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The Evolution of Video Game System Prices, Chapter 1

By Chris Kiriapolous

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 19Jan2012
Word count: 613
Viewed: 198 time(s)

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If you've got kids that are old enough to go to school, chances are that you've been given a crash course in the costs of video games and all the accessories that go with them. Video games bring fun and excitement to those young and old, offering the chance to live vicariously through professional athletes, powerful warriors, martial arts masters, and magical wizards.

Thanks to the wonders of the World Wide Web, a lot of media materials that used to involved a trip to a store are now available instant to you in virtual form, and all it takes is a quick entry in a search engine, and the best of the electronic world's resources are at your fingertips. Video games are one those activities that have been synthesized by computers and made available on the Internet. Flash and Java technology have made simple, free games for kids online better-looking more sophisticated than the simple computer games of the past, but if you're looking for something more involved, you'll have to pay a pretty penny for the privilege.

Since their inception, video game console systems have been relatively expensive toys for a household. Gamers were first treated to video games at home on their television sets with the introduction of Magnavox's Odyssey, an analog/digital hybrid on which you could play variations of Pong after putting clear overlays on your TV screen. Released in 1972, its $75 cost to consumers is equivalent to paying $390 in 2011 dollars. Competitior Atari bided their time, perfecting their home version of Pong and releasing it for the 1975 holiday season for $99, which is about $400 to household today.

The next evolution in home gaming was the development whereby the game console unit provided the processing power, and different games could be inserted at interchanged freely. This came in the form of the Fairchild Video Entertainment System, later dubbed the Channel F. The Channel F console sold for $170 upon its release in 1976, which works out to $650 in 2011 dollars. Channel F games, in yellow plastic cartridges that resembled 8-track tapes, cost $20, or about $76 to the modern consumer. With a new market for expensive consumer toys established, the competition soon flooded the market, with Maganavox developing an updated version of Odyssey, Atari launching its classic Video Computer System, and Coleco launching its own Pong, dubbed Telstar, which offered a more affordable gaming experience at $50 per unit, or $190 to today's consumer. Unfortunately for the upstarts, so many consumers had already invested in their Pong machines, and the only company to survive the crash of '77 was Atari, whose VCS, later known as the 2600, could barely compete with their own Pong unit.

Today's parent has so many expenses to deal with involving their children--food, after-school activities, birthday parties, clothes--that dropping several hundred dollars on their entertainment may seem unjustifiable. Especially when so many of their interests have wound up piled in a closet, discarded in favour of the the latest new thing.

So for those families whose disposable income won't allow for spending several hundred dollars on the new games system, take heart. If your kids really want to play some video games, get them hooked on the countless free flash kids games that are available online. The play may be simpler, the fantasy more fleeting, but you don't need to spend anything on games or controllers if you've already got a computer.

Whatever ends up being the right choice for your family, know that video game systems take a lot of initial investment for the hours of fun they provide.

The fun never ends with kids games at YTV Games, with dozens of games based on your favourite YTV shows.

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