NA Up

[Dodece]

The term is quagmire. Any Sony supporter trying to spin this straw breaking the camels back will find themselves waste deep in a morass with no logical escape. Unlike previous points in this generation for both consoles there is nothing firm to latch onto. I have a hard time recollecting any time where either console had no saving grace in the depths of a dark moment. Sony is losing in two regions, and tying in the smallest third market. The hardware moving software has effectively flopped. The future library prospects are dim. Even the pricing has never been more lopsided. All of this with a weak economy choking off prospects.

Earlier this year without hesitation I said the PS3 had the strongest lineup. This was truly a soft year for Microsoft and Nintendo in regards to lineup. The software delays on the PS3 were actually going to result in a heavy hitting lineup for the console. Sony was outperforming Microsoft in two markets, and was making up some ground in the third. Then almost as a gift Microsoft had supply issues. Which gave Sony a free hand. Microsoft couldn't even capitalize on a price cut had they delivered one.

Despite all the bitching and moaning over the past few weeks. Sony started the year out with a nearly perfect scenario. This was the year to get it done if it was going to get done. Now it is looking as if Sony couldn't even do that, and Sony was not going to win this holiday season even if the economy hadn't gone into recession the price point would have still pulled Microsoft up. Just perhaps not in so pronounced a manner.

Now looking forward into the future, and this is what this entire post is about I see something that is being overlooked. Microsoft and Nintendo will have resurgent libraries next year while Sony will be running on rebuild as Microsoft and Nintendo were this year. The pendulum is swinging hard away from Sony. Now they have the weaker upcoming library, they have no momentum, they have moved out of pricing position, and now it looks as if loss leading will be curtailed by external economic pressure.

Some say Sony is getting reamed now. What happens early next year when Microsoft is reloaded, and Sony is drawing empty. What happens when Sony draws Killzone 2, but Microsoft draws Star Ocean 4, Alan Wake, and the first Grand Theft Auto 4 expansion in the same time frame. There is a term for that its called a blood letting. For every major game that Sony delivers Microsoft is shaping up to have three or more. Worse Microsoft can probably avoid dry spells while Sony will most certainly have them. That means Microsoft will be the one using major game releases to inflate weekly sales.

This was the year for Sony to do it, and a price cut early next year is not going to do much for them not when they still cannot match Microsoft, or even come close to putting up a fair fight against Microsoft's lineup. Someone show me the bright spot, because frankly I am not seeing one.