Sony Playstation 3

The past holiday season was not the best year Sony's Playstation unit has ever seen. December sales of its PS3 console were just 797,600 units in the US, despite price cuts and the introduction of a $399 40 GB version. First party titles for the PS3 failed to generate the kinds of sales Nintendo's did for Super Mario Galaxy or Microsoft did with Halo 3 and Mass Effect. However, there are still signs of life for the console. January 2008 saw everyone's console sales dip massively but the PS3 didn't dip nearly as much as the Xbox 360 and the Wii. Indeed the PS3 came in a very close second to the Wii as it sold 269,000 units in the US last month.

Some pundits are already saying this represents a comeback for the PS3. We wouldn't go that far just yet but it does show that Sony's console can be helped if supplies of the Wii and the Xbox 360 are lacking. However, Sony isn't out of the woods just yet. For the most part their console is still the most expensive to pay for (thanks in part to that Blu-Ray disk player) and as we mentioned first part support for their games hasn't been embraced by gamers.

Things could change this fall, however, if Sony keeps its schedule and releases two major hardcore games and one other title that could be the casual game that could compete with the Wii's line-up. Resistance 2 and Killzone 2 are looking pretty sweet and with no real counter from Microsoft or Nintendo those two games could get the Halo 3-Call of Duty 4 crowd excited. LittleBigPlanet's user created content could be massive for the PS3 as well. Oh, and there's even a huge third party exclusive title, Metal Gear Solid 4, that should be out by the end of June (fingers crossed).

However, it will take more than a good game line-up to get people interested in buying the PS3. We think that these ideas could improve their chances: