I think this thread was specifically made for them damn euros to misspell "color" a lot.
That's another topic entirely, and one where the opinion of any yank is automatically wrong.
The Colour of a Console
- Thread starter London Geezer
- Start date
That's another topic entirely, and one where the opinion of any yank is automatically wrong.
I think this thread was specifically made for them damn euros to misspell "color" a lot.
Well, seen how you can only say the word coloUr because we told you so, you should be grateful! Or else you'd still be dancing naked around wood-carved images of your gods!
I ... may be going out on a limb here but I don't believe it works this way, with colors.
"Your" color being up for grabs will not sell you a system you otherwise wouldn't have bought. I suppose most buyers would not want to wait a single day for a purple Gamecube if they can have a black Gamecube immediately.
It rather improves the perception of the product after the sale. It has your personal note so you will expect it to make you proud, and that might lead to loveable outbursts on various internet communication facilities.
IOW color choices do not lead to more intense consumer satisfaction but instead will make consumers more forgiving
i can't imagine what launch day would be like if the last PS3 in the shop was pink. men everywhere stuck in a quandry. "i can get a PS3, but it's pink" i think grown men would cry. this aint like cars where you can get it resprayed. altho the x-box had custom front panels, and people sell tacky sticker sets. any way stick to white, black or silver at launch. other colours can come later.
i think grown men would cry. this aint like cars where you can get it resprayed. altho the x-box had custom front panels, and people sell tacky sticker sets. any way stick to white, black or silver at launch. other colours can come later.
At guess at some point in the future we'll have chameleon technology where you can decide the colour of a device with the press of a button, and this debate will be moot.
I think I'd just prefer black in general. My house isn't exactly full of white on the ground or the walls, so *I think* black just makes it disappear. For the 360, it'd be nice if there were full body skins. Frankly, I think the current front-skin-only just looks fugly.
*sigh*....Only on B3D.
It's in NAO32. Consoles come in HDR colours these days
It's projective alpha colour with sRGB.
*sigh*....Only on B3D.
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scooby_dooby
Legend
I think the analogy is fundamentally flawed, as a car is a object meant to be admired, driven in public, and the physical exterior of the car is one of the single most important factors in a purchasing decision.
Consoles are completely different, looks is extremely low on the list of things that matter, I doubt that any colour change would have any signifigant impact whatsoever in the face of things like brand loyalty, graphic power, game libraries, and cost.
Consoles are completely different, looks is extremely low on the list of things that matter, I doubt that any colour change would have any signifigant impact whatsoever in the face of things like brand loyalty, graphic power, game libraries, and cost.
Poor Henry always takes it in the chops for that one from marketing guys. What they miss, of course, is that he made the auto (in the US anyway) a mass phenomenon by introducing the assembly line, which drastically cut costs and allowed him to sell autos to joe public, instead of just joe enthusiast.
What do you suppose limiting color choices in consoles (just like Henry's concern) is about? Yes, that's right, cost (tho to some degree its also cost to partners down the line as well). Given that the traditional model for consoles is losing money on the hardware, why would they want to add to cost?
Having said that. . . I've had reason to shop for a couple of regular ole DVD players the last few months (the old ones died), and noticed that even DVD players often come in the same model with two colors --typically silver and black. So you'd think the console guys could afford to do at least two colors.
But, y'know, when you go to buy a new car you are going to be spending north of $10k, and maybe even up to $50k (talking about mainstream vehicles here, not exotics). The higher the price, the more you're going to get catered to on personal selection type things like color. Yet even most cars typically don't have a choice of more than 6-8.
Edit: Tho, here's an interesting comparison --in California we didn't have a choice on color for a *house*. A new one, that was in the process of building, and we were going to be the first owners. But it was the same kind of deal --that builder's business model was putting them up fast at a signficant price discount to competitors. We could have bought a different house in the same development tho --they did have a smallish range of colors they were building. But even tho the house was still building, if we wanted *that one*, the color was already determined. We did want that one --it was across from the park they were also building. Luckily, the color was acceptable (a nice blue-gray).
Then you'll just have dozens of people who can't find their console.
for what it's worth, color does matter in my buying decisions. a color scheme i dislike may put me off from getting a product. unless i know this is the only color this product can possibly be found in and i really want it, then i would suck up and put up. but as long as there's a chance for other color options, i'll always go the length to get the right color. for example:
last month i spent quote some time and effort tracking down the last remaining units of the NA-launch-time platinum ds phat in toronto. otherwise the only color you could get through the regular channels was the electric blue, which i particularly dislike.
i cannot imagine having a purple cube - mine is the platinum, which i got much later in the product's lifecycle. same with the green 'box - could never happen (even if there was actually a proper console inside that box).
i loved the dreamcast looks from day one - the right hue of white.
all my pc's are either in plain white or platinum cases, my mac - well, guess.
in my view, the color of a product should match my perception of what's inside the box. otherwise there's always this feeling that something's not right about it.
last month i spent quote some time and effort tracking down the last remaining units of the NA-launch-time platinum ds phat in toronto. otherwise the only color you could get through the regular channels was the electric blue, which i particularly dislike.
i cannot imagine having a purple cube - mine is the platinum, which i got much later in the product's lifecycle. same with the green 'box - could never happen (even if there was actually a proper console inside that box).
i loved the dreamcast looks from day one - the right hue of white.
all my pc's are either in plain white or platinum cases, my mac - well, guess.
in my view, the color of a product should match my perception of what's inside the box. otherwise there's always this feeling that something's not right about it.
When was the last time a company produced/shipped/sold 4 Million DVD players of a single model in a matter of few months and were still permanently sold out? I hope we can agree that the situation is somewhat different. Streamlining production is absolutely essential when there's such high demand.
I tend to think it's more about just losing money on each, which the DVD guys also don't do. :smile: If anything, higher volume helps you reduce costs --this is what economies of scale are all about, after all. But a loss is a loss. There's probably a better argument to be made for having fun with colors much later in the life-cycle, if at all. As you say, those first x million are just gonna sell, whatever color they are.
I agree mostly with scooby. Console color will likely match with living room furniture and appliances. Since they are not paraded in public, "fashion" may not work as well here as cellphones, shoes or cars (as long as the colors are not off-beat).
Portable consoles may be, but not traditional consoles.
agreed with many here. Console appearance matters little, as long as it's not fugly. I'll wager that 99% of xbox-1 critics wouldn't have bothered complaining if MS hadn't foolishly left all that "BIO HAZARD OMG KEWL" green all over it. It would have been ugly, but black, and boring, and after a week everyone would have forgotten it was there. Similarly, I find the original PSX to be pretty horrible-looking. Gamecube was fantastic IMO, but again foolish -- why make your console the wrong shape!? And top-loading... I bet this turned a lot of people off. Dreamcast was also top-loading, but that was a different era, and the damn thing was sexy. PS2 never actually got me going the way it did others, but I can see why they liked it -- smallish, front-loading, black, kind of interesting design elements -- but not a single mis-step or thing that jumped out and said "HAHA THIS GUY'S A DORK HE PLAYS VIDEO GAMES". So they should just play it safe and make it look like a bang & olufsen, if you ask me. matte aluminum or black finish ftw!
Why's top-loading bad? It didn't stop PS1/PSOne's popularity, nor PSTwo's.
Top loading drives feel pretty flimsy and prevent stacking.
Poking around in the guts of the system just to swap disks is a great opportunity to break something, and AFAIK the cover spring mechanism was single most frequent point of failure for the Gamecube.
Btw I'm pretty certain that certain companies don't want their devices to be stacked.
Yeah, it was fine in its day, I guess it was cheaper. But I don't feel like I'm going out on a limb to say that there will never be another top-loading optical disc console made. And I think the advantages of front-loading are pretty obvious. In the GC's case it was particularly awkward. You had to have a square-shaped box which likely wouldn't fit in your entertainment center, plus it was top-loading (whereas all its competition were front-loading), plus the cables were kinda short. In our (small) apartment it spent a lot of time on the floor halfway between the tv and the coffee table. Far from ideal, and though we weren't embarassed by it, I imagine a lot of people might be.
Blazkowicz
Legend
shit, posted on wrong thread
What kind of threat is that? That sounds MUCH better than what we do now! You bastards!Well, seen how you can only say the word coloUr because we told you so, you should be grateful! Or else you'd still be dancing naked around wood-carved images of your gods!
Well they don't ALL top-load, so you just put that one on top of the stack!
Seems like the color console thing was big in Japan first. Maybe for people who actually liked to collect more than one of a particular console.
I've been both fortunate and stubborn about not buying more than one of a console during a generation so my PS2 is 6 years old and my PSX was skipping like crazy but I never replaced it. Had problems with the Genesis and the Intellivision and never replaced those either.
Now with wireless controllers, it seems you can put it far away from you, where you never really pay attention to it.
For portables, I can understand color variety.
Makes also more sense for iPods and other portable, personal gear. Cars are often used for individual expression. Consoles stay at home so who cares how it looks?
I've been both fortunate and stubborn about not buying more than one of a console during a generation so my PS2 is 6 years old and my PSX was skipping like crazy but I never replaced it. Had problems with the Genesis and the Intellivision and never replaced those either.
Now with wireless controllers, it seems you can put it far away from you, where you never really pay attention to it.
For portables, I can understand color variety.
Makes also more sense for iPods and other portable, personal gear. Cars are often used for individual expression. Consoles stay at home so who cares how it looks?
