It wasn't just "swept under the rug". It cost them a lot, and hurt the Xbox brand. Not to mention, many people switched to the PS3 after their Xbox got the RROD. I know so many people who purchased a PS3 because their Xbox got RROD and were very angry with Microsoft. 

I never said the PS brand was weaker than Xbox, I said its much weaker than it was 7 years ago. If we are comparing it to Xbox, then I would say that the PS brand is still bigger. 

Jazz2K said:
I don't know... like some already said, it doesn't matter much at this point but Sony fans that believed hard about this for years will at last see their wet dream come true, good thing if it helps them sleep better.

To me it's a surprise it took this long. If you analyse correctly, Sony has been hit hard this gen. Being number two doesn't change a thing when next gen comes. Look where they were last gen. They completely dominated both Ninty and MS but this gen...

Their hardware featured way more that the competition.  Which caused it to be $200 more than its closest competition.
They had free internet multiplayer access. This service was nowhere near the point of competing with Live at launch.
They had Blue Ray.  Which also caused it to be $200 more than the 360.
They made a lot of incredible exclusives. For the first 1 1/2-2 years the SW support was not very good, at all.
They started with the biggest brand in video gaming. This is really the only thing they had going for them.

Their big competitor (360) didn't have it easy at all.

RROD that tarnished 360's image for at least 3 years which, deny it all you like, resulted in people not buying 360 because of this. This was mostly ignored by the American gamers, as evidenced by the fact sales were fine even after RROD was officially acknowledged.
Sold next to nothing in Japan. Proof is that if you remove 360's Japanese sells, it's still number two right now.  They'd be pretty damn close if you did take away Japan.  But Japan is their biggest weakness.
Didn't have as much flamboyant exclusives as Sony.  Have no idea what this means.  But 360 did have a Halo, its most popular franchise, within 2 years of its launch, while PS3 didn't get GT till 4 years after launch.
You had to pay to play online.  And considering how much better that service used to be when compared to PSN, people thought it was worth it.
Didn't have a blueray player.  No one knew if Blu-ray would even win the format war, so this isn't exactly a plus to its launch.
Didn't have a wireless router.  This was a negative, but I doubt it was the HUGE deciding factor for anyone.

So yeah, in the end, they were hit pretty bad, they had everything to beat the competition but failed to. Next gen will be interresting.

Regarding milestones, it's as simple as expectations. Like.. 70 million shipped. Which is more reason to celebrate, a MS console whose predecessor sold less than 25 million and was not expected to fare much better than that itself, or the Sony console, when both of its predecessors not only hit 70 million in sales but did so in dominant fashion? The answer is obvious. It's actual cause for congrats in one case and kind of a "yeah.. yay" emotionless clap in the other. Do you like football? Lets put it in NFL terms. MS is the Indianapolis Colts in this scenario. Last season they only won 2 games, got dominated from the competition, checked out of the season early, but drafted before anyone else and used that momentum to spring into an amazingly successful season. You could say Sony are the New York football Giants. They were the defending champs, started off slow, had a great midseason run, but then faltered a bit at the end. They went out with a huge 42-7 bang but ultimately no one cares because they missed the playoffs. Or you could say they are the New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, Atlanta Falcons. So much hype and such good seasons and team pedigree, that nothing short of a Super Bowl win is a success. A team like the Colts deserve praise and congrats for making the playoffs. Other teams, it should be automatic.

You don't see as much praise or congrats for Sony because they have been here before and no one is surprised.

sarcasm/this

OT: it may not matter to many on the sur.......you know what!! i'm tierd of seeing these threads, and the ones asking why it matters.

simply put, it will likely happen, and it matters to someone, so vgc members, plz stop mking these threads. it's old and redundant

Fanboism aside: i have no idea what you are refurring to.

Likely happen when?  When Xbox has moved on and is pounding them with nextgen?  I see in your signature that you have Sony leading Xbox by 800k-1.2million by the end of 2012?    Honestly...do you really understand what kind of numbers Sony has to put up in order to catch up the 3 million they're behind now?  There are MANY 100k weeks coming for both consoles in the next year...I fail to see why people think that 360 is just going to stop selling completely while Sony keeps selling tons?  

do you understand that, that is the current gap for wht the 2 consoles have sold this yr. also refured to as yr. to date, and not the current ww gap for total units over the past 6-7 yr.'s? you're reading to hard buddy. 

likely doesn't mean it will, and neither one of us knows how Sony or MS consoles are going to perform, so don't assume one will pound the other until nextt gen is in full swing.

i don't know why people would assume 360 would stop selling over the next yr. either. again that's the kind of topic i avoid.

The sony AAA's next year rock...I see like 6 i'm snapping up myself....but a ton of those releases are coming out in dead weeks...weeks where people just don't buy consoles.

that's not my argument. no response

Seriously...do the math...Sony is currently behind AT LEAST THREE MILLION.   They lost ANOTHER Christmas(and by a ton), have lost every week for the last 2-3 months and yet you think they're going to some how make up 3 million in the next year?  I don't get how you can see that even on the most pro-Sony of projections.

seriously, i don't give 2 shits about any of that. the ww gap is not 3m but is when (just shy of a few k) rounded up. again, we are not talking about the same thing buddy. i'm talking about yr. ending 2012 in my sig, and not 2013, or total sales worldwide. 

before this holiday season started, the PS3 was 1.6m units ahead of the 360. and now it's just over 1.2m, and that is whats reflected in my sig. everybody else new what i was talking about. all you had to do was ask, and not assume

Xbox would literally have to stop selling completely in order for the PS3 to over take it in 2013.   Worldwide I am assuming as Europe is just weird.

now see, that lets me know you have no idea what my posting history is. in this sentence you've repeated what i've been saying over the past 2 yr's. 

The only reason I see PS3 passing 360 at all is the fact that Sony seems bent on trying to push 10 year lifetimes on all their consoles still.  Those days are ending for console methinks...

maybe

Lets face it...not that it even matters(as the author stated quite well) but Sony may NEVER pass the 360 my friend...not even with Sony flogging them for 10 years.   Don't EVER forget that a bunch of those sales are to people who use them as bluray players 100 times more than they use them as consoles.  The next MS console is going to have bluray in it which is going to take a compelling reason for A LOT of people to own a PS(x) console.

doesn't matter how you use a product you buy. that's a stupid argument by the way. we have no idea how many of those PS3's have been sold to gamers over being sold as blu-ray players. that's not my kind of argument, as it involves to much speculation.

some people care whether one outsells the other, but let me be perfectly clear. I DON'T!!!! blu-ray has yet to be confirmed for nextbox, and Sony will make money on next box if it does. now you want to talk about win win for Sony!

i like having my console somewht supported for 10 yr.'s. i won't purchase any 8th gen. console until price cuts and 5 yr.'s in. i'm not an early adopter.

Lastly and disconnected from the conversation: Ever wonder if there would even be a PS3 now if MS had gone blueray in the first place?  Things that make you go hmmm.

doesn't make me go hmmmm.