Look, most major companies 'cheat' from a certain point of view. Sony have, MS have, etc.
Do I like the idea of companies winning advantage with money rather than superior products/services? No, because there is plenty of evidence the final result isn't so good for the consumer - whether Sony do it or MS do it.
But its business and the truth is the fairest player rarely wins. Personally I wish MS had to recall 360, not because I've anything against MS from a fanboy perspective, simply because I believe the strong sales of a poor product (from a reliability point of view) is a bad precedence for consumers. But gamers of course aren't too fussy about the actual built quality of something so long as it plays games they want and they can get it fixed under warranty.
On the other hand MS has delivered great games and Live is a very good service via 360 and have sunk money into extended warranty, etc. The shame is, IMO, that the original Xbox was a very good console and I was disappointed by the cheap feel of 360 and its terrible reliability - but of course that means nothing versus market perception, getting to market first, etc. as the better sales of 360 over Xbox show.
On the other hand Sony made life difficult for themselves with the specification and cost of the PS3. And that's their own issue. I personally find the PS3 good value because I wanted WiFi, HD content (via BR), etc. But for many the PS3 was too things in one (and games console and a BR player) when they only wanted to buy one of the two (a games console). Sony have also been arrogant and figured they would 'win' just because they were Sony. In short, to a certain extent they were asking for it. They've also fumbled major game releases and been very slow to react.
I could cry over the fate of LBP at the moment. It's the best game this year by miles (and yes I'm playing Gears 2, Fallout 3, etc at the moment but they all pale next to LBP. Yet the decision to delay LBP launch, to create a perception it had 'dodgy' content and 'insulted Islam' was just insane IMHO. For the record the nearest game to LBP for me is actually Fable 2, in terms of innovation and pure fun - but this is a story for another thread...
I'd like to live in a fair world with fair trading... but that's so far off I don't lose sleep over it. And truth be told the problem is more the consumer rather than the company.
We support unfair trading when we buy a Sony console when they pay for FF, or buy a 360 when the damn thing wasn't working properly and should have been re-designed, or when we flock to buggy products due to hype then grumble afterward.
We can chose to withhold our money any time we want... but we rarely do and we get our just deserts with companies taking every advantage they think the market will absorb - and its clear already gamers are willing to take a lot more crap that other consumers so long as they get the games... so buggy releases, high failure rates, expensive peripherals, money-hatting, etc. are likely to be here to stay.
But don't mind me, I'm just bitter because I do withhold purchase where I think I should but the rest of the market lets me down :(
Oh well, back to LBP...
Try to be reasonable... its easier than you think...
