Perhaps one argument to disagree on this is if you stop treating it as a game and think of it as a "commercially-available version of a professional military training tool".
Personally, knowing the replay value and depth that sims have, I'd say a good sim is worth those 3 console games. If a polished version of SHIII sold for $125, I'd buy it, because it's worth that much in terms of value.
I don't think it's a rip-off. You get what you pay for. If you want a professional sim, you won't mind paying that. If you don't, buy those 3 other games and be happy. Everything is ruled by supply and demand. If the game's developers worried about low demand, they'd drop their price. But they aren't, this isn't even really their job, their job is making sims for the military - this is more of a "by the way" offshoot. Can you get this anywhere else, for any other price? I don't think so. So, it's put up or do without.
Personally, I'll find out if it's worth it once I get a job. That said, I've spent a lot of money on sims up to date (including controllers and other hardware I bought specifically for it, I must have shelled out a good $300 on Falcon 4.0), and I never regretted it!
