On formats and price tags

So, today sony announced the price for their long-coming playstation 3. Back in 1995, sony totally changed the market with the original playstation, then in 1999 ruled the market with the ps2, and now they are hoping to keep their mighty throne with the ps3 (due out in november 06). Sounds exciting? Only if you can afford the $499 price tag (and that's if you want to go cheap -- the full version of the console is $599).

Why should you care about the cost of the ps3 and their main competitor, the xbox 360 (other than the hole your kids will make in your wallet, after you buy the consoles for them)? You can find the answer to this question by taking a long, analytical look at none other than your dusty vcr.

A number of years ago, there was this big fight over what type of video tapes you'd use to watch your movies and record stuff. On one side of the ring was sony with their betamax format, and on the other side was JVC with their vhs. Long story short, the betamax was a higher-quality product, but it couldn't beat the ease of use and price of vhs, and ended up pretty much dead (betamax isn't really dead, but you need to click the link to find out more about it. VHS became the standard, and it's still a favorite (cheap and easy to use), even while suffering a gruesome beating at the hands of DVD.

Now the fighters in the ring are sony's blu-ray disk, and phillips/microsoft hd_dvd disk, the self-proclaimed successors of the DVD. Once again, Sony's product is technically better, but more expensive. The hd_dvd is cheaper, and it enjoys better support from the movie industry (Paramount, Universal, etc).
The reason you have to watch the playstation 3/Xbox360 war is that sony is bundling the ps3 with a blu-ray drive, while microsoft promised a device that will enable you to watch hd_dvd movies on the xbox. Both formats will give us amazingly good-looking movies; However, the winner of the war will define what we will be watching for the next couple of years. Maybe sony will have better luck this time then what they had with the betamax? Or maybe Microsoft will get a really good foothold in the entertainment industry, when everybody uses a xbox to watch their movies and play their games? Only time will tell.
In the meantime, I better start saving my money. That ps3 sure looks nice...