DS is a hundred quidh: h: I never knew they were so much in the UK. man, what a rip off. How much is a Wii over there? Yakumo
Yeah, we are expected to pay stupid prices here. It's about time actually that UK pricing policies were investigated. Thanks to large companies assuming we UK folks are prepared to pay more than other European citizens!
I noticed we all get ripped off like this here in the EU, anything that is lets say 100 US is 100 euro here and 100 pounds in the UK probably, but the exchange rates don't lie :-( and don't even get me started on the prices people pay in Japan for the same stuff! it's a shame really. Explaination usually is (EU has so many languages and extra costs because of that) well kiss my ass and sell me English or Japanese titles cheaper in original form and let ignorant people pay more for games in their own language (you read it France and Germany lol) same for movies!
Compared to what you'd pay here it is. You can get a DS lite with any two games you wish for 94 pounds. basically the two "Free" games are just over stcks that the shop can't sell probably and not to mention that is suposed to be a great special offer, not the normal price. Man, I'm so glad I don't have to pay those inflated prices any more. Wii only cost 106 pounds here without a game. Even with a game it would only come to 130 pounds. Yakumo
the PS3 is still out of reach for most consumers. When/if it hits 250-300 USD , then I d gladly buy one. No kidding though, nintendo hit the sweet spot with its pricing policy.
Actually, most of the time the higher prices are due to: 1) higher distribution costs, they are manufactured in japan. 2) higher retail costs, people in the eu expect to get paid more for working in shops, warehouses & driving lorries than in other countries because of the higher cost of living ( vicious circle ). 3) eu import duties, which are imposed to stop countries outside of the eu from selling into the eu. which would be great but there are no eu companies to protect, so it's just a way of taxing people. It's mainly down to the politicians. I know Sony/Nintendo/Microsoft want to make more money, but they could do that if they could drop the prices to something a bit more reasonable. They know that, but they can't afford to. smf
Wow, i wish they'd drop the price of the PS3 here in the US, no wonder they're last in current gen console sales...
gamerfreak, what they pay in the UK is more than what you pay in the US. you pay 500 USD, they pay something around 750 USD (375 GBP)
And that price £375 is an offer that is lasting 4days lol. I refuse to spend over £300 for a retail console.
on this note, I wish I had the dough to purchase a US unit at 500USD (the 60GB model). They are the ones with the hardware emulation, and I m certain they ll be greatly sought after if kept in mint condition in about 5-10 years =)
It's 47'000 yen for the most expensive version which is just a few pence over 200 pounds. So you guys in the UK even with a special offer are still getting screwed over by 100 pounds. No one can say that the extra import costs, tax etc are worth 100 pounds. That's got to be Sony screwing the British public for every penny they can get. Yakumo
The bulk of this thread reads like it's out of the early 90's! It was like this when we paid too much for NES games, it was still like it for SNES games, N64 were no beter and GC only just. Wii games are better still and have hit the spot for what they are. *I only use Nintendo as an example as they are he games I bought most* Last time we were not overcharged on games was when we made them and you got Rastan Saga for 99p. This is just the knock on effect of a global market. Marmite here is only £1, in Japan it is £3, I could think of other things but you get the point. I now feel dirty though as I have half justified over charging which I am against. No one pays as much as us in the EU (and if I remember corectly we in the UK get the cheaper end of the wedge than some other EU countries) and Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft are as guilty as any company but that's the way it goes, every business is there to make money and will fit into the exisiting market structure quite happily even if it is not as good for the consumer as it could be. The market finds a a balance that both parties settle on. Don't like it? Take advantage of the strong pound and go import only (which I guess a fair amount of you already do).
And as expected, North America (or at least Canada) is smack bang in the middle: 150 quid after GST and British Colombia PST. In oil-rich Alberta, it's only 140 quid.
That was why I bought a PS3 in America. $500 for 60Gb version --> only 250 GBP at the exchange rate - sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!!!!
The European PS3 is getting a HDTV tuner that allows recording directly to the HDD. A nice feature indeed!
