On August 2, I returned from a month long trip through Israel. It was awesome. Although, I spent very little time in electronics stores, it was easy to see that gaming there was crippled and cost a small fortune.

Let's start with the Playstation brand. The PS3 has launched there, but I found it for an astounding 3900 sheckels. Converted, the price is approximately 900 dollars in the US and 660 euros in Europe. But at least the PS2 is still available there, right? It is, but its games are still 150% more expensive than they are in the U.S.



Guitar Hero II cost 600 sheckels in Israel. If you convert that, you're paying 140 dollars or 100 euros. The only good thing about being out of the loop is that the Toys R Us I was in hadn't received a demo unit. Instead, it was simply a PS2 hooked up to a high definition monitor with the full game on it. My friends and I managed to unlock all of the songs during our free time. Even in the religious heart of the world, GH still manages to captivate.



One last thing. Although the country is technically in Asia, Israelis still have to endure Sony's awful "This Is Living" campaign.




Let's move on to Nintendo. One store I went into was about ten years too late. In their glass display, they prominently featured a poster for Game Boy Color. Inside, they displayed the Pirates of the Caribbean game for DS. It cost 300 sheckels (70 dollars, 50 euros). A Wii bundle cost 2800 sheckles (648 dollars, 471 euros). I find it funny that Nintendo is trying to appeal to a wider audience by being more affordable while stores are extorting customers by offering only bundles.

Finally, there is the Xbox 360. Unfortunately, it was nowhere to be found. The system has not even launched in Israel.

Next time you purchase a game or system, give thanks for the fact that, even though game prices have risen, you're still not paying nearly as much as others.