[General Discussion] True Cost to Own

Has there ever been an analysis done between the various gaming rigs (PC included) that takes into account a "true cost to own" factor? (For example, in relation to cars see this article: True Cost to Own (TCO) )

For example, with Xbox 360 if you have to send it back a couple of times for repair/replacement and you're without your console for a month per year, how does this factor into the cost of owning the console? One oft-cited "hidden cost" of the 360 for example is WiFi. You can buy a $350 Xbox 360 vs. a $399 PS3, but then you have to purchase an adapter for $99 for the Xbox to get the same WiFi the $399 PS3 has. Then, take into account that the Wii does not require a HDTV (some would argue the 360 does not either, but SDTV makes several games' text unreadable so I don't buy that argument) and suddenly there is a huge cost to factor in. Also, I would suppose there is power consumption (when running consoles or PCs for 1,000-2,000 hours per year this adds up) as well as the cost of accessories such as controllers or memory cards. With portables, I guess you could factor in the speed at which Nintendo release various GB/DS iterations vs. Sony's PSP updates. One factor I have seen mentioned on these forums is the price of PC games vs. console games. Then there is also resale value. I could sell my Wii for almost what I paid for it. Used PC games go for almost nothing, so if you're willing to buy used games PC could be cheap over the long haul.

What are your thoughts on this?

Jam it back in, in the dark.