Back in the good ole days, when it was time for a new system to come out, you only had to worry about buying the actual system itself, and one game that you would get along with it.
Those days appear to be over.
With companies like Microsoft and Sony and Nintendo spending so much money on the development of their new systems, the concept of "forced bundling" appears as though it is going to become the norm and not the exception.
No longer will we be able to walk into a retailer at launch and just be able to buy the system all by itself, ala carte. I believe that those days are history. At least from a perspective of the system first lauching, and that initial lauch period.
Look at the PSP. This is the first system that is going to take this approach to the extreme. Microsoft did this to some degree with the XBOX, and all the bundled deals that you had to sign up for to get a XBOX at it's launch, but it was still possible to get a XBOX system all by itself, at some retail locations. Although more by accident than anything.
But now we enter the realm of "THE BUNDLE".
Force bundling is a great way for a company like Sony or Microsoft or Nintendo to offset some of the losses that come with selling systems below cost. By forcing some 1st party games or demos or whatever, along with say a extra controller or memory card, is a good way to guarantee that they will be able diminish some of the pain of selling a system $100 below what it costs to produce it.
It's also a good deal for the retailers, because it's the only way that they can make any money off selling the actual system during a launch.
Plus with all the rental plans that are available nowadays, the Gamer's Pass from Blockbuster, GameFly, etc, etc, it's perfectly concievable that somebody could shell out the necessary money to just get the system, and then not actually purchase any games at all right away, but just try to rent them by paying a monthly subscription type fee. But with the "forced bundle" system, it forces the customer to actually pay for the software and accessory side of the equation, the one with actual margins.
What is your take on this new era of "forced bundling"?
Will you simply deal with this new reality? Or will you rebel against it, and wait until you can by the system ala carte?