I think Sony's doing too lousy with the PS3 to afford to keep concentrating on the PS2 too much. Launching heavy advertising campaigns and such will be too costly, both money- and timewise, considering the state the PS3 is in right now. They need their time and money to get their new generation going, that's gonna take enough as it is. Profits generated off the PS2 will be a nice benefit so long as they last and might make up for some of the money they're losing with the PS3, but "relaunching" the thing won't be profitable for them as a company, I think. The way I see it, PS2's on its way to become for Sony what the GameBoy Micro was for Nintendo towards the end of the GBA's lifetime. Just my 2 cents.

What Sony needs is to convince the mass public that they NEED the PS3...and they haven't nor really can at this point....

We all know how stupid Sony's PR can be at times...it seems like more and more of them are just hired because they can be energetic, yet they can be eccentric at times. The duty of the PR is to use the power of rhetoric in order to convince people to follow you. If you can convince the masses that what you want is what they want, what you need is what they need, then you can convince them to do anything. Sony needs to convince people that not only should they want a PS3, but need a PS3 and that isn't happening.

One issue as to why I feel this is happening is the way they talk about their competition. Yes, they should brag about their own company...that just makes sense...but disrespecting the competition to almost outright lying about them weakens your persuasive argument. If Sony just says "hey, I respect what these guys are doing and how well they are, BUT I believe our company will do okay and even better and here is how..." and then provide TRUE facts, it would work!

But anyways back to my point, I just believe Sony hasn't been able to convince the masses that they should buy the PS3. Things are just so different nowadays......

When the PS1 came along, people felt that they need to buy their console. Why? Because it used CD's...something that hasn't been used effectively at the time. But, the system was relatively cheap (compared to the Commodore 64 I believe, which also used CD's...but I could be mistakened) and all you needed was some CD's and you can play games AND music.

When the PS2 came, people felt they needed it. Why? Because it used DVD's, so you can play games AND movies....all you needed was an SDTV (duh everyone had one of these), DVD movies, and just regular games and Ta-da! Instant fun.

When the PS3 came....not many felt they needed it. Why is that? Why is it sooo different this time? Well, you need an HDTV, which comes in between $700 to $2500. Then you need the system itself, which is between $400 to $500 now (before it was $500 to $600) and then the Blu-Ray movies, then the HDMI cables....it just seems too expensive of a "gimmick" (remember, a gimmick is not a bad thing...its something to hook customers into getting your product) to afford.

Both the PS1 and the PS2 had the gimmicks - both CD's and DVDs - that people felt was a must and therefore hooked people into getting the system. The gimmicks were revolutionary at the time and everybody wanted in at the time. However, Blu-ray for the PS3 is not the same. Instead of a leap like the DVD, most people feel its just a step forward...and with the costs and the struggling economy, its just not a step most average, everyday citizen of this world are willing to take. I have watched a Blu-Ray movie and a DVD movie...and yes I agree there is a big difference. But is it worth it? I looks so far that most people are just waiting till they are forced to take the step, or when all HDTV's are heck of a lot cheaper.

Right now the Wii has the gimmick that all people feel the must have. While it does has its faults, the Wii is making the leaping, revolutionary gimmick Sony use to have made with the PS1 and PS2. Though I believe Sony system is well made, I believe it will become the N64 of this generation; the successor of a great system, with excellent, landmark games that we will forever remember, but just couldn't keep up with the system everybody fell in love with.

 True, whole post pretty much true...though you don't need an HDTV for the PS3...though I guess you meant for the Blu-ray gimmick to work. Anyway, you're right, they'll have to be forced to buy HDTVs. Which would be really bad if something like that happened...but correct me if I'm wrong, but in America we're switching to fully digital instead of analog in 2009. For people's SDTVs to work, they're going to have to buy converter boxes. And not a lot of people know about this, which will probably in the end force a good chunk of people to go out and buy HDTVs....

 Not the nicest thing in the world, but this is really America's stupid decision. A lot of people don't really know about converter boxes and are going to be alienated into buying HDTVs when they are forced to subscribe to a digital provider.

It seems like Sony just woke up from a hangover or something. Everything about Ps3 thus far has been late compared to their competitors

"Oh, you got different sku's...we will have different sku's. Wait hers some other sku's, we don't like old ones"

"Oh, you have a motion controller, we will add something last minute to our controller. Don't worry, rumble feature is coming"

"Oh, you have an online network, no problem...here is one we made in 10 minutes and we will upgrade it as we go along"

I really don't see them pulling something magical out of a hat at this point that will persuade 40 million people to buy their console.

I think they need more focus on the psp. software is horrendous.

don't forget those who buy & mod them. (usually) zero new game sales

All Sony needs to do is cut the PS3 price to $299/299EUR. Remember, $299 is, in inflation-adjusted terms, the equivalent of $199 in 2000 dollars, i.e. the price-point where the PS3 becomes mass consumer item.

It has the Beast of BluRay, it has astounding games and leading franchises, and it has a free online service which is just hitting its stride.

well, after buying Wii, i'm totally bored of Ps2, so i think people will simply buy wii after ps2 is over (very soon)

They don't need to target them but definitely should if they plan on discontinuing ps2 any time soon. It'll be nice to have all those guys come to the ps3.

Do PS2's have serial numbers or something? Too lazy to check mine. Maybe a discount to people who can prove they have a PS2?

Return of backwords compatability right before all the PS2's self destruct... well the ones that haven't already.

(Heh never did i expect to see a system with worse hardware problems... let alone in the very next gen.)

Or maybe he's being really literal... and he has a super secret weapon that can lock on to PS2's and PS3's and they will threaten the destruction of anyone with a PS2 who doesn't have a PS3 in the same household.

Hm.  Or maybe a commercial where they take the most popular PS2 games and then show them transition and compare them to their PS3 sequels hoping the "wow that looks way better" effect blows people away.