Sony Misfortune & Mishap

This is an opinion editorial

Nearly a year after the PlayStation 3 launch, one must consider what exactly Sony has to show for its efforts. Once touted as the “Mercedes” of all gaming consoles and publicized globally by Sony’s Marketing and Public Relations minions as a replacement for the modern day computer as we know it, the consumer has yet to see such rhetoric manifest into actual reality. Sony may be the “Mercedes” of the console industry but to date, they have demonstrated indubitably that the clutch has slipped and the Benz cannot shift out of second. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the 360 has taken flight.
 
When publishing any editorial which is pertinent to Sony related blunders, the list is far too expansive to fully elaborate and cite with specificity all of the broken promises and outright lies. The same can be said for Microsoft but that editorial is for another day and time. From Ken Kutaragi stating emphatically that PS3 games will run at 120FPS (which may be possible but we have yet to see such), to the legendary David Reeves “the first five million are going to buy it, whatever it is, even if it didn't have games” gem. Well Dave, you don’t have any games and people are not buying your system. Since its announcement and unveiling, Sony has really screwed the pooch two ways into Thursday.

We could speak of what initial specs Sony provided to the public such as 2 HDMI (1) and 3 Ethernet outputs (1) but at this particular juncture, it is inconsequential and not relevant to Sony’s current standing. However, Sony has done much worse following the release of the PS3.


Let us take a trip once again down memory lane circa 2005 to Barnum and Bailey’s main competitor of the time, E3. Ah yes, the Killzone 2 trailer. Tents were pitched in unison as the CG was played before all the attendee’s eyes. Blogs popped up like acne on Edward James Olmos’s face praising the PS3 in all of its awe inspiring glory. Blind Sony loyalist broke out the Don P. and began a preemptive celebration of another console war victory. Shortly thereafter reality struck them like Ike did Tina and for the most part these misguided souls drank hot Chata for the next few months. Others attempted to justify Sony which is nothing short of preposterous and pathetic. Deceiving the gaming public, en mass, by implying the E3 05 Killzone demo was “real time” couldn’t be a more conniving and deceptive ploy to further the PS3 propaganda machine but boy did it work! True High-Def anyone?

More recently, a Sony bottom feeder was caught red handed editing the Wikipedia Halo 3 page. For the love of everything good and mighty, if Sony were to stoop any lower their nasal cavity would be firmly embedded in Matt Roloff’s …….. Never mind. They are not the only ones who have done such. Major corporations and business have been busted doing the same thing but at the very least these people created additional content formulated in a professional and credible manner. Sony on the other hand stated, “It won’t look any better than Halo 2”. It’s apparent this incompetent Sony lackey wasn’t gunning for a Pulitzer nor was he/she a very articulate person. To boot, Halo 3 looks tremendously “better” than Halo 2 … for the most part.


Let’s face facts. Sony screwed up in more ways than one but Microsoft is far from blemish free. Now I am not one to be obstinate, and to single out Sony would be nothing more than prejudiced. If we are to face facts let’s be realists, Microsoft screwed up as well. Their console was rushed into production which beget a tawdry product which beget the omnipresent red rings hardware failures. It wasn’t until a few months after the 360 launch when many recognized something was awry. A pattern began to form and questions were being asked. For months Microsoft was evasive when questioned about the prevalence of the 360 Red Rings. When asked direct, closed ended questions, Pete Moore and the gang used vague language and ambiguous terms effectively deflecting the questions altogether. It took Gates and Co. nearly a year to come clean and admit culpability. The problem should have never escalated or progressed as far as it did before action was taken. Consequently, many 360 owners were vexed and for good reason. They were paying for repairs out of warranty, shipping costs, and I will refrain from opening the can of worms which is the turn around time. This was by far the biggest Microsoft blunder as far as it concerns the 360 and their status quo profitless gaming division with the exception of the Halo 3 success. However, the news of refurbished and repaired units being returned just to suffer from another hardware failure days or months upon receiving the console is gaining steam. If Microsoft continues with their reckless and negligent practices they risk alienating a substantial portion of their consumer base. If Sony had all their ducks in a row and established a competitive gaming line-up present day, it would not be a stretch to assume the 360 would be sitting in third place.