Today, Sony Entertainment released a $500 bundle containing the Playstation 3 game console and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots into the United States console market. For those who weren't camped out in front of the store on release day, bundles are a popular way of geting people to buy a console and feel that they're getting good value for their money. The Nintendo Wii base console is a bundle, in the sense that the Wii Sports demo disc that accompanies every console makes it so that people don't have to buy a game immediately after buying their console.
When it comes to the console wars, though, after all the posturing about processing power, graphics units, hardware, and computer-like featrues, such as Internet browsing or grid computing, or on-line services like XBox Live, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connect, or the vast array of downloadable content available, it's really the games and features that drive whether a console sells well or poorly. Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid series has been a hit for Sony console and portable owners, garnering enough popularity that the game's main character, Solid Snake, was asked to be included in Nintendo's Super Smash Brothers Melee, and debuted in Super Smash Brothers Brawl as one of two third-party playable characters in the game (Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog also made it in, making it possible for Mario versus Sonic to be writ large and played many times worldwide). So the inclusion of Metal Gear Solid is definitely a good choice for Sony.
The other important question in deciding on what console to buy is price. For the 80GB console, controller, and MGS4, the price point is set at $500, double the price point of the Nintendo Wii. For one game and the PS3, someone could get a Wii and five or six new games at their $50 price point. Or the Xbox 360 and a couple games, too. I'm sure there are a lot of Kojima fans out there, but I'm not so sure that there are that many willing to shell out the $500 to have the bundle. Is MGS4's popularity enough to overcome reluctance at the price?
Do you think that Sony's price point is fair? Is the lure of Metal Gear Solid enough to sell you on the PS3? Will most people wait for Final Fantasy XIII before jumping up? Or are most people looking elsehwere, to the Wii with the Smash Brothers/Mario Kart or Twilight Princess/Super Mario Galaxy combination, or the Xbox360 for the Halo series, Gears of War, or other games?
Let me know what you're playing.
