Playstation 3 & Xbox 360 in India - The Problems

Finally! Next generation video game consoles have made their entry into the Indian market with the Xbox 360 and the PS3. But should you ditch your current console of choice (or PC) and dive into this world yet?


Price
The ps3 can be got for Rs. 38,000/- at Sony Worlds. As of today's date that is about $940. Compare this to the price in the States - $599.
The 360 (premium) comes for about Rs. 27,000/- available at a number of retailers. converted as of today's rates, that is about $665. The price in the States - $399.

Note: Both consoles here come with one wireless controller, but no games.
You can just imagine what the final cost will be with other essentials (you have to get a component/HDMI cable, another controller, 2 games). Don't be surprised if your parents/girlfriend/spouse think you are turning out to be one spoilt b***ard and give you one quick whack to check you in place.


TV Requirements
If you have a sweet huge LCD tv already, then you are already well on your way to next-gen gaming. Otherwise, prepare for a heart-attack.

HDTV
Although technically both systems will play on your standard-definition TV (sdtv), to get your money's worth, you must have a HDTV. Many people in fact complain of the text being illegible on sdtvs in many 360 games.
You should get at least a 37" LCD HDTV TV which will run you upwards of Rs. 80,000/- !!!

Widescreen
Apart from DVDs (expensive) and next-gen consoles (super expensive) there is no widescreen content in India yet, and by the looks of things, there will be no such content for a long time to come. This means that if you get such a TV then you are either damned to watch all regular TV programming stretched horizontally, or alternatively to set the ratio in your TV to 4:3 and in essence, be watching a smaller TV. (watching 4:3 on a 37" widescreen TV would be like watching a normal 29" TV).

What I recommend: Forget widescreen (unless you love DVDs as opposed to your money) and get this 29" Sony standard-screen CRT HDTV (1080i) for a MRP of Rs. 36,990/-.
Edit: An Even better deal is the 29" Philips standard-screen CRT HDTV (1080p) for a MRP of Rs. 23,990/- !!!!

Availability of Games
Here, the ps3 has much more of an edge. Although only a few titles are available right now in India, the console is region-free and the games are technically supposed to be region-free (i.e. depends on the developers). So any game bought anywhere in the world should work on your Indian ps3.
If you buy a 360 here, you cannot play games imported from places like the States or Japan, though European games should work.

Advertising
Both companies are guilty of piss-poor advertising, which not surprisingly has led to lacklustre sales. While Microsoft seems to think that the Indian market is so dumb that people will flock to buy 360s just by throwing a movie star and a cricketer in every ad without showing what the console is all about, Sony seems to think that one or two print ads alone should suffice.
They would be better off saving whatever little money they spend on advertising and instead offering a free game (of choice) with every console.

Support
Although details are still sketchy, but the sketchiness of the details makes one apprehensive about how well the systems would be supported here in terms of things like what would be the turn around time for a console to be repaired and returned to the customer. In essence, is the warranty worth it to spend that extra $341 (almost Rs. 14,000/-) to buy a ps3 here than asking your chacha in the States to get you one on his next trip?

Batches
It's no secret that when consoles are released, the first few batches may have bugs in them (often requiring repair / replacement of the machines). Presumably, the consoles that have been imported here belong to such batches. Once Microsoft releases the anticipated cooler and more energy-efficient 360s (running on 65nm chips as opposed to the current 90nm ones) in the States, when will we see these batches here in India? Similarly, rumour has it that Sony will be releasing a 80GB version of the ps3 in the States (as they have already done in S.Korea I think). When will we see these here?

Online Play
With the next generation of video game consoles, all parties seem to be emphasizing online play more and more. Internet speeds in India still leave much to be desired. Will these games work well on 256kbps connections?

Motto: When the hell is the Wii coming to India, and will they repeat the same mistakes of the ps3 and 360?