Will SKU just stop?!

Many moons ago when Microsoft released details it's new Xbox 360, Sony were quick to criticise the company. Two different versions of the one console was, they pointed out, confusing to consumers. To be honest I didn't think that it was complicated. I thought that the Core was lame, but not confusing. Premium was where I wanted to be, and I assumed that the Core would disappear after a while. Fast forward to the PS3 launch, and again it seemed two versions of the console would be released. Again, the choice seemed pretty straight forward for me though in the end only the 60Gb version made it to Europe.

I understand the desire to have a cheaper console along side the top spec one. But things are getting out of hand. Microsoft now have an Xbox 360 Core, Xbox 360 Premium and Xbox 360 Elite. Sony have the 20Gb, 60Gb and 80Gb versions of the PS3, along with slightly different insides depending on whether or not it has hardware or soft/hardware PS2 emulation.

The thing is, the temptation to upgrade just isn't there for me. The 360 looks stunning running on VGA, and I have no desire to start paying MS for films or TV. So they can keep their incredibly expensive new 120Gb hard drive (£130?!). I can pick up a huge SATA hard drive for the PS3 pretty cheap, so even PS3 owners with the 20Gb machine have no need to upgrade. I understand all of this - it's not complicated. But for an industry that says it wants to be mainstream, it has a lot to learn.

How many non-gamers are looking at the current market and wondering what the hell is going on? It's not enough that we have three systems with three different disk formats. Now we have different versions of them too. It's a ridiculous state of affairs. Perhaps it's no surprise that the only new console on the market to have one simple SKU is the one that is running away with the first prize. If the Wii was any more mainstream it would be made by Ford. Yes it's no-frills, run of the harware. But it's easy for people to understand, even if they haven't been playing games for 25 years. It's time Sony and Microsoft started to learn some lessons from Nintendo.