Exhuminator wrote:dsheinem wrote:Today, no. A few years around the end of the GCN and launch of the Wii (say 2006-2008 or so)? Yes.
Exactly. The GameCube angle is a flawed argument. I bought all my GameCube games during 2006-2007 and I got killer deals the whole time. We're talking Skies of Arcadia Legends brand new and sealed for less than $20. It wasn't until post-2010 that we started seeing inflated GameCube prices.
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Serious questions:
(1) Was it just GameCube games that were cheaper a decade ago, or was everything cheaper because collecting wasn't as common or as monetized? I'd posit the latter.
(2) Are you considering inflation? That $100 from 2006 is close to $120 in 2016 (
http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm).
(3) Does it matter that GameCube sold far more systems than Wii U, or that Wii was fully backwards-compatible making GameCube hardware essentially obsolete, or that GameCube simply had a lower MSRP ($99 two years after launch) than Wii U has ever reached? That seems like it would affect used hardware pricing/availability.
I agree that GameCube is a flawed angle - but from both sides.
Wii is more recent - can you get the best Wii experience for $100 now? Maybe. It depends very much on what your list of games are. Hopefully you don't consider Skyward Sword, Xenoblade, or Metroid Prime Trilogy to be among the top games though.
Wii U pricing will go down and people will get good deals. However, holding out for a $100 price point and expecting to get the best the Wii U has to offer will (for many people) require either good luck or some compromises about what content you will be able to enjoy.