For whatever reason there’s a phantom update of sorts for a game or app on my Xbone. I’m not sure why or what bug is causing it. I was kinda wondering if it had something to do with the Biomutant game I have on there, one I got discounted secondhand that came in a case for a different game. Apparently that game got one of those next-gen super HD upgrades for the new consoles. Yet I don’t feel like getting one of those new consoles, it doesn’t feel worth it to me right now. They’re still at least as expensive as they were at launch, if not more in some regions. In fact I don’t anticipate any price drops anytime soon, if anything there might be a price hike, this time not from any scalpers who love to charge 10000% the MSRP.
Consoles are usually sold at a loss so I hear. Nintendo might be the exception, possibly breaking even or either a smaller loss or possibly a direct profit, whatever it is. In any case, I haven’t gotten a new console as new in years now. I think the last time I did, it was the Wii U, and that was on one of those day-after-Thanksgiving sales. It was at a fairly steep discount, came with two of the top games, and it was still plenty in stock later in the morning. Clearly the console wasn’t doing too well but I felt like getting one since it had games I wanted anyway. Everything after that I think I’ve gotten secondhand, even if it’s a relatively current console.
I’m even getting a number of games secondhand for my most recent consoles, just because of my drive to bargain hunt and maybe pull less on the new supply route and all that. Though games seem to be where the console sellers make the most, which is why they’re willing to take some loss on consoles, something to make up later through direct game sales. While secondhand is an option with physical games, digital is less so, the closest thing is either getting some games pre-installed on a secondhand console, if they can still work that way, or third-party sellers. Of course third-party digital sellers can vary in authenticity, given some tend to trade in codes that effectively fell off a virtual truck, but there’s actual ones out there. Sometimes they have a discount a bit more than the usual, depending.
For the time being, I’ll still take consoles that can use physical copies for when I get those. I still install a disc drive in my PCs given my general findings of older PC games in classic formats, plus if I might watch a movie that I’ve also gotten that on a disc. That or use one of my multiple consoles that doubles as a Blu-Ray player. I haven’t bothered to install a Blu-Ray drive in a PC yet though. DVD drives are just cheaper.