Yeah, the comment saying Sony paid for it obviously shows a complete lack of understanding of the New York Times. Though there have been mistakes (Jayson Blair's false stories being #1 on that list), the Times is one of the last bastions of integrity in media.
As for the effect, though, it's probably going to be rather small. I may love the Times, but very few people that read the paper are the types to buy video game systems. It's a great place for news and high arts and film reviews, but otherwise it's pretty culturally out of touch and stodgy (it once called Avril Lavigne the next face of punk rock), and is somewhat known for that. I doubt the article made much of a difference to Sony, nor will it make much of a difference to console sales as a whole.
My consoles and the fates they suffered:
Atari 7800 (Sold), Intellivision (Thrown out), Gameboy (Lost), Super Nintendo (Stolen), Super Nintendo (2nd copy) (Thrown out by mother), Nintendo 64 (Still own), Super Nintendo (3rd copy) (Still own), Wii (Sold)
A more detailed history appears on my profile.
