[mrits]

Were they? I bought my Amiga 500 around 1992 for $200 USD at Software Etc. I think the Nintendo was around $100 USD and the games were often much more expensive. Not to mention most games were just the cost of a floppy disk if you had Amiga friends.

[louthy]

$100 < $200

[Retric]

A console without games isn’t useful.

[louthy]

And a printer without ink doesn’t print. Yet we all continue to fall for this initial low price bait.

[Retric]

In 1985 the NES launched in the US at $179.99 and didn’t include a game. So while I’m sure somebody came home with a useless object, in general people where forced to but at least one.

In 1996 the first hit became free.

[firesteelrain]

Video rental was huge. It's the only way I could afford to play games.

[Retric]

In 1985? That didn’t take off where I was until PS1 days.