This is the bottom line:
It hurts to spend money on something that you can't comfortably afford.
For many American Gamers - most of whom are young adults, and most of whom are probably having a hard time finding and keeping decent-paying jobs - spending any money beyond Utilities, Insurance, Fuel, and the occasional movie rental or burger feels like spending money on something they can't afford. New Games are much more expensive than the occasional movie rental or burger.
For all of the many reasons that could be blamed - money-grubbing corporations, price-gouging retailers and middlemen, or a Government that still believes it can spend its way out of what is soon to be an out-and-out Depression, to name a few - the simple fact remains that dollars don't go as far as they used to.
We hate that fact. Of course we're going to complain.
...That, and Dissatisfaction is as American as Apple Pie, American Football, Jazz Music and Outsourcing. But that's just me being cynical.
/thread.
