GamerDad has an interesting perspective on the launch price and success of the Xbox 360: it was too cheap and it unnecessarily hurt Microsoft. I doubt many gamers who were seriously financially impacted by dropping $400 on the console would agree, but they raise an interesting question. Would the Xbox 360 still have sold out at $450? At $500? I wouldn't be surprised if it had.

There is a certain allure to getting your hands on something luxurious, expensive. And $400 isn't that much money to a decent enough sized portion of the early adopter gaming crowd. Supply issues are getting better, but I still can't go to BestBuy.com and buy one. Many online retailers are still forcing bundles because the demand is that strong.

The LongShot column points out that electronics and video game spending is a serious source of spending for people at all income levels. I make a pretty decent wage, and I too initially balked at the $400 price tag, but if the PlayStation 3 launched at $500, I'd be sure to own it on day one. The value is there for people like us, as our entertainment dollar goes a long way when you're talking about a DVD (or Blu-ray) player, a game console, an internet enabled device with massive storage. We're getting hundreds of hours of entertainment for a $400 buy-in, not a bad deal for tech junkies.

While I welcome the possibility of a lower priced Revolution, I'm willing to make the investment on my next-gen consoles. What do you think? How much is too much?

How Much Is Too Much? [GamerDad]