MTV Multiplayer › Analyst

Michael Pachter, analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities, writes a good e-mail subject line. The quotable gaming expert titled his note to investors this morning as "Entertainment Software: E3 2008 Review: The Bad, The Great, and the BORING!"

In it, he made his pick for best E3 press conference:

Microsoft had the most impactful presentation of the three console manufacturers, in our view, with an expanded offering of interactive games (e.g., 1 vs. 100) and the announcement of a partnership with Netflix. We think that Sony had the least impactful presentation, trying to address too many topics for the time allotted. Nintendo’s presentation was “just right”, but hardcore gamers were disappointed at the lack of a major Mario or Zelda game announcement.

He named the top publisher of the show:
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Right now, I can buy a 120GB hard drive to drop in a PlayStation 3 for $69.99 from NewEgg.com [Update: I'd previously listed this as $44.99 with an incompatible drive]. To do the same thing with an Xbox 360, it'd cost me $179.99.

But why does it cost so much?

Microsoft has claimed that comparing their plug-and-play hard drive is akin to comparing apples to oranges, that Microsoft goes the extra mile to ensure the customer can simply slap their hard drive on a machine and it'll work.

MTV Multiplayer contacted iSuppli, a company with a long history of examining consumer gizmos to discover their real cost. We had them look at Microsoft's 120GB hard drive and estimate whether -- or how much -- the company's marking it up.

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