Atari was a much better machine than anything Sony can come out with, vis-a-vis what was out.
There was essentially no competition, and the volumes were much lower. I remember being a kid and getting one of those for Christmas. It was the best gift I could imagine, and I loved that silly machine. The games were fun, everything was new, and you could spend hours on it. It was either that or play Pong, so it was worth $200.
By the same token, look at the price of computers back then. Normalized with inflation, they were WAY more expensive than now. That's all these toy machines are, computers, so that shouldn't be suprising.
Considering the cost of the Atari 2600 against computers from that time, it was quite cheap. The same can not be said about the PS3, which costs roughly the same. So in absolute terms, yes, the 2600 was expensive, but in relative terms to what else was out there, it was a bargain and was worth it, in my opnion. Is the Sony? It wouldn't be for me, I'd buy the Nintendo. A lot of people will buy the XBox. They are much stronger competition than Pong.
[Posted by: TA152H | Date: 05/14/06 02:30:13 PM]