Hey guys,

first of all: This is not a troll thread. I do not want to troll, but there are just a few things going on I just don't get.

So after countless years of development time, 2 of the best selling IPs in this industry are releasing this month. Final Fantasy XIII and God of War 3 are two highly anticipated games. Those are the 2 of the very rare big system sellers that are left for this generation. There was no GoW sequel nor a true FF sequel.

MS surprised everyone at E3 2008 when they told the public that FF XIII will be released on the Xbox 360. 2 years later in 2010 MS secured an exclsusive bundle and exclusive ads.

Sure FF XIII will sell better on PS3 anyway, but MS did a great job so FF XIII will move Xbox 360 systems and software as well.

According to NPD, Sony had some problems with shortages in the US last month. Seriously, with the release of Heavy Rain, MLB the Show, God of War 3 and Final Fantasy, this is the worst time to have shortages. I can't believe Sony let that happen. They developed GoW 3 for something like 3 years or even longer and they simply failed to have PS3s in stock.

MS on the other hand secured the FFXIII bundle,

had some ads running in the US and UK,

http://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=7253

and MS will release a new official bundle with two great selling games:

in the same month the big game(s) releases.

I think Sony has a marketing problem. A big one. Marketing is not just limited to commercials or public relations in general. The distribution-aspect is terrible. I can understand that the Wii has some shortages after selling 4 million last holiday season. And this is a very quiet time of the year for the Wii, since they don't have this blockbusters coming out this month. Sony had a good holiday season, but nowhere near Nintendo. And this is not the first time that the PS3 sees some shortages, but this time, they won the bad-timing award.

Sony never expected the massive success of the PS3 slim. I think they really undershot themselves. You're definitely right about that.

Sony never expected the massive success of the PS3 slim. I think they really undershot themselves. You're definitely right about that.

The Slim is 6 months on the market right now. They should have seen this coming in November. More than enough time to get PS3s made.

Had there been more pS3s in stock we might of seen it even top 360 in NA.

That being said, the ffxiii bundle is not really sony's fault. Microsoft needed this. They've been behind in the games department for almost 2 years now, Says who? Xbox 360 sold more software than PS3 since ot was released. best selling exlusive game 2007: Halo 3, 2008: Gears of War 2, 2009: Halo ODST (obviosly not counting wii)if they are continually dominated by sony for quality titles, the 360 will just become irrelevant. They absolutely needed to secure ff13. They most certainly paid huge for it and it looks like it paid off. MS said they did not pay for it and SE said so, too. They probably paid for the bundle, but not in a huge way.

Sony on the other hand, has a very good relationship with Square-Enix. They knew the game was primarily for ps3 and the quality/sales prove it. It would not be a good business move for sony to interfear with SE and MS on this. MS needed this to put another checkmark on their console resume and SE needed it to broaden the audience. Sony knows they dont own NA, that's a fact. Securing exclusivity in Japan was the only thing they needed to do. (it's actually all of asia and some europe now though isnt it?)

As for bundles, Sony has had bundles, remember? KZ2/Infamous/LBP/Batman AA was the one I bought. This is not something microsoft only does.

Black friday deal? I think they should have a bundle available and in stock right now.

MS just doesn't have any games to be really proud about till the later half of the year with Halo Reach and Alan wake.Alan Wake, Mass Effect 2 and Splinter Cell Conviction will release in the first half. Crackdown2 in June. I think without FF13 the 360 would be all but forgotten this half of the year. I know ME2 was a massive success, and the game is fantastic. I love evey minute of it, but it is already dropping off very fast. It's just not enough. After 2 solid years of nothing but hit after hit after hit and simply walking all over the competition in terms of quality Sony is taking a break. let them get the new shipments ready, let GOW3 break 1.5m-1.8m first week, console sales for 2 weeks will be over a million, no way. sony will be right back on ball. Keep the fact that they have had shortages and sales will be very high and interest will be spiked, they can sell more games. 

And you're right, the holiday was not as good as nintendos.. but it was the highest ever recorded for a HD console. Sony is not competing with Nintendo, they might as well not even be in the same market. 

With the PS Move they are getting highly criticized for showing it in pre-alpha/alpha. this isnt out for about 3/4ths a year people! GDC was for developers. Most of these games will no even ship. 

Sony never expected the massive success of the PS3 slim. I think they really undershot themselves. You're definitely right about that.

The Slim is 6 months on the market right now. They should have seen this coming in November. More than enough time to get PS3s made.

Had there been more pS3s in stock we might of seen it even top 360 in NA.

That being said, the ffxiii bundle is not really sony's fault. Microsoft needed this. They've been behind in the games department for almost 2 years now, Says who? Xbox 360 sold more software than PS3 since ot was released. best selling exlusive game 2007: Halo 3, 2008: Gears of War 2, 2009: Halo ODST (obviosly not counting wii)if they are continually dominated by sony for quality titles, the 360 will just become irrelevant. They absolutely needed to secure ff13. They most certainly paid huge for it and it looks like it paid off. MS said they did not pay for it and SE said so, too. They probably paid for the bundle, but not in a huge way.

Sony on the other hand, has a very good relationship with Square-Enix. They knew the game was primarily for ps3 and the quality/sales prove it. It would not be a good business move for sony to interfear with SE and MS on this. MS needed this to put another checkmark on their console resume and SE needed it to broaden the audience. Sony knows they dont own NA, that's a fact. Securing exclusivity in Japan was the only thing they needed to do. (it's actually all of asia and some europe now though isnt it?)

As for bundles, Sony has had bundles, remember? KZ2/Infamous/LBP/Batman AA was the one I bought. This is not something microsoft only does.

Black friday deal? I think they should have a bundle available and in stock right now.

MS just doesn't have any games to be really proud about till the later half of the year with Halo Reach and Alan wake.Alan Wake, Mass Effect 2 and Splinter Cell Conviction will release in the first half. Crackdown2 in June. I think without FF13 the 360 would be all but forgotten this half of the year. I know ME2 was a massive success, and the game is fantastic. I love evey minute of it, but it is already dropping off very fast. It's just not enough. After 2 solid years of nothing but hit after hit after hit and simply walking all over the competition in terms of quality Sony is taking a break. let them get the new shipments ready, let GOW3 break 1.5m-1.8m first week, console sales for 2 weeks will be over a million, no way. sony will be right back on ball. Keep the fact that they have had shortages and sales will be very high and interest will be spiked, they can sell more games. 

And you're right, the holiday was not as good as nintendos.. but it was the highest ever recorded for a HD console. Sony is not competing with Nintendo, they might as well not even be in the same market. 

With the PS Move they are getting highly criticized for showing it in pre-alpha/alpha. this isnt out for about 3/4ths a year people! GDC was for developers. Most of these games will no even ship.