-off!
Most of you would probably have worked out by now that I'm predominantly a PC gamer. This doesn't mean however that I wasn't looking forward to one day buying a next generation console to sit under my brand-spanking new, giant, HD-enabled, flatscreen TV. That certainly will NEVER happen now... Not while I live in this country.
Comments
I have been lately following your blog. Though this post is older but i must say its well written. I am a game lover