While these and other games may be part of the problem, there main reason Sony struggled was due to the one year delay to get blu-ray included. That delay when combined with the expensive start price gave Sony a lot of trouble. If they had released about the same time as the Xbox 360 I think they would have had a much stronger position from the start, even with the same pricepoint.
On the other side, without Blu-Ray in the PS3 then Blu-ray would have lost the HD war. And Blu-ray I believe is playing a big part in Sony's comeback atm, since it adds quite a bit of extra value now. With Blu-Ray established and going mainstream it suddenly makes the PS3 a great game and movie machine for the less hardcore customers out there, which is who Sony and Microsoft are trying to reach (the 'hardcore gamers' market already being quite satured)