Not sure why they're doing that, the sales on the front page definitely don't reflect that, even in the US. It's probably just because it's appraoching Christmas.

Sony right now doesn't have the branding power it had ten years ago, they can't survive with only its branded stores. Samsung is starting to make their own stores, and has a much stronger branding power right now. Sony can't be an Apple, at least not in the short-medium timeframe.

Source?

Actually, they are far from it.  Kmart is the only big box retailer that is struggling and they have been for some time.  In this economy, big box retailers have been doing very well.  The one I referenced has been doing exceptionally well, however since their numbers are not public I can't share data.

My local supermarkets (Tesco, ASDA and Sainsburys) have all discontinued the Vita.

Sony branded stores are releativly new, how can you say they can't survive with their own branded stores when they havent been out long enough to say otherwise?  Apple (pioneering it), Microsoft, Samsung, Sony they are all moving to branded stores because they see the writing on the wall; they know that traditional brick and mortar retailrs are outdated in pushing their products, epsecially as their product portfolio expands (including software, hardware and support) and that internet retailers are beating traditional on user experience (which is shocking) and price.  Im sure Microsoft would better like someone from a microsoft store push windows 8 or surface than some random best buy employee.  Sony the same way.

That's almost the way it is here right now, but the Xbox 360 section gets 12 foot.  Previously, earlier in this generation,  Sony got 12 foot of retail shelve space with Xbox and Nintendo getting 8 foot.  Up until the release of Kinect in fact, Sony had 12 feet of space.  Then it changed at some point after that.

Unfortunately, people outside of the US underestimate the power of a big-box retailer on Black Friday.  A place like Gamestop or Gamestation basically has all of its walls and floor space to divide up toward all three consoles, three handhelds, and the PS2.  Big box retailers don't.  They have a set number amount of retail space to dedicate to games, so they have to dedicate it to what sells.  The Wii U, whether you like it or not, will sell extremely well this holiday.

That said, they offer consumers a lot of options for gift buying on Black Friday.  The fewer shops/trips people have to make, generally the better on Black Friday.

It would be the entire retailer, not a single store.  It is possible that some stores may have additional retail space, as there are different store layouts, but each of the stores still have a limited amount of retail space to dedicate to three home consoles, soon to be four, and three handhelds plus games.

Kmart JCPenney Sears Best Buy HHGregg and Radio Shack, the only two retailers that are doing really well is Walmart and Target.  Shelf space reduction is not a good thing but that doesnt mean they cant push product or its for products that are not selling in the first place (PSP Vita PS2)

I have my resources, and those resources go way above "a manager/head honcho".