With Sony's market cap shrinking to US $45b, while Samsung's is still at the US$145b mark, and the scandals that Sony endured with the exploding batteries and the PS3 delays, Sony nevertheless had an excellent 2006 when it came to games consoles. They sold more than anyone else!

Sony have just put out a statement claiming to have shipped 1m games consoles to the US in 2006. Apparently they actually only managed this by the first week of 2007. They even had to use special airlifts to get the stock onto US store shelves.

Whenever a new, next-generation technology is scheduled, you can always rely on it to be late. Especially if you are aiming at the holiday season. But Sony can afford to take a little extra time. Aside from the removal of 'rumble' technology, the PS3 is the most advanced games console on the market. Yes, Gears of War is a better game than Renaissance: Fall of Man. But that's not comparing apples with apples - Gears of War is a second generation next-gen game. All of Sony's titles are first-generation next-gen titles. Once the next batch of Sony games arrives we are sure to see some true innovations and advancements - ones that Microsoft cannot deliver as it has no motion sensing technology, which has so wowed Nintendo Wii owners.

Of course, Microsoft has taken full advantage of its competitors delays. Gears of War has sold 2.7m copies, Microsoft have shipped 10.4 million consoles, beating their estimate for 2006 by 500,000 units, and have the largest library of next-generation games.

But it really can't be forgotten that the PS2 outsold the Xbox 360, the PS3 and the Wii put together. Sony made plenty of money this holiday season, with both hardcore and casual games to suit all ages.

Playfuls.com is also outraged that all of Sony’s shipment predictions were woefully wrong, as were timelines for delivery. But if you judge the PS3 against Vista, the PS3s performance was much better.

Let’s not forget that the PS3 is an integral part of Sony’s connected home strategy. Yes, they allowed Bill Gates to briefly showcase their white ‘hat box’ circular shaped Vista Media Center during his CES Keynote. Or perhaps Microsoft allowed Sony’s box to be there. But whatever the truth of that situation, Sony are a very important partner to Microsoft while they remain major competitors. There are plenty of Sony Vaio notebooks out there, after all.

But it’s the PS3 that Sony has its hopes on for the connected home strategy, in addition to a broadband connection launched for Sony’s Bravia LCD TVs, allowing home users to watch Internet video content from online video sites. The PS3 will also offer music, movie and TV downloads soon enough – it won’t just be the Xbox 360 with this capability.

Whatever you can say about shipment numbers, delays, who sold what and the amount of stock left on shelves, it’s far too early to be counting the PS3 out of the race. It is a technological achievement that will be the focus of Sony’s connected home strategy, offering games, downloads of music, movie and TV shows, and the ability to play Blu-ray movies which still have the most movie studio support.

I’ll agree with Playfuls that Sony is an arrogant company that has tried, sometimes unsuccessfully, to force a new format onto the world. But Sony’s global sales and eternal popularity in the gadget stakes have seen it forge strong markets for its own proprietary technology, with the Memory Stick being a winner due to its wide use across all Sony devices which do sell in great numbers, Sony’s own non-official UMPC a winner, Sony’s Vaio notebooks a winner, the T series of Cyber-shot cameras a winner, the PS2 a winner, the PS3 a winner-to-be, Sony’s HD video cameras a winner, Bravia LCD HDTVs a winner, and Sony Ericsson successful in the cell phone stakes.

Minidiscs, Betamax tapes and Sony’s non-phone Walkman range haven’t fared too well against the competition, but Minidiscs were in increasing wide use until mp3 players really took off, Betamax tapes are still widely used in the hyper expensive world of professional video production, especially at television stations, and the Walkman phone have given a brand new lease of life to the Walkman range.

Playfuls, it’s not easy to create a next-generation technological tour-de-force and ensure that everything goes to plan and exactly on time. The PS3 has indeed arrived in the US and Japan, and will soon be on European and Australian shelves at a time when people’s bank balances have recharged somewhat after the most digital Christmas holiday season of all time.

Yes, Sony should have done better. Much better. But they’ve delivered in 2006, ready for the real battle: 2007, the year that console gaming merges with true home entertainment and digital device interaction. The year that console gaming finally grows up!
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Alex Zaharov-Reutt  Blu-ray  Consoles  Games  Microsoft  Nintendo  PlayStation  Sony  Video  Wii  Xbox