Christmas Present Or Mortgage Payment? :-)

As the holiday season creeps upon us, Sony has released it's new Playstation 3. In the stores, the electronics departments are filled with parents who are willing to shell out $500-$600 for these consoles. It's easy to see that this is going to be the year of ridiculously priced items.

Instead of receiving a bundle of gifts, like most middle-class kids do, they'll be lucky to get one or two presents this year with the price's of Apple's Ipod Nano and Sony's Playstation 3. But parents will pay the price. Parents will do anything to make their children happy and the manufacturers know this.

Sony has been airing a commercial in Canada for PS3. It's a very strange commercial. It depicts a young boy, looking gloomy, in a very dim world. He climbs a fire escape until he reaches the roof of a tenement building. He stands on the edge of the building and glances over the dark urban landscape. The screen then fades to black and text appears, which reads: "The wait is over. Playstation 3".

Several different gaming forums have a buzz going about this commercial. On one popular forum, one gamer says: "that kid was going to jump off the roof because he found out about the price", while another forum poster adds: "I like the commercial. I also like how they stick an 8 year old waiting. Cause that's what he's going to do; wait. No parent is going to spend $600 bucks on a console for him".

These comments are all very accurate. What about the parents who can't afford these gadgets for their kids? What if Santa doesn't bring your son or daughter a Playstation 3 this year? You can almost hear your teenager complaining "everyone has an Ipod Nano at school but me". This is the reality we live in. These companies are becoming increasingly pretentious and their products are obsolete in the blink of an eye.

Gaming consoles used to be fun, exciting, and at least somewhat affordable. Remember when people used to complain about $100 Nintendo's? It's become apparent that those days are long gone. Everything has a heavier price tag now. <sigh>

Happy holidays.

Posted by Melody.