Can’t believe someone actually downvoted you for being excited; I swear, heaven forbid you like something that others don’t.

I’m skeptical as to whether the open world aspect will add to (or detract from) the experience, but I’ll probably end up grabbing it few years down the line once my kid is old enough to appreciate it.

Yeah - we are a strange, strange place at times. We’re a schizophrenic-nation; half-nanny state, half lawless wasteland! 😅

Really curious as to why River City Girls isn’t going to be available in Australia in particular; as far as I can see, it hasn’t been refused classification (banned) here?

It’s a knee-jerk reaction, and it’s going to have a Streisand effect. I’m looking forward to the dozens of reposted videos spreading far and wide.

Many thanks for this! Really puts the console gaming hobby into perspective.

My two biggest take-aways:

1. Holy shit, that Atari 2600 was expensive!
2. Really explains why the PlayStation 3 stumbled out of the gate, oof!

I’m an old curmudgeon, and I remember (my parents) paying ~$50 for SNES back in the early-to-mid ‘90s; so I’m not exactly shocked that Nintendo have lifted their sell-price.

Compared to back then; gaming is still somewhat more affordable, which definitely feels counter-intuitive - I know!

Japan has for the first time since 1991 had >2% annual inflation for 3 straight years, definitively ending their 2+ decade of stagflation. Developer wages are going up, and games take longer to develop - those costs need to be covered. I am in support of paying a fair market price if (and only if), that increase goes to the labour, and not shareholder profits.

Seeing as the Executive team at Nintendo opted to take a salary-cut, rather than lay off staff, following the failure of the WiiU — they have exactly one credit from me, for the benefit of the doubt.

But that is where my good graces end; other developers are going to take this as the green light to further increase prices on their own (unfinished, rushed, micropayment-laden) titles, across the industry. Heck, there are rumblings that the base version of GTA6 may be $100USD!

My point is more that new/launch technology is always more expensive at launch, until economies of scale can kick in; and this is the first console launch after the 1-2 years of post-COVID double-digit inflation globally.

It sucks, and I’m not trying to excuse it or hand-wave it away - more-so just pointing out that it was kinda foreseeable, given the current state of things.

If you think this is bad, wait until the next round of console launches in ~2027 from Sony.

Nintendo launched the first Switch at $299; just accounting for inflation over the past years - that’s ~$390 now, BEFORE even trying to account for any Trump-tariffs they have been (or will be) imposed on electronics hardware.

I hate to give Nintendo credit, but $450 is actually somewhat reasonable given the current global shit-show.

That PS3 custom-mod is absolute mint!

I wonder if cribsnib has any intention of selling kits/shells — I can’t say for certain if I’d be able to afford it, but goddamn do I want one!