Third Place & Still Talking

It's no mystery that Microsoft's Xbox 360 continues to sell well. Nintendo's Wii is a monster in itself, practically destroying the sales charts every month. And then there's Sony's PS3. After a rather impressive showing at CES (while completely skipping over PS3/PSP), Sony put out a press release that is considered an insult by many gamers (myself included). Let's forget the fact that Sony's press release fails to compare PS3 to the Xbox 360 Pro and Elite models. The release refers to the 360 as having "multiple upgrades and additional external devices, putting a burden on the wallet and adds clutter to the entertainment center." Wait.. what? The only external peripheral that exists is the now outdated HD-DVD player. The 360 headsets are tiny and so is the Wi-Fi adapter. Let's also forget that the Wii obviously doesn't need HDMI, etc to succeed. Yet Sony goes on to call the Wii simply a "comprehensive entertainment solution." Not sure what that makes the PS3, but alright. What bothers me the most is that this is SONY. Sony's taking shots while they're in third place and one begins to wonder "who are they to criticize others?" If the PS3 was putting up great numbers, I could totally see their argument, but really? I'm still not convinced that Blu-ray is the future and I'm sure as hell not upgrading all the hundreds of DVD's I own. Finally, I'd just like to point out that Sony forgot to add one more column to the chart above, and that's 'Good Games'. I'm not saying PS3 doesn't have any because there are a few I'd like to play myself. But it doesn't warrant the price of admission. It's statements like these that make me realize Sony still doesn't get it. Sony: Lower the price of the PS3 so the every day consumer can afford it and offer some great content to entice said consumers to buy it. Then we'll talk.

Now I'm even more interested to see December 2008's NPD numbers, which will be released on January 15th. I'll just let the numbers speak for themselves, as they'll sum up my whole argument quite nicely.