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[Ouija]

Well like promised I researched the price of a Nintendo 8 bit system at it's release, and compared the cost of the Wii at it's release.  The results were will blow your mind.

According to the relative share of GDP (the typical way to determine the value of the US Dollar)¹ you paid $249 for your Nintendo 8 Bit system in 1986 (bundle package with controllers, gun, Duck Hunt & Mario Brothers)². That equals $736.19 in today's dollars, as compared to the Nintendo Wii which sold for $249.99 when it was launched³.

There is no fraggin way I'd pay almost $750 for the 8 bit system (well technically I paid $150 in 1988, which is $387.79 now). Oh by the way, I almost forgot about the Nintendo 64 which was $199 in 1997⁴, which equals $316.19 in today's dollars.  Oh in case you were wondering about the SNES, it was also priced at $199 in 1991 when it was released⁵ which equals $437.92 in todays dollars.

So if you break it down like this: $736.19 (NES), $437.92 (SNES), $316.19 (64), and $249.99 (Wii), the price has actually gone down as technology increased.  Just some food for thought, you hungry yet?

<Edit: I added a little paragraph at the end of the post for attempted comic relief.>

[ROOTless]

This is actually pretty typical for technology.

[Ouija]

Yeah I wasn't terribly surprised, I just didn't think the price difference would be as big as it was.  Just something funny I did, I put the price of a PS3 into effect back in 1986 when the NES was released.  It would have cost you $1,771 (in today's dollars) to buy a PS3 in 1986, or $202.60 in 1986 dollars.

[Jester]

wow, I never thought about it like that...

[Gabriel]

Nor did I. I can't believe the folks ever sprang for something like that.

Gabriel

[kv]

I thought we were going to do this on another valued commodity, like beers (on the Deering scale), so that we could show, not just the price of inflation, but the actual value of the machine.

The technology curve would indicate that as tech becomes more familiar and more standard, its price will be lowered. Also, as tech becomes outdated and replaced, the price drops off more quickly.

Part of the reason that the Wii can be produced so inexpensively is that it's using outdated tech (rumble packs?) and older than standard video graphics accelerator.

  -kv

[Ouija]

Okay give me some more time to find out what the cost of beer was in those various years, and I will convert it to beers 

[Ouija]

Well I still can't find a comprehensive listing of prices over the years, although I did stumble across a page that I thought was entertaining.  According to that pricelist a first rate ale was only 1-1.25d(pence)/gallon, but good beer was 1d/quart [which was also like 150 years later].  I have no clue what that would be to the US dollar, but that's not really what I'm after at the moment.  But I thought I would share it.  http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/medievalprices.html

[Ouija]

I finally got all the info I needed (I think).  In 1986 you traded about 254 pints of beer for a NES.  In 1991 you traded about 159 pints of beer for a SNES.  In 1997 you traded about 80 pints of beer for a 64. And last year you traded about 67 pints of beer for a Wii.  So basically that's how many pints you could've drank instead of buying a new game system.  And in case you're wondering how I got those numbers, I simply based it on the average price per pint each year by the cost of the corresponding system when it was released. But in case you wanted the exact numbers a pint was only 98¢ in 1986, $1.25 in 1991, $2.50 in 1997, and $3.74 in 2006.  I also learned the price of beer stayed pretty much the same from '91 till inflation kicked in '97.

[kv]

Huh. That's interesting. Even on the beer scale, the Nintendo games have gotten cheaper.

Of course, they also have had the DS and Gameboy in that time, so they've been able to take advantage of a saturated market.

I wonder, what would be the price correlation between the XBox and the XBox360?

  -kv

[Ouija]

LOL do you want that in beers as well?  And think about this, the NES and Wii were the same price when they were released, 20 years apart.

[Ruski]

you are leaving out market demand.
when the NES came out originally, there weren't a lot of other options.
there where a few hackers who were playing 'leather goddesses of phobos' on their Comadore 64 but other than a very small selection of graphic games, it was mostly unheard of to have 'video games'
currently: the market is saturated. where as the 8 bit nintendo had no rival, the new nintendo Wii has:
X-box, X-box 360, Playstation, Playstation 2, playstation 3, 8 bit nintendo, 16 bit super nintendo, Nintendo 64, game cube, playstation portable, game boy, game boy advance, game boy advance SP, game boy DS, the sega genesis, any number of computer systems, laptops, cellphones, PDA's, Mr. .99Y 'tiger' lcd games, etc, etc, etc.
competition is the real price dropper.
a month ago, the I-phone was $200 more than it is now. why? technology hasn't changed that much in a month.
but the market representing phones that are also MP3 players and internet devices and cameras has certainly stepped up their game.
-RuskiFace the Pirate

[Ingo Monk]

a month ago, the I-phone was $200 more than it is now. why? technology hasn't changed that much in a month.
but the market representing phones that are also MP3 players and internet devices and cameras has certainly stepped up their game.
-RuskiFace the Pirate

Mr. Jobs wanted some extra cash?

When the iPhone came out it costed like $500 for the 8GB option, then they dropped it to $300 a month later.  The suckers who bought the iPhone at the higher cost all got $100 credit at the iTunes store. 

Any people try to tell me Macs are kewler than PCs.  Bah, in the end both Jobs and Gates just want your money.

[Ruski]

I think the primary difference between Mac and PC is understanding.

PC users want to understand how everything works. take it apart, and tinker with it. if it ain't broke, you haven't modified it enough yet.
Mac users want an air of mystery about themselves and everything they do. they don't want to be understood, it ruins the mystery.

So, beyond that: it's like McDonalds vs. Burger King.
they sell products that do the same thing. if you want to claim brand loyalty: you can, but mostly it's just going to cost you extra for the clothing covered with logos of your choice when you walk through the door.

-RuskiFace the Pirate (Proud wearer of the Burger King hat.) "Long live the Whopper and it's extra gig of RAM!"