Hear me out, and think about it...

It's not that third parties are better, third parties are the majority of the studios which makes it spotting the killer title easy to see in a crowd of games, even next to exclusives. Personally I think if wielded correctly, Nathan Drake could become Sony's Killer App next gen and have a movie made about him. Microsoft has had Master Chief. Second of all Sony had great sales for exclusives last gen, but then again half of the crowd who owned a PS2 last gen jumped ship to the PS3. Now if you think about it (and Sony didn't botch their launch to save Blu Ray) the sales of games like Uncharted and God of War could've gone from 4-5 million to 6-8 million from least to greatest. Sound like Gears and Halo numbers to you? Good because thats where half of the 360 core fanbase this gen came from..the PS2. Now that the PS3 is selling more consoles the LTD numbers of PS3 titles are growing and seem far more impressive.

Do you know how Nintendo got Mario and Zelda to become big in the states? They put on TV shows in the US (and possibly world wide) introducing the world to Mario as a household name. This is also how Sonic the Hedgehog became a household staple as well being featured on ABC Saturday morning tv. Even if you don't game everyone knows who you are. Nintendo acquainted themselves with the American household. Sony's characters cannot get a foothold because of this. They haven't endeared themselves to the public despite having such great characters that are kept hidden from the public. If they want to make stellar numbers in games they must invest in the commercialization of the characters they create. Sony and Nintendo are known for the characters...while Microsoft is just Microsoft.

Super Mario Bros

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTkuCXRZnyM

The Legend of Zelda

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t24JtFFm5Q4

Sonic the Hedgehog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCcYBQ_f90Q&feature=fvst

Nintendo and Sega endeared itself to American children during the great 80-90's era of Saturday morning cartoons.Sony has the power to do this and never have. Their theme songs and characteristics became just as evident to children as any pixar or disney film.

The games Sony could pay homage to:

-God of War deserves an anime,

-Uncharted deserves a movie

-Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank deserve at kids show

-InFamous could be either a great anime or movie

-Killzone could be an amazing movie

-Crash Bandicoot could've been an amazing kids show and the same goes for Spyro if Sony would've held onto the rights.

-Twisted Metal would be a killer dark anime like Dark City.

- Little Big Planet Kids show in CG

The list of Sony IP's goes on and on. The problem is they never commercially capitalize on them.

The question everyone should ask themselves is how much could the PS3 exclusives have sold if part of the market never jumped ship. Despite the fall of exclusives Sony refuses to fall into internal mediocrity like Microsoft, because they like Nintendo represent quality and heart in gaming.

With Little big Planet Karting and Playstation Allstars.....Sony is starting to understand what it means to support strong first party, even if it reminds people of Nintendo. If Sony wants to become a household name, they need to act like one. Sony has the ability to reach an even broader audience than Nintendo ever did, but they wont because I dont think they can think that far. They are that lazy kid in class with the most potential.

We're not living in the 80s anymore. Kids that have had their balls drop don't want to play Mario, they want to blow shit up and call each other faggots on voice mic, hence why COD, CS, and games where the guns are the main characters do well.

Of course when the parents are making the purchasing decisions, they'll buy that stuff cause that's what they grew up on. But after about 8, no kid wants to dick around with mario when the older kids are all playing COD.

Sony's fanbase isn't backing all of the exclusives they have for some strange reason.

So basically Microsoft should make an anime for Halo so it could become popular in Japan......oh wait Halo legends didn't do much for the Halo franchise in Japan. 

Although I do agree that marketing games in other media, movies and TV shows especially, would be beneficial for any franchise not just Sony IP's but it isn't that simple of a process seeing how Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands didn't sell in the 6-8 million range as you suggested even though the franchise had a successful movie. 

The quote "Sony and Nintendo are known for the characters...while Microsoft is just Microsoft." doesn't make sense since you're arguing for Sony's IPs to be shown to American audiences, which like it or not, are familiar with MS IPs. Although few "MS isn't just MS" when it comes to American audiances.  

Also you have your hopes up way to high with listing that many Sony IPs that should get a another form of Media, some of which have not been supported enough by the Sony fanbase to call for such aclaim, Master Chief is more likely to get his own movie now with the future release of Forward unto Dawn than pretty much all of those IPs combined, currently. 

yes they do!

every game isn't going to just appeal to everybody like other games do

the sales are basically no different than how 1st party games sold on PS2

OT: didn't those shows come out AFTER the success of the Mario and Sonic games? I do remember watching those shows when i was younger though

and Sony had their mascot game(Crash Bandicoot) and we all know what happened with that

can you imagine what it would be like if the same were to happen with Nintendo and Microsoft? what would it be like right now if Nintendo didn't have Mario anymore and Microsoft didn't have Halo anymore the way Sony doesn't have Crash Bandicoot?

but then again i blame Sony for letting Crash and Spyro go so easily

Little Big Planet is next up for Sony's main mascot

it would have been nice to have Crash Bandicoot, Spyro The Dragon AND Little Big Planet as main games but oh well..

Sony's problem at the root of it all, is merchandising.

The problem with Sony and its fans is that they try to get a mascot while they ask and push for new IP. Nintendo did it 100% right with pokemon and the TV show. Just add more colorful pokemon and keep everything the same. You act as though the game will become twice as successful with a TV show, but I can tell you that didn't happen with Donkey Kong, Kirby, F-Zero, Mega man, street fighter, tak and the power of juju, and viewtiful joe. What really needs to happen is an underwear deal. That's when you will see Sony franchises esplode.

http://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-Score-Princess-Boxers-X-Large/dp/B000JIQSWW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336452828&sr=8-1

Thats kind of the point, Sony markets to everyone. They could have kids shows, mature animes and blockbuster flicks. Sony pictures could make this happen for the movies for sure and score big numbers off of it.

Prince of Persia was the wrong franchise and doesn't have the marketability to become a household name. I am talking about names synonymous with a brand. Think Psychology:

Mickey mouse, Donald Duck, Minny Mouse etc= Disney

Mario and Zelda= Nintendo

Sonic the Hedgehog= Sega

Masterchief=  Xbox

 Sony=???? (It could be one of many of their games)

Sony has some amazing games, but who have they acquainted the people with? No one. Master Chief never had a serious American show even though they had their animatrix spin-off. Thats still rather niche. Master Chief doesn't need an American show because Master Chief represents the popular era of PC gaming gaining a foothold in the console market.

Games like Donkey Kong and the like sold well for the same reasons Uncharted, God of War and those within its sales bracket are sellings as well as they are to their core audience. They are popular titles within the community that still represent the brand. Nintendo knew they had a winner with Mario and Zelda though. Also, don't forget Donkey Kong Country was heavily bundled with SNES.  I remember as a little kid as people flooded Toys R Us for Donkey Kong country trying to pick up a box before it sold out. This was before EB or Gamestop was big and K.B Toys and Toy R Us were the go to places for your games. also, Megaman wasn't first party, so don't use him as an example. F-Zero was a popular  title within the community.