Video Game Console Buying Guide - long term costs

[DaFees]

Hello everyone,

 

First let me apologize if all of this was unnecessary, but I felt like doing it anyways. Every year the major retailers put games and console on sale in hopes you will buy your child(ren) the latest and great in video game entertainment. Well, now sure it's easy to look through all the ads and see who has the best deal on what, but sometimes just buying a console isn't enough. Sometimes there can be additive costs that creep up on you. For example you could buy a Wii for Christmas but then two months later the batteries that came with the console died. That becomes an additive cost, whether you buy more batteries, rechargeable batteries or a rechargeable battery pack.

 

Also another important thing to consider is that the big trend in gaming now is motion play, whether it's using your whole body with the Xbox Kinect or not so much with the Wii remotes. This is, of course, if motion gaming is something important to you (may be important in that motion gaming is something the whole family can share in) or to your child(ren). So I figured I'd create a little visual chart that helps visualize the costs associated with making a new console purchase for your child(ren) this holiday season.

 

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/8871/covgf.png

 

Now that may not seem totally clear and I apologize, but allow me to break it down for you:

 

In dark blue: This is the upfront console cost. What you will pay for the console itself. The Xbox 360 w/ Kinect is available multiple places but Wal-Mart has the best bet on this one with a $50 GC included. Target has the Xbox 360 4GB w/o Kinect. BB has the Xbox 360 250GB. Multiple retailers (WM, Target, BB, etc.) have the PS3 Holiday Bundle. GameStop has the PS3 Move Bundle. Wal-Mart has the Limited Edition Blue Nintendo Wii, and Sears has the New Super Mario Bros. Wii Bundle.

 

In aqua: This is what it will cost to get a rechargeable battery pack so that you needn't keep buying batteries. For the 360 I reference the Xbox 360 Play & Charge Kit which GameStop has in their ad. For the Wii I reference a Nyko Charge Station Quad available online only at Wal-Mart. Sure you might find a charger in an ad or two, but none of them match the quality level of consistent reviews that the Nyko gets.

 

In red: This is the cost of a second controller. This is added because some parents either have more than one child (and don't want their children fighting over who gets to play next) or they want to be able to play games with their child(ren). For the Xbox 360, Toy'R'Us has the best deal on a second controller. For the PS3, GameStop has the best deal on a second controller. For the Wii, Target/Wal-Mart has the best deal on a second controller, which, by the way, in specific regards to the Wii I included a second Nunchuk in the cost of getting a second controller, because although two Wii remotes and one Nunchuk may work at first, but then you run into that one game that needs each player to have their own Nunchuk and suddenly you have a problem. Plus Nunchuks aren't THAT expensive.

 

In orange: This is what it will cost to get a second rechargeable battery pack for your second controller. See the "In aqua" section to refresh what options are the best for each controller/console

 

In green: This represents the cost for one player to be able to enjoy the motion controller option available for each console. For the Xbox 360, Target has the best deal on the Xbox Kinect. For the PS3, most retailers want the same price. Note that with the PS3, if you get the Holiday bundle then you're best option to get into motion gaming with that bundle is to get a PlayStation Move accessory Bundle which includes one Move controller, the PS Eye, and a game. Again most retailers have the best price on this bundle too. As for the Wii you needn't pay extra for motion gaming as such a feature is available on all console from the start.

 

In purple: This represents the cost of getting a second motion enabled controller. This really only applies to the PS3 and it would seem that Best Buy has the best price on a second Move controller.

 

In light purple: This represents the cost of an option to recharge your motion controllers. Again this really only applies to the PS3 and it would seem that Best Buy has the best price on a Sony brand Charging Station.

 

NOTE: Obviously all colors won't appear in all columns. For example you don't see green in the first column because that bundle includes a Kinect and therefore you needn't purchase one separately. Also with the Wii you notice there's no charges for the Wii's motion gimmick or battery packs/chargers for that because a Wii remote can be used for regular gaming and motion gaming.

 

BIG NOTE: This chart doesn't include the cost of any games, and except for the Xbox 360 4GB w/o Kinect and the Limited Edition Blue Wii, all offerings include at least 1 game if not more. Also not included are online costs, which really you only need to pay to play or access certain content on the Xbox 360. Also not included is the cost of HD A/V cables. Most modern families have at least one HDTV, however none of the bundles include HDMI/Component cables so that's one other thing you may need to consider, but with websites like Monoprice.com extra cables hardly add up to anything significant. EDIT - I should mention that the cheaper models of the Xbox 360 only include an internal storage of 4GB as compared to the one model that includes a 250GB. I don't exactly include the cost of adding a 250GB hard drive to the lesser models for a reason. The reason is that unless you know you'll be downloading a ton of full games from the Xbox Live Marketplace or playing a lot of newer games that benefit from installation, in most cases you could probably just get away with buying a flash drive or two as the Xbox 360 will support the installing of content on to flash drives. Also the Xbox 360 will read flash drives up 16GB up to 2 at a time for a total of 32GB of usable space at a time. I know that Best Buy and probably other stores will be having a decent price ($11.99) for a 16GB flash drive this Black Friday.

 

Again, it's real easy to just go buy a console for your child(ren) and think you're covered, but the goal here was to help highlight what the real cost of getting a console would come to what with chargers and extra controllers and all. I think one big takeaway you could get from this chart is that if you're looking for a console that you're older children will enjoy, then a PS3 or Xbox 360 might be a nice option w/ bundles starting at $200. If you have younger children or are looking for something family friendly and fun then perhaps a Nintendo Wii or an Xbox 360 w/ Kinect may be the way to go. Of course though if you have a pretty serious gamer in your family, then the costs might add up quickly especially if they want something like the PlayStation Move.

 

If anyone found this useful, great, if anyone found this confusing or has suggestions on how to make it better, let me know, and if anyone found this useless/unnecessary, then I'm sorry. Oh and I wouldn't object to this info being reused in other areas like being highlighted on the homepage or something.

Edited November 22, 2011 by DaFees
Explained the reasons why I did not factor in upgrading the 4GB 360s w/ an HDD.

[Brad]

nice job

[tinkrbel]

good thread/chart for parents looking to get a console for the kiddos.

[DaFees]

Thanks, and there was one other thing I wanted to mention. Black Friday can be a crazy day and sometimes parents aren't too keen on running all over town to different places and have a bit of that one stop mentality. Well thanks to the fact that stores like Wal-Mart and Target have price matching available on Black Friday, you could make either of these stores your one stop. So, essentially you can pick out what setup you want, figure out which combination of stores has the best overall price, get the ads of those stores together and then you can just make Wal-Mart your one stop.

 

Another thing too, is to think about these things now, because for example, say you don't get a second controller now for both of your children. Well it won't be too long before you become tired of them fighting over who's turn it is. Then since Black Friday has long past your stuck paying whatever price is available to you at that time. However, think about this stuff now, and you can save a little more in the end. For example, on Black Friday you can get a second PS3 controller for $34.99 where such a controller would normally cost $54.99 in most stores. That's $20 and that can add up. Oh and that's one more thing I want to mention. Whenever possible, I reference only official 1st party accessories. Like with the Wii, when making this guide, I went with the officially licensed Nintendo Wii remote. I didn't use a Nyko Wand or anything like that. My reasoning here is that sure you might be able to save a couple dollars by going third party, but I like piece of mind knowing that if I go with first party accessories then I know those accessories will match the rest of my setup and I know I won't have any compatibility issues.

[tank27]

This is a good chart but I think you have made a mistake. When looking at the 4gb Xbox kinect v the 250gb xbox you forget the most important thing. the 250gb hard drive. you will fill up the 4gb very fast and what are you left to do then. a better comparision would be what it would take to put them at similar capaticities.. i think the the 250gb hd is like 70$.. so that would put it at a higher cost then the 250gb HD and add the kinect later.. Am i right on this?

[DaFees]

This is a good chart but I think you have made a mistake. When looking at the 4gb Xbox kinect v the 250gb xbox you forget the most important thing. the 250gb hard drive. you will fill up the 4gb very fast and what are you left to do then. a better comparision would be what it would take to put them at similar capaticities.. i think the the 250gb hd is like 70$.. so that would put it at a higher cost then the 250gb HD and add the kinect later.. Am i right on this?

In some ways you are correct, actually, but do consider this. Not every gamer is that type that will download a lot of content via the Xbox Live Marketplace or play a lot of games that would gain better performance from being installed. I'm willing to wager that a number of families are looking at the Xbox 360 w/ Kinect bundle as a nice family friendly bundle that provides their children with fun games that get them up and moving around (to a degree) and also with something they can join in with as well. Now true I suppose I could have include the cost of upgrading the hard drive, but like I said not everyone would need it, and for these family types that I mentioned, they could get by with a flash drive or two. The Xbox 360 was recently updated to support up to two 16GB flash drives at a time, and that's at a time, you can swap others in and out if you wanted. Also I'm not preaching this as an alternative to upgrading the hard drive. I'm just saying why pay $70 to $90 to upgrade the hard drive space you could get away with a 16GB flash drive for much less.

 

I've edited the OP to factor my opinion on this in, and besides I know that Best Buy at least will be selling 16GB flash drives for $11.99. To close, let me say that I do thank you for your opinion though. I never said this was perfect or rather that I was open to the opinions of others so again thank you.

 

I guess one way you could go about this situation is that you could buy a 16GB flash drive now and see how that works out for you. If you quickly see it won't be enough, then you can search for deals on a hard drive upgrade. Otherwise if that flash drive can last you for the next two years then that's great. I mean I suppose the decision or rather how important the extra space is to you, would really depend on your usage situation.

Edited November 22, 2011 by DaFees

[disgrajak]

Thanks DaFees so much for this info!!! Very helpful to me!! Actually all of your posts have been---thanks again.

[Elmck]

Great info!! I finally bought DD a Wi from TRU. We wanted the one that came with Wii Sports and Sports Resort. I did not see any deals, so I figured I would use my rewards card and get some back later. I bought the recharging dock from Target on clearance. I also got the extra controller from Target using the $5 off coupon in their toy book. Last we got got the Wii fit plus with Balance board for a little over $50 from Buy.com thanks to a post on GottaDeal. Oh, I also got her the pack that has the bat, wheel, etc on clearance from Dollar General. It really does add up fast!! She is going to one happy little girl though!!

[len_mullen]

This is a tough assignment. Isn't this really short term or setup cost? The PS3, Xbox, and WII only compare in that each play video games. The PS3 and Xbox also stream Netflix is HD while the WII is only SD. The Xbox requires an additional subscription fee to stream Netflix (which adds to long term cost). Only the PS3 is also a BD player. For someone looking at these things, the cost of the Xbox and especially the WII setup will be much higher than the cost of the console.

 

If you are talking about long term cost, it's probably a good idea to estimate the cost of a list of top games. These tend to cost most for the PS3 and least for the WII.

[DaFees]

This is a tough assignment. Isn't this really short term or setup cost? The PS3, Xbox, and WII only compare in that each play video games. The PS3 and Xbox also stream Netflix is HD while the WII is only SD. The Xbox requires an additional subscription fee to stream Netflix (which adds to long term cost). Only the PS3 is also a BD player. For someone looking at these things, the cost of the Xbox and especially the WII setup will be much higher than the cost of the console.

 

If you are talking about long term cost, it's probably a good idea to estimate the cost of a list of top games. These tend to cost most for the PS3 and least for the WII.

I appreciate you comments, but let me say a few things. The main reason I only compare consoles for their game playing abilities is because sometimes that all a person wants their console to do. Sometimes families will buy a Wii because it has a lot of kid friendly games for their children, not because the Wii can stream Netflix. Also usually when it comes to Netflix you have to look at this way, if Netflix is something important to a family, then they either already have Netflix, or the fact that a console streaming is reason enough for them to get Netflix. Either way this is something they already have factored in or will factor in. Plus most young children aren't going to ask mommy and daddy for a new console because it can stream Netflix. Also you mention the additional subscription fee to stream Netflix on the 360. If you are referring to the fact that you need Xbox Live to in order to stream, ok, I believe that's mentioned above, but if you are saying there is an additional fee beyond the cost of Xbox Live required in order to stream Netflix, well then that is a new one to me.

 

Now as for your point about the PS3 being a Blu-ray player. To some that can be an important deciding factor yes. I can understand some older teenagers liking the idea of Blu-ray playback, but then you have to look at it this way. If a teen wants both a Blu-ray player and a console, then they most probably want a PS3, however if they genuinely want the 360 which can't Blu-rays then I would imagine they'll either go without or simply just add a Blu-ray player to their list, which then if it's another item on their list it will be factored in already.

 

I mean it is hard to factor things like these in because not everyone wants a console for it's media/entertainment capabilities. To some gaming comes first and all the entertainment stuff is a bonus. i mean you have to look at it from the perspective of the child. The child doesn't go to his mommy and say I want a PS3 because it has a Blu-ray player and I know that Blu-rays are awesome because my friend so-so has a Blu-ray player and it's awesome. No, it's more like the child wants PS3 or a Nintendo Wii because he saw his friend playing that new game that just came out and he wants that new game too!

 

Usually when it comes to the entertainment side consoles it's usually the parents that will look at that more so than the children. Some families may already a nice HD setup with a Blu-ray player and such or others may not really care about all that. They may have a DVD player and be content with that.

 

The last thing I want to cover is you suggesting I estimate the cost of a list of top games. Well that's really hard to do honestly, because no two gamers are alike. Sure many gamers may share similar interests, but it's hard for me to predict what a given child could possibly want without ever having met them. Sure I could just pick what many consider to be the top ten, but then that may not cover everyone. Plus estimating cost, if I did so could be hard. I mean as you can see different stores are having different prices on some of the new triple A titles. Now, sure you can price match and all of that, but I mean the point is there's always deals on games. It's hard to estimate costs because the of the way sales come and go and all of that. Plus another thing too is, I can never be sure how many games a parent would want to get for their child. Some families might be like, oh this Kinect bundle includes Kinect Adventures. That's a game, let's start there, and maybe add in another game or two. Another thing too is when it comes to games, sometimes parents don't know what their children like, so they'll maybe get them a gift card so they can pick out the games they want or they'll take them shopping after the holidays and let them pick out a game or two.

 

Again I'm not saying my chart or information is perfect, and as with other posters I do appreciate your opinions, so thank you for that. If you have any further comments I'd like to hear them.

[len_mullen]

I know. I said it was a tough assignment ;-)

 

The information is good. I just think the decision is complex. Maybe add the cost of the BD player and Live at the top of the bars and draw a line across the platforms. When I talk to people about game consoles, it's rare that a console specific franchise is the determinent. Usually it's price. WII wins. Then you talk about sd vs hd and netflix and Live and BD and people move towards the more expensive consoles.

 

I think the best value on the market this BF is the Walmart $200 PS3 bundle. Start at ShopDiscover to get $20 in cashback and you have a $180 BD player that does Netflix and plays games. That price includes two great games and a controller. Add $80 for a move bundle that includes two games and you're still WII competitive.

[angelfallenhere]

Do you think anyone will put the Gear of War XBOX Bundle on sale before Christmas or a gift card offer?

[len_mullen]

Good supplemental read here...

 

http://www.pcworld.com/article/241010/the_best_video_games_and_consoles_for_families.html