Not surpised by these developments. Sony's needed a reboot for a number of years.

So they can blame all the losses on VAIO and Walkman, the way Microsoft can blame their XBox losses on the Zune, because they share the "games and devices" division.  That's the only reason I can think of anyway.

It is really weird considering one is basically all software and the others are all hardware.  Spookier news than I expected this soon.

I think it will still get worse though.

I think you're seeing it wrong. Sony is axing all over the place, they definitely won't save Vaio and Walkman to make PlayStation look good. No way.

So this merger will have a very big impact on their gaming strategy. They merge gaming with laptops and Walkman and call it "Networked Products" implying that the network itself will be the key strategy, not the console.

Sony will likely want to create the iTunes for games and it looks like movies. Which is a daring plan, but if it works out it's massive.

To achieve this however I think PS4 will have to focus more on multimedia than gaming and has to reach the mass audience. So low price.

Japanese Old Guard stepping down. Good.

I hate the idea of them putting the PS3 in with Vaio it will not make for a good combo, IMO. I HATE Vaio laptops and think this will end up doing more harm than good for Sony overall.

Official information from Sony:

"The changes, effective April 1, 2009, will fundamentally reorganize the company’s electronics and game businesses to improve profitability and strengthen competitiveness in the midst of the continued global economic crisis."

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/200902/09-028E/09-028E.pdf

PS3 laptop/PC with a free MP3 player confirmed!(I have a feeling they will jump to MP3 players.(or maybe start selling the PSP as an MP3 player?)

@RV, That is a matter of opion, some say the 360 has a better GPU and the CPU is "pritty much the same as the 360" this is from the man who created them both. The only thing that is higher on a PS3 is the price. But to be honest I was really taking about the rest of Sony's range, from TV to Laptops and MP3 players there is a better model from some one else in all areas. This was not the case 5 or 10 years ago, Sony had most areas to them selves. Apple, Panasonice, MS, Canon etc are the reasons why Sony is indecline and the future really does look bad for them as a company, maybe they will sell areas of and keep the ones where they can get back to being top dog.

This move won't affect this generation

@NJ5

thats statement means PS4 will be drastically a different Playsyation Platform.....

n PSP 2 as well.....the new changes will be made now n will affect nex-gen

hopefully things work out well

This is good for Sony.

The result won't be visible until a year goes by at least, the bigger the ship the longer it takes to turn.