With the recent yipping about "what video game system to get?" I thought I'd run down a little pricing comparision. No hardware, just price. As far as I'm concerned they're all pretty equal and good at what they do.

So, I headed to my favorite online big-box store, Object moved and started doing some comparisons.

First things first, I took the best available base package I could get (typically one that includes a game.) We've got three systems here, GameCube from Nintendo, Playstation 2 from Sony and X-Box from Microsoft. The "big 3", or, the only three?

There were a few rules I followed while getting prices. I always chose name brand components directly from the associated creator and or games I chose a few that were available on all three systems. The games are; Madden 2003, NBA Live 2003, Fifa 2003, Need for Speed 2: Hot Persuit and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

The accessories chosen were; one extra controller (for two player fun!), memory cards, anything required for DVD, anything required for Online Gaming, and anything required for 4 player potential (less controllers, your friends should have their own).

So, without further beer drinking, here's the prices I found. Prices rounded and in CAD.

The base consoles included; Game Cube: Super Mario Sunshine and a Memory card. Playstation: Bare system. X-Box: Halo and Amped.

* - Fifa 2003 isn't made for PS2, it's made for PS1 but it works regardless.

** - DVD Support for PS2 will work without any required remote control. X-box requires you purchase the dvd-kit. Before you go crying that GC doesn't play DVDs, you might want to realize the overall price difference. Even if you go out and buy a $150 stand-alone DVD player, your GC+DVD setup is still $100 cheaper than X-box.

*** - Online Support: Contrary to popular belief X-Box requires a start-up kit. Although it has the built in hardware, it won't work if you don't sign up. It's also subscription based and requires high-speed internet. Can be quite costly. PS2 and GC are both game dependant for online support (the game maker will provide online servers, etc.) and most are said to be free after the purchase of the game. GC and PS2 will also support your archaic dialup. Of course, online support for all systems is dependant on actual game support too, and right now it's weak across the board.

Overall, across the board GC's components and games were cheaper. Although, as some system specific games run up in price, they were still relatively cheaper than the system specific of Xbox and PS2. Mind you, there are various pricing symantics that I'm not going to dive into (like Sony's best-sellers pricing campaign).

When it comes right down to it, I look at the long term. Of course you're not going to run out and buy every component listed at once, however, in the long term GC will be cheaper and cheaper. I'm actually surprised that PS2 is more and lacks "bundles" considering it has greater market share and has been around a year longer than the other two. But shit, what do I know?