USA Today calls out Sony: 'from top dog to underdog in record time'

Hey, I like my PS3 too. Getting Armored Core 4 on Wednesday. I'm a big AC fan and looking forward to it.

PS3 underdog...hmmm I can see how that could stick. Especially with DMC going to 360, VF5 going to 360, Ace Combat going to 360...Sony can't get a break these days, but hey, they did it to themselves. As it stands, I'm still in the PSWii camp.

Zamfir:

You're either a liar or incredibly lucky. I have two roommates who both work at video game specialty stores and they constantly complain about a lack of Wiis for any customers, despite recieving 4-6 calls a day asking for one. It's not only their respective stores - they call around to all their sister stores only to find bupkis. In fact, one of my roommates recently read me a company wide email that offered alternatives to customers seeking a Wii due to the "Wii shortage." But what do businesses who help oversee a billion dollar industry know?

what is a newspaper? is that something you use to wipe yourself after poopsocking joysticks RSS feed?

Couldn't we have said the same thing when the N64 came out? It didn't detract at all from the console though.

Sir Howard Stringer the New Sony CEO was hired to save the company. Since his arrival he:

* closed 7 Sony factories
* fired 10,000 Japanese

* decided to add the Blu-Ray to the Playstation

Sony figured that they sold 100 million PS2s and they figured they could throw in the Blu-Ray to the PS3 and charge PS fans $600 before tax, launch late, leave out rumble in the initial launch and not add an HDMI cable!

People are displaying their CONSUMER RIGHT to disagree with Sony's marketing strategy with Blu-ray by not buying it and more-so by bashing its lack of success based on its greed.

You could say, "It needs Blu-Ray for the games...it's the format". Tell that to Capcom and all the other publishers that decided that it would take exclusives away from the PS3.

I wanted a PS3 to play games, not a Blu-Ray player so Sony could "play games with my wallet". When they pull the Blu-ray out (which will have to happen soon) and offer a price equal to the system that plays the same exact games (except some on the 360 are on-line) then maybe I'll pick one up.

I'm going to go play my $50 God of War 2 on my $100 PS2 now.

Watch out! USA Today predicted the future. I'm sure the 60 year olds who still actually read newspapers will be impressed. For the rest of us who get our news the 21st century way, ONLINE, it is of no real consequence. Almost as if someone in 1988 sent a telegraph in Morse code saying "Sony's CD players have fallen behind Toshiba CD players". Such a message would really only be received by people too old to actually use the product, so does it really make a difference?

Get a load of all you Sony paid puppets. Stop lying to your selves and let reality sink in. Sony is a has-been. You're the new third place losers.

What would you be saying if the tables were turned? I know exactly what you would say. You would declare Sony the winner and something about Nintendo fanboys need to stop crying, our system is for kids, something about the lack of first person shooters, crappy graphics, that all we can do is come up with lame excuses.

It's funny. Now all you guys can do is point out how much YOU like the PS3. Whoopty fucking doo guys. That never seemed to work for us GameCube fans. I do seem to recall that quite well considering the fact that it was less than 2 years ago.

Forget the fact that the GameCube was a superior console to the PS2, had fun games that the fans enjoyed, a strong base of dedicated fans, etc etc..

That didn't stop you jerks from giving us hell any and every time an opportunity presented its self.

Sounds familiar huh?

The tables have turned. You're the third place losers. You're the whinny little teenagers trying to act cool. You're the ones with double standards and you're the ones who have contradicted everything you have come to believe over the past ten years. You my friends, are pathetic.

And yes I do understand that it's early and the PS3 is very capable of making a come back. I do understand where you're coming from and I do see the appeal in the system.

It's ok. I've been there. You can cry on my shoulder if you want too. I just hope maybe you've learned a valuable lesson in all this (some how I doubt it though).

Personally I think the PS3 will do OK. Maybe a little better than the GameCube did. I expect it to be more like the PSP except with slightly better game sales. That means it'll be doing fine but it'll never quite catch up. Just my guess.

"Watch out! USA Today predicted the future. I'm sure the 60 year olds who still actually read newspapers will be impressed. For the rest of us who get our news the 21st century way, ONLINE, it is of no real consequence. Almost as if someone in 1988 sent a telegraph in Morse code saying "Sony's CD players have fallen behind Toshiba CD players". Such a message would really only be received by people too old to actually use the product, so does it really make a difference?"

Actually, the newspapers is the way most Americans still get their news.

"Forget the fact that the GameCube was a superior console to the PS2"

Graphics-wise? Yes, the Cube was superior.

In every other measure - software selection, surround sound, storage capacity, online, hell, even the PS2's controllers were better than the GC's.

I love the 'Cube, but there's a reason that the PS2 outsold it 6-to-1 around the world. Actually, I just named five of them, and there are plenty more.

Lol. I like the comments for this article already and I can see it only getting funnier. I admit that the USA Today article is a bit sensationalist (even if it is a based on how the systems are selling currently) due to it being to early to call a winner to this "war". But, it is hilarious to see the Sony fanboys get all agitated.

SDF unite and take down these heretics! They shall suffer for the Sony doubting sins!

HDTVs are not invading the homes of everybody in the world any time soon. Give it a couple decades. And fiasco8 was right about newspapers too. More people read newspapers than online news. Everybody seems to want to play up the technological advances, as if the whole world jumps on board immediately. As of 2003, 55% of U.S. households had internet access. And as of February 2007, more people are buying 7-year old technology (PS2) than 4-month old technology (PS3) that's supposedly going to last 10 years.

What about the fact that the PS3 looks like a piece of #2? Even if I bought it for blu-ray playback it looks like a piece of poopie! I don't want that sitting near my nice entertainment center!

I think its just a bit too early to declare Sony the loser. Don't even bother speculating until these companies start cutting prices and really competing.

Don't forget, the PS2 is still selling well, I think its been outselling the 360. Microsoft has to beat Sony's old console first, and I think Sony knows this.

Ummm .. hello?

PS2 sold 300k units last month.. can you say the same about the equally priced GC and xbox? .. PS2+PS3 took about 40% of the console market... this in a month when there were no major releases for PS3 or PS2.

Do you think 360 or Wii will be selling 300k units a month in 6-7 years? March will be even higher with God of War 2 out.

so, yea, the Playstation Brand isnt going anywhere.

"Don't forget, the PS2 is still selling well, I think its been outselling the 360. Microsoft has to beat Sony's old console first, and I think Sony knows this."

Gee, I wonder why?? Couldn't be because there is a hefty price difference?? On that note, I think GBA's are beating out PS3. How are they even in the same category kid? Your point makes no sense.

Before I read the USA Today article, I swore I was about to see a sponsored pro-MS-360 piece, but nope they waive the Nintendo flag. Read it and you'll see (not surprisingly) that it contains a lot of factual truths we already knew sprinkled with a dose of double layered bullshit that's easy to get buried underneath. The release hype is dead and the reality of Sony's very real problem is all too apparent ... yes we know. As it's been said ... the real challenge for the PS3 ... the "proving" point comes later this year. A certain fact, logic, that seems to be defied when the article basically goes on to state the Wii is flying high with little trouble in sight. Can't keep 'em on shelves, low price point, blah blah blah seemingly to forget it still has much to prove in a market that fluctuates on a bevy of factors which not in the least is determined by software.

I have to end it by saying "journalism" and video games have never made the best bed fellows either. The only thing this reinforces is why both MS and Sony treated Nintendo as their friend in the next-gen wars and not direct competition and dire enemies.

Journalism and the PS3 have not mixed too well.

For its competitors it has done just fine.

This is so retarded. The Wii, current leader of the "new gen" console race has sold 0.3% of what the ps2 has (335,000 Wii / 100,000,000 ps2). To say that Sony is losing anything this early in the game is absolutely moronic!!!!!!!

It's true Jon. Let them have their .
The SDF does not insult their competition unlike their lashings of recent past. We just grin and say MMMMkay.;)

For the record. For the ignorant... I'm not a paid Sony Puppet. In fact I recently paid them $770+ for the use of their beautiful machine and 2 games. "The Departed" on BR. Buying a 2nd controller tomorrow. :D

"Don't forget, the PS2 is still selling well, I think its been outselling the 360. Microsoft has to beat Sony's old console first, and I think Sony knows this."

Not really. The 360 is selling well, far better than the original Xbox, is well supported, and is making money. It's hard to compare against the PS2, because the PS2 was released so long ago, and the features don't directly compare.

I'm not sure what "beating the PS2" has to do with anything. For one, the PS2 has outsold every other console ever made, and perhaps will be the best selling console ever. I'm not sure anyone will take that away from Sony anytime soon, or if ever.

The reason the PS2 continues to sell well, is because it's cheap, has a great library of existing games, and continues to have great games released. At some point though, Sony has to have a successor to the PS2. How many more years will the PS2 be relevant? 2 years? Sony needs to convince their massive installed PS2 base to buy a PS3-- which they've failed to do thus far, although they certainly have sold a respectable number of consoles. Because it's a Playstation, anyone would have thought they could have done better and would have sold more by now. In fact I'm surprised it's not sold out everywhere and hard to find.

Why the hell would you even need to buy a PS3 anymore? All their games are being ported to 360 with better graphics, online service and
achievements.

And don't tell me Ace Combat 6 and DMC4 aren't much of a loss. Us 360 fans know better when you throw it in our face and say "360 only has shooters."

Welcome to the new PS2... the Xbox 360...where GAMES draw in adopters, not system specs. And to all you fanboys who spout "red ring" remarks, have fun with your PS3 when it follows the PS2 breakdowns by doubling as a movie player. It hasn't
happen yet (due to no games) but it will.

Let's focus on the PS2's successor wich is currently available in store's today and forget how it's still outselling the next gen consoles including it's own next gen console the PS3 and how's it going to look when PS2 dies out and gamer's have to decide wich next gen console to purchase? If they take into account that with horrible first party games,lost exclusive's to 360,and no justifiable reasons for paying that high of a price for a next gen console, than you gotta understand that Sony has murdered itself beyond belief!

"Of course, early runnings mean nothing long-term, and the PlayStation 3 could easily pick up steam following release of heavy-hitting games, PS Home and a possible price drop."

that is if any of these so called "heavy-hitting" games are still PS3 exclusives by the time they get released. I don't see FFXIII going to the 360, but MGS4 is a definite possibility. Probably not a day-and-date multiplatform, but I look to see MGS4 on the 360 as well within a year of the PS3 release.

So where's the story part about the overrated Wii and the underrated PS3. The Wii is the most overrated, over price and over late last gen rip off on the market. Most of their upcoming games are old ports from other systems. And that goes for first party titles (Gamecube SSBM reissue as SSBB)too. The seven year old PS2 is a much better system at half the price. It has been using Gamefly for online play for years and now the Wii is finally getting around to using this last gen feature to provide some sort of online play. As for the PS3 and its untouch potential, why such a tragedy? A last gen re-release outselling a next gen console that benchmarks over everybody for twice as much money.

I think what the guys who are quoting PS2 sales are talking about is this "For Sony, that performance is simply abysmal,".
@71
For the last time, the graphics of the 360 and the PS3 are very nearly identical and only vary between individual games.

@Anyone blowing the achievement horn
Achievements don't mean squat for games on the 360. Most of them are easily achievable by anyone who picks up the controller and play the game once. The only game I've seen achievements matter for is Dead Rising, where you can unlock new items for getting an achievement and starting a new game; unless more games start doing this, achievements will, IMO, be nothing more than bragging rights saying you've played a 360 game.

Sorry for that last comment being 99% off topic.

Anyway, it doesn't matter whether Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo are in first place for sales; people will still buy the systems. It's not like any of them would go bankrupt if they didn't sell massive quantities of consoles this generation. MS and Sony exist outside of the videogame market too, and Nintendo has to have built up quite the fortune for coming out on top of the Nintendo vs. Sega war.

All that it really affects are people who follow the crowd and buy the most popular console, and developers creating exclusives for systems. Believe me, exclusives don't make or break a console, releasing a console midway through the run does.

I'm surprised with all this talk about "top dog" and "under dog" noone has said...

YOU'RE THE MAN NOW DOG!

Sony are still top dog... with the PS2 still selling like hot cake. Just another ploy for publicity. The PS3 has only been out a few months for christ sake!

"PS2 sold 300k units last month.. can you say the same about the equally priced GC and xbox? .. PS2+PS3 took about 40% of the console market... this in a month when there were no major releases for PS3 or PS2."

The Xbox isn't available anymore, is it? Not that it would have sold well anyway... But while this lack of support for older consoles issue is apparently a big one for some hardcore gamers, the average consumer doesn't care.

What does matter is exclusive NEW games for the new systems... and the strong US sales of the 360 is convincing publishers to release their games for the 360, and that DOES hurt Sony in the long run... How many people do you know bought a PS2 because it was the only way to play MG2, GTA3, or FF? I know I bought my PS2 simply because I really wanted to play GTA3 over winter break. I've enjoyed a lot of other great games since then, but that was why I initially got it. Franchises like that going to the cheaper 360 is not good for the long term sales of the PS2. You could argue the PS3 has more features BUT the PS2 had less features than the Xbox and it sold way better, so it's not about who has the best features, it's about who has the best games. If, a year from now, people see the games they want to play on the cheaper 360, that's where they will go. Sony needs to stimulate sales now to keep publishers exclusive to their system.

Sony is still the top dog. PS3 and PS2 aren't made by different companies. PS2 is still dominating any console out there.

Original Super Mario Bros is still the Top Dog. I mean, its sold more than any other videogame in existance. And people are still buying it!

See what I did there?

"Oh, and stop with the Wii being hard to find crap. Maybe they were hard to find during launch, but that was a long time ago. They're sure available in every store I've been to, and I do *a lot* of shopping."

Where do you live? We decided to get the Wii last week (1st console since Atari 2600). Called EVERYONE in Central PA and N. NJ. Nobody had any of them. The only ray of light was Toys R Us on Sunday. Got there @ 7:15AM and was 4th in line. There were about 50 of us there when the store opened at 10AM, all looking for a Wii.

I can see why the Wii gets all the praise. Last game system I owned was a 2600, never really played games (on my PC or Mac) and generally didn't care. Saw the Wii and a few coworkers got it and loved it. So the Wife and I decided to get it with my bonus check.

Within 20 mins of updating it, we were having a blast with it, bowling, playing tennis, etc. Now I'm addicted to Sonic.

I could care less if it has worse graphics than 360 (I'll NEVER buy a MS product) or PS2 - the gameplay is great and they look fine on our 42" Plasma (I can't wait until my component cable comes).

Nintendo is turning people like me into gamers. That's a good thing for all of us.