Its not that MS did everything right. Sony made a tremendous fuck up by putting out a $600. Sony chased their fans away which allowed Nintendo and MS to thrive. MS did things to steal fans from Sony, but Sony basically gave them away.

The Playstation brand was able to stay relevant because Sony was able to take billions and billions of losses. Most companies would have sunk simply because they couldn't afford to do that.

The 360 had much worse press due to the failure rate and other hardware issue. The masses wanted PS3s, but consumers went with the 360 because the hardware was significantly cheaper and it was getting better games.

If Sony left out Bluray and launched their console for $399, it would have been the market leader. Sony never proved Bluray was essential this gen and to make matters worse physical movie sales have dwindled.

In a nutshell, price was Sony's biggest mistake this gen. Everything else is negligible in comparison.

Sony was opperating under the idea that if you give "them" more they will see the value. This is not the case tho...at least in the US. The common consumer is looking at price mostly, and only the immediate rammifications of that price. PS3 was far better value in the long run. 360 appeared to be cheaper in the outset and the US consumer base abandoned Sony for that very reason. I always found it perplexing that 360 had so many "hidden" costs that would demanded after purchase yet the common consumer was devoid of this knowledge. This is Sony's biggest problem of late. They SUCK at letting people know what they really have over the competition, and letting the consumers know of its greatest possibilities. MS is very good at it and took total advantage of Sony's weakness. I don't dispute what you are saying, I would just like to state a few key factors that make all the difference....

-BluRay might have truely changed gaming....if DVD wasn't holding it back every step of the way. DLC also would be very different. Now that WiiU has a BR rip off, and MS will have to use BR or an equavalent as well, we will finally see Sony's idea for the format come to fruition...at least for games.

-BluRay/DVD movie sales are not surprising when you think of the rate that all electronic media is being pirated beyond belief these days cuz its just so easy to do. Also....recession effects how much ppl will b willing to go out and buy what they know they can really get for free.

-MS's issues never were fully realized to it's fanbase. It took YEARS of supposed massive console failures for them to even admit there was a problem. The level of press on it initially was almost non existant. I worked at Gamestop for 3 years durin the beginning of this gen and I would say 90% of 360 owners were totally unaware there were global problems with the consoles and thought it was just theirs. That is why they relished in the fact MS would provide them with a brand new system if it died.....so to many that was a bi PLUS and not a negative. Going into next gen I think ppl are less oblivious to it now and it might be a deciding factor on which console some consumers get.

-Sony actually didn't make to many blatent fuck ups, it is how the press/media interpretted them. Every slight shortcoming...and even some percievably good things were manipulated and portrayed as the worst of the worst. $599 for a gaming console....for what it was it was a steal, and no one realized how much CHEAPER it actually was than 360 and Wii(Both formed an entire market of having to buy proprietary peripherals just to get basic enjoyment out if the console;rechargable batteries, PR HDDs, Wii Fit,Motion Plus etc, etc). The year later launch was a huge dash against Sony in the press, led by MS's "We were here FIRST" campaign when the rush to be first is what got MS in the RROD issue in the first place. We all know now that if you put the consoles side by side year wise, PS3 beat it handidly. A blatent fuck up would b how Sony handled the hacking, yet I am a firm conspiracy theorist who thinks MS might have bn behind that lol :P

Correcto

I just want to ask something because I've always used VGChartz as a reference for sales but have never always agreed with them. Do VGChartz numbers get adjusted in accordance with official shipped numbers, NPD or Media Create? If so, what do they use to adjust the European numbers by? I know that NIntendo use a particular company in Europe but I can't remember their name. I ask this because I'm constantly telling people that this is what VGChartz do and it's why -- although they can be out a lot 'during' the month -- they tend to be reasonably accurate every month, if you can see what I mean. Am I right?

"Sony was opperating under the idea that if you give "them" more they will see the value. This is not the case tho...at least in the US."

At least not in the US? The 360 isn't exactly doing horrible in Europe. Japan primarily went with PS3 because it has exclusives that appeal to them (JRPGs).

The common consumer just wants a reasonably priced piece of hardware that plays games (offline games in particular). You talk about hidden costs and I presume you're referring to Xbox Live Gold. Bear in mind a large percentage of the market doesn't even connect their console(s) to the internet and an even smaller number actually cares about online gaming. So for most of the market online gaming is a non-factor.

You can't blame DVDs for holding Bluray back. You should blame Sony for not releasing a single game that showed why Bluray was essential for their platform. I think MS may actually use Bluray next gen simply because the technology is cheap now. If they don't it doesn't really matter. Bluray players are going for as little as $50 now.

Piracy is to blame for movie sales being down. I imagine rental machines are having a huge impact as well. Staying at home and watching dirt cheap streaming services may also be having an impact as well. Sony bet on Bluray with no consideration of what was coming in just a few years.

Many 360 users eventually became savvy about the old consoles being garbage. But MS spent over a billion dollars repairing consoles. In fact, the replacement was so appealing I recall people wishing their console would break. The Xbox S units don't seem to have any real issues. So are you still gonna dwell on that because I think MS already made good on it.

You keep talking value, but at this point I think its clear consumers don't mind paying more if its over a prolonged period of time. Which is why MS created the $99* Xbox 360 plan. Which I presume many are gonna take advantage of next gen.