Can the PS3 Save Sony?

There's a lot of history in Wired's Can the PS3 Save Sony, and most of it is fairly ugly. It amazes me just how many things they've managed to completely cock up, and still manage to remain one of the largest, most powerful companies in the world. So many of their messups would bury a lesser company, and so many of their messups seem completely avoidable, or caused by some executive going barking mad for five minutes and making a completely ridiculous business decision that hurts the company for years afterwards... like Atrac3, the Rootkit fiasco, Minidiscs, UMD movies, or that $600 PS3 price tag.

Ah, the Playstation 3. It all comes down to that, really. If it's a success, Sony wins primo position for the next 5-10 years of console gaming, as well as a huge default userbase for their HD video format, Blu-ray. If it's a failure... well, Sony may be out of business. I'm certainly not going to fork out AU$1000 to grab one at launch, and even half that amount seems expensive. I assume there are legions of rich bastards out there who will actually grab one, but I might be wrong. Perhaps this is some clever MBA method of keeping launch sales down so that production can ramp up, or maybe it's just yet another business decision based on an all-night bender of rice paper origami and dodgy shiitake mushrooms.

Personally, I agree with the author at Wired. I want Sony to stop being a dick and finally get its shit together again, and start cranking out products, gadgets and games that are really amazing and fun. Stuff that makes you gasp and reach for your credit card. Not to mention that Sony's death would leave the way clear for Microsoft to rule the gaming world, which would be bloody depressing. Woohoo! Halo 5!