My son had a Nintendo, then ps1, then ps2 for a while and so he already was an experienced and seasoned gamer when the ps3 was released and he was really looking forward to getting one.
But I was very disappointed with Sony’s crooked marketing, to begin with they started by overpricing their console, the Ps3’s price was prohibitive by any standards well beyond what any parents would be willing to invest in their children’s entertainment and then Sony intentionally used product scarcity as a marketing strategy for the ps3, you could not find them at the stores, they shipped too few of them to really satisfy their expected demand, which in turn led to higher prices, I once saw the ps3 at 1,500 usd in a department store!
So I talked my son into getting the Xbox and he’s never regretted it ever since. He plays online with kids from all over the world, he just loves it. It’s a great product with a great service at an affordable price.

The irony of it is that now you can get the ps3 at significantly lower prices than the xbox, and sony has invested a lot on their online gaming infrastructure too, but a lot of users have already switched sides.

TMLutas – I think you’re right, I didn’t think of population density to explain those differences in behaviour. I tend to think that in general Americans are more tech savvy than europeans, but maybe that would be the subject of another discussion.

I’d say that if anything Craigslist pulls more business from consignment shops than from retail. The cheap avenues for furniture acquisition have always been there. I see furniture set out on the street with price tags quite frequently in places such as Lenox MA.

When I moved from Europe I made extensive use of Freecycle to clear out thinks I no longer needed.

There is extensive labor that goes into getting a really good finish on furniture, and after building some myself I’ve developed an eye for quality and value. Issues of style aside, when one compares quality chairs on the retail antiques market with quality chairs on the retail new market, for example, the quality/price ratio is much higher for the “antique” stuff. You get a better dining-room set for less money by buying the collector’s item.

I was in Spain recently and I saw furniture in the streets, people selling all kinds of oddities and personal belongings, clothes, shoes, tools, etc. I saw that in France long ago too, but I didn’t recognize a trend at the time.

At the same time Americans come up with ebay, CL and other technological means to sell, to give away, and to extend the usable life of things.

(While in Mexico and most developing countries people use things up until you can’t get anything out of it anymore, I mean anything at all).

So much for a so called throw-away society.

Nintendo and Sony both have online gaming, but they were more reluctant to embrace it (particularly in the PS2 days). Nintendo avoided it for the obvious reason that they didn’t want foul-mouthed players damaging their reputation.

The original Xbox did embrace online gaming and it no doubt helped them, but they currently charge for matchmaking services. That might hurt them in the long run.

*Possibly, ahead of or just even with the GameCube.

An aside: If eBay knew its business it would use Google’s search technology.

Another good thing about it is you can get RID of stuff fast, if you price it to move.

I had pretty good desk a few years ago that I had to get rid of. I put it on Craigslist for $50 and it was gone in two hours. Two guys showed up and it was gone. If you price stuff to move, it moves.

CL is a very major development.