Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The Real Cost of Video Gaming

A buddy and I were discussing the Wii and how much it costs to get all the little unique controllers. A little later, I coincidentally read an article about how the PS3 is lagging far behind the Wii and XBox in the console market. It spurred me to do a little research to see what the REAL costs of starting up one of these systems are.

For my research, I chose the best version of the console available and assume that you want to play with 4 people total. I chose only the accessories needed to fully play and enjoy any game, not things like a microphone, USB keyboard, etc. Let's also assume you buy two games. I used Amazon.com and EB Games (when Amazon didn't have it listed b/c they are out of stock) to get the prices.

Playstation 3

Console (80 GB harddrive): $399.99
Dual-Shock Controller: 3 x $54.99 = $164.97
Games: 2 x $59.99 = 119.98
Total: $684.94

XBox 360

Console (Elite): $399.99 (Pro - $299.99)
Controller: 3 x $44.99 = $134.97
XBox Live 1 yr: $44.99
Games: 2 x $59.99 = $119.98
Total: $699.93

Wii

Console: $249.99
Wiimote: 3 x $35.99 = $107.97
Nunchuck: 3 x $17.99 = $53.97
Classic controller: 4 x $19.99 = $79.96
Games: 2 x $49.99 = $99.98
Controller Accessories:
Balance Board: $89.99
Zapper: 4 x $19.99 = $79.96
Wheel: 4 x $9.99 = $39.96
Total: $591.87
Or with controller accessories: $801.78


It has always been Nintendo's hook to be death-by-accessory. I remember a few Gamecube games that you couldn't 100% complete unless you had a DS. My findings: even though the PS3 console is the most expensive, to get started with everything, it is the cheapest. (A caveat being you go all out on the Wii controller accessories. If not, the Wii is, in fact, the cheapest.)

A few other things to consider: the PS3 is a blu-ray player and a darn good one. Its online gaming is free. It is not fully backwards compatible. The XBox has Netflix streaming. The Wii is Gamecube-compatible but you must have the classic controllers. A lot of cool old-school games are available for sale via download.

For me, the Wii doesn't make sense because it is only fun if you play with someone. I live alone, so no point. I miss some Nintendo titles though. I've just never really been interested in the XBox. Can't really pinpoint why. My draw to the Playstation really has its roots in the Final Fantasy series, but for the PS3, it was definitely the Blu-Ray player that got me.

Monday, December 29, 2008

A new direction

In the next couple weeks, my community group is going to try something a little different for a while. We're going to take the next couple of months and just learn about each other. One or two stories a week, person by person.

We got the idea from a concert a while back. The artists, Andrew Osenga, talked about his community group wanted to get to know each other before getting to know Jesus better together. What a great statement! I mean, really, how can we expect this to be the safest, deepest, and most active source of our growth without really knowing who each of us is growing with? We're not talking a testimony, in the pure sense of the word. And it doesn't have to be all about the dark pasts, which is often the first thing people think about. Just our story. Who we are. What and where life has brought us that makes us who we are today.

I'm up first.

I thought it'd be fun to provide a lighter version on my blog. Sorry, no gritty details for you here. Ha ha. So if you might be interested on who I am and what my take is, stay tuned!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

When We Disagree

Last week I had an interesting, uh, conversation. I was at a friend's house for dinner. Conversations typically range widely between the hilarious to the inane to the serious. I don't even remember how we got to talk about it, but the ol' Anne Pressley crime came up. One guy mentioned how he wished the assailant would suffer the same horrible death she did. I think the next thing said was something to the effect of "yeah we want that kind of justice but that's not really how God wants us to think about it." This really set the guy off and a very long debate ensued. In the flesh, I agree with the guy. If someone attacked a friend or family member, I would want equally bad things to happen to them. I hate the great treatment prisoners get because as far as I'm concerned when they took the rights of someone else, they lost theirs. But I'm not "of the flesh" anymore when I became a Christ-follower. I must allow the justice system to do its thing, accept God's vengeance on the man, and even be open to the fact that the man could be saved and forgiven. That last statement in particular is hard to swallow. This fellow just seemed like he wouldn't hear any of it. (Early on, another friend pointed out how no one was using scripture to back up their opinion.) To him: the guy is guilty; he DESERVES what he gets.

During the course of the debate, this guy kept changing his point, which in my experience, when someone does that, they don't have one. He was, in my opinion, perverting some scripture and misusing Old Testament references. He also brought up how we deserve what we get as sinners. (Not sure what that has to do with criminals getting the death penalty though.) I don't have answers about the stories in the OT when God wiped out nations all for the sake of his chosen people. I mean, did those killed get a chance to know Him? Was that their only point to being born? Where are they now? I don't know... But what I do know is that when Jesus came He changed the rules. It may have been "eye for an eye" and God wiping out nations, but now it is "love your enemy" and "saved by grace."

He then attacked my political opinions, calling me liberal (just because I voted for Obama) and how liberals "don't believe in the death penalty." Let it just be known that my politics do not influence my religion. And this is the point I withdrew from the conversation and let the others have it. There was no scriptural backing. And he almost came across as "that doesn't matter." The bitterness was becoming very apparent.

Okay, so if someone wants to agree with the death penalty (and by the way, please don't use the words "believe in" when talking about it), that's fine. But as a Christ follower, I can't reconcile my faith and grace with a statement like "they deserve it." To be honest, I don't know what I think about the death penalty. But what I do know is no matter how heinous the crime they committed, there is always room for grace.