Well I would have voted for EA (yes despite Godfather-Wii) so I guess I'm not too far out of the mainstream. My only problem is I think you either have to poll only the hardware makers or specify the vote is only on their software development. I understand that Sony has caused a good deal of anger with its hardware division but I don't think their software side is much to be angry at. I don't care for the kinds of games they mostly make but that doesn't mean I hate them.Â
All three companies have reason to be hated over their hardware. The Wii of course is lacking in the horsepower department while the 360 has over priced add-ons and high failure rates. Why Sony managed to attract all the hate is an interesting lesson for future business students I think. People will put up with lies, shoddy products, and delays. What they won't put up with is an exhorbitant price even if it is theoretically justified. Sony's problem is that they gave gamers a lot of reasons to hate them but no reason to actually do it (in other words they doused lots of gasoline around just never provided a match, until recently). Remember the PS2 would push 75 million polygons and have "Toy Story" graphics, the PSP was supposed to do 30 million polygons, when they in fact do 6 million and 3 million respectively.Â
The PS3 was supposed to have an 8core 3.5GHz CPU, 550/700 MHz GPU, more USB/HDMI/DVI/ETC. ports that you could shake your fist at, and be less than $500. The performance reductions to an effective 6 core 3.2GHz CPU, 500/650 MHz GPU, and reduction in the number of USB and HDMI ports would have been forgiven like they were with the PS1/2/P if the system was $400-450.  However $600, even if its a good deal, is not cheap by any stretch. Suddenly Sony threw a match to gamers who started remembering what Sony had promised versus what they delivered, remembered the awesome graphics displayed at E3 05 and the not as awesome graphics on display now, remembered that Sony repeatedly said the system would not be unduly expensive (I recall reading on IGN a few days before E3 06 the Europe Sony head said the PS3 would be $600, the next day Sony said he meant $600 was a great price but it wasn't going to be more than $500, followed a few days later with the E3 announcement of $600). $600 is a major problem for the PS3, and is ridiculously high as the stunned Sony fanboy silence at the E3 06 announcement showed.