7. Accessories, Apparel, and the Rest!
$4,800 on an LED-LCD TV? $3,300 on a gaming tower? Those prices are too rich for our blood, and probably yours, too.
For the sake of my sanity (and yours), let's combine everything else addressed in the Bloomberg article into one chart.
Motion Control: The Kinect is a neat peripheral, but the lack of quality games is holding it back from many a family room. I'm including it, but the TriMount and gaming mat accessories were given the boot.
Headsets and Speakers: As previously mentioned, the ASTRO A40 system can plug into your Xbox 360 and PS3 via digital optical audio, and the 3.5mm connectors make them PC-friendly, too. That means you can skip buying multiple headsets (one for each system), and save a bundle. Some PC gamers still prefer speakers for audio, however, but $250 is a high asking price. Corsair makes the SP2200 speaker system as well, which retails for a penny under $100.
Console Accessories: I'm skipping the Gears of War 3 controllers (they're nothing more than standard wireless controllers with a different paint job) and keeping one of the racing wheels, as the latter is popular amongst the Forza crowd. The Rock Band 3 guitar is nixed because of its high price, combined with the waning popularity of the music game its named after. Why the racing wheel and not the guitar? The racing wheels can be used with any number of different racing games, while the guitar is designed for one specific title.
Cases: Bloomberg suggests a case for your Xbox 360, which is fine if you plan on carrying around every day. In reality, your Xbox 360 probably lives under or next to your TV, so a case is unnecessary.
Furniture: $500 for two chairs, $40 for a game rack and $60 for an ottoman. Or, you can sit on the couch you already own, put your games on a bookshelf that's (probably) already next to your television, and store accessories underneath the TV. If you do decide to buy a Rock Band kit, chances are you won't be assembling and disassembling the drum kit every time you or your friends/kids want to play.
Console Care: Expecting John Q. Consumer to buy a $125 disc repair machine is madness, but the $8 Disc Skip Fixer Pack is a reasonable investment. Since the new Xbox 360 models don't suffer from the same heat issues as the older, bigger units, you can probably skip the cooler tower as well. And since I didn't include an iPod, there's no need to include SmartWipes for one. Since it's always good to have one around, I'm including a microfiber cloth, which you can use on virtually any display (TV, PC monitor, 3DS, and so on).
Collectibles and Apparel: I just spent $15 on a Team Fortress 2 coffee mug, and that Aperture Science sweatshirt I bought last year was $40, so I can't fault the author for including this category. We (meaning the gamer crowd) usually spend some amount of money on shirts, assorted desk clutter and stickers, so I'm including all of the items referenced in the slide.
| Item | Price | Price Source |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Kinect | $149.99 | MSRP |
| Corsair SP2200 Speakers | $99.99 | MSRP |
| Xbox 360 Racing Wheels | $59.99 | MSRP/Walmart |
| Disc Skip Fixer Pack | $7.99 | GameStop |
| Microfiber Cloth | $3.99 | NewEgg |
| Collectibles and Apparel (see the Bloomberg List) | $172.00 | MSRP |
| Category Total | $493.95 | |
| Running Total | $6,159.82 |
- 1. Lessons in Frugality from the "Plugged-In Generation"
- 2. The Cost of a Current-Gen Console
- 3. Gaming on the PC
- 4. Low(er) Cost Home Theater and Internet
- 5. $400 for an iPod Touch, or $170 for a Nintendo 3DS?
- 6. Games, Games, Games...
- 7. Accessories, Apparel, and the Rest!
- 8. The Grand Total, Final Thoughts
I'd get a gaming system with a SSD and a better graphics card, if I were still into that. In fact, I'd wait a few months for an Ivypoint processor, which can be overclocked. But I digress. The point is that lazy journalists need to do so research. And why should I trust any article in Bloomberg?
Your PC choice on page 3 isnt bad but your video card is sorely lacking. A 560ti is not going to be able to "handle any game you throw at it in 2012 and beyond." It is a 225 usd video card that's about 2-3 months from being a last gen card. If you want to build a game rig right now A) that would be a good PC if you were planning on upgrading asap. You can also get a HannsG 27.5" monitor with 3ms response time for 265. Personally the keyboard and mouse are overpriced as well. While yes you want a good one there's no reason to (unless you are trying to go pro) pay 100 bucks for a keyboard and 60 bucks for a mouse.
Wasnt it Toms that ran a contest a couple of months ago that required the newest intel cpu and an asus mobo that combined cost ~900 bucks out of a total pc build cost of 1500? And to counter an article about spending on gaming hardware you present with this 1200 dollar machine and some overpriced extras? Seriously? You could have taken your own contest winner's pc build and posted that and had something better than what you selected here.
Lastly Gamers build their own boxes they dont buy OTS rigs.
Oops forgot my B) if you are talking bang for the buck you probably shouldnt build right now since like I said the new video cards are coming out in a couple of months and you'll see a huge price drop on the card thats in this rig. Thus destroying that whole bang for the buck thing you were going for.
Your PC choice on page 3 isnt bad but your video card is sorely lacking. A 560ti is not going to be able to "handle any game you throw at it in 2012 and beyond." It is a 225 usd video card that's about 2-3 months from being a last gen card.
...but we aren't talking about building a machine in three months. We are talking about building one now. And I think I said in the article that I would build my own machine as well, but not everyone wants to do that, homeslice. If everyone wanted to build their own gaming rigs, Alienware, Origin, and iBuyPower wouldn't exist!
I'd get a gaming system with a SSD and a better graphics card, if I were still into that. In fact, I'd wait a few months for an Ivypoint processor, which can be overclocked. But I digress. The point is that lazy journalists need to do so research. And why should I trust any article in Bloomberg?
Ivy Bridge*, and the Sandy Bridge CPUs (at least the K series models) are pretty OC-friendly.
-Devin Connors, Tom's Guide
This is why the majority of people stick to one form of gaming. Because being an omnigamer can be ridiculously expensive.
This is why the majority of people stick to one form of gaming. Because being an omnigamer can be ridiculously expensive.
Very true! And it lends credit to building a collection over time, too. Most gamers aren't going to buy a current-gen console AND build or buy a gaming PC in the same calendar year.
-Devin Connors, Tom's Guide
The cost of gaming is crazy. The upfront cost is cheap. $1000-2000 for your gaming rig and set up. The true cost comes in the hours you waste sitting behind that chair. Gaming is crazy expensive.
Got a PS3, HDTV 32" (enough for my room, as it is for many) , PC that will last me another 2 years and a monitor.
PS3: $800 at launch
TV: $900
PC + monitor and peripherals: $1500
Games: Fifa, another ps3 game and 2 PC games : $200 a year
The PC was bought 3 years after I got the PS3 so cost was spread. Even the numbers here are really expensive. You get $4000 easily and you have everything you need.
A 700€ rig, 22" tv/monitor ~200€, a ps3 ~250€, a headset ~30€, keyboard + mouse ~50€ for a grand total of 1230€, and given the taxes in Europe, it's roughly 1230$ for the same set in the US. Leaves me with ~16k€ for buying games =).
It's painful to see such a cheap sound system paired with that nice TV, especially when everything else in the article was so generously overpriced to give Jennifer Prince the benefit of doubt.
Still, the article at Bloomberg didn't include any home theater speakers at all, so I guess it's only fair. How many people actually use nothing other than headphones when sitting at their TV?
The numbers in this article are still WAY WAY too high.
For $1000 you could easily have a modern gaming pc, along with about 20 modern games(as long as you dont buy all the games at msrp and buy them on steam sales instead)
The cost of gaming is crazy. The upfront cost is cheap. $1000-2000 for your gaming rig and set up. The true cost comes in the hours you waste sitting behind that chair. Gaming is crazy expensive.
Yes because everyone would be working during those gaming hours, def not using free time to game.
I'm a gamer because i play games. Not because I buy pointlessly expensive luxery items.
The original article was just an excuse to pull up the tired trope of all gamers being spoiled fanboy layabouts looking for the next shiny item. Will they be doing another article on how owning a car is so expensive because everyone is buying both a lamborghini and a porche?
No?!? Well what a surprise.
ok people that spend that much on a TV to use as a monitor are really dumb....and 3300 is way to much to spend for a gaming pc....
Its possible to build a good gaming PC with $600 or less that can kick the a$$es of all consoles
Good rebuttal. The whole iPod Touch over the DS killed me....and I don't even like the DS.
Good article and nice response to the tripe put out by Bloomberg. Heck you were even generous in you your product choices and bought a bunch of extra crap that many gamers would not even care about.
I'd get a gaming system with a SSD and a better graphics card, if I were still into that. In fact, I'd wait a few months for an Ivypoint processor, which can be overclocked. But I digress. The point is that lazy journalists need to do so research. And why should I trust any article in Bloomberg?
Please tell me you meant to type Ivy-Bridge and not Ivypoint....
Toms Hardware wrote their article to reflect the Bloomberg article so I understand this Running Total thing; however, I do not understand why Bloomberg did this. This article should have been extended further as there are many types of gamers. This article was composed in a way that suggests if you play games at all, you play games on your PC, a console with a home theatre system, and while you're on the go via phone and/or portable gaming console, which this may be true for some, but not many gamers – certainly not all gamers.
For version two of the article the author should split the gamer in to realistic categories and create unique running totals for each category, and then one category for the super gamer who buys them all.
My personal observation is that most people pick one game style and stick with it. Meaning, you're either a console gamer or a PC gamer, rarely both, and if you do play both you still focus on one and skimp on the other.
Thus, we have a running total for the PC gamer. Although, it's expected that every American now have the internet and a PC; thus, to be objective as a journalist ought to be, you'd have to project the cost of an ideal gaming PC (as TH has done) and subtract cost of a low-end PC used for day-to-day computing. In doing so, you have created the proper projected total of a PC gamer.
Likewise with consoles, then with portable gaming... With portable gaming, I believe the statistics are showing that iOS games are out selling Nintendo game sales on the DS, which surpass Sony portable game sales as well. (correct me if that's wrong, can't recall that source, but i'm not a paid journalist!) So, the portable gaming world is being taken over by phones, which throws another kink into the mix. Who buys a phone with the purpose being to play games on it? You buy a phone so you have a phone, you want a phone with toys and games to entertain you during the 2-3 minutes of boredom while you wait on the bus, or wait in line at the store.
Home entertainment and internet costs... we need to be clear on this as well. Again, we're expected to be on the web, so we're expected to be paying monthly for internet and buying routers and wireless cards... Thus, this needs to be taken in to account and subtracted from the running total. You don't bump up your download rate to play games, you bump it up for multiple people or for downloading copious amounts of data. Home entertainment systems are often bought to entertain guests, watch films, and play games. If it's not exclusively the latter, than the former should be taken in to consideration and the running total should reflect such data.
That's a lot more work than doing a quick search on best buy's webpage and sorting by cost and selecting the most expensive items and throwing them into an excel data sheet, but that's what a journalist ought to do; it's their job.
3300 on a gamging tower? I have spent 50% more than that on custom liquid cooling alone