It’s hard to figure out exactly what happened to Sony’s dominance in the console wars with the advent of the PlayStation 3.  How can a console with a Blu-ray player, a free online service with the PlayStation Network and no known hardware failures such as Microsoft’s Xbox 360’s Red Rings Of Death be last in hardware sales?

It’s all about the games: Let’s face it, Sony still does not have a breakout console-selling game under its belt.  In fact, the only PS3 game to be found on 2008’s year-end sales chart for North America is Grand Theft Auto IV.  Exclusive titles such as LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4, which were supposed to be breakout games in their own right, are nowhere to be found.  Another thorn in Sony’s side is the loss of exclusivity on big-name franchises such as GTA and Final Fantasy, which have now gone multi-platform.  Just imagine if GTA IV would’ve been a PS3 exclusive.  How does 2009 look for the shiny black console’s exclusives?  There might actually be a glimmer of hope on the horizon, with such titles as God of War III, Killzone 2, Uncharted 2, Infamous and a new Ratchet and Clank game scheduled for release this year.  Is that one big breakout game in there somewhere?  Only time will tell, but let’s hope so, for Sony’s sake.

There’s no place like Home?: After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, Sony finally released their community based service, called Home, on December 11, 2008.  The reaction from the community, yours truly included, was quite underwhelming.  Waiting in line to play a game of bowling isn’t my idea of fun, and there are only so many times that I can watch a trailer for Twilight before I want to hurl.  I was expecting something more robust and meatier once Home was finally released, especially after waiting so long for it.  Let’s just hope Sony releases more content and adds more things to do within Home other than wait in line or watch the same movie trailer ad nauseam.

Too expensive for our taste: With Nintendo’s Wii being the cheapest console on the market, (Well, until the $199 Xbox 360 Arcade) and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 seeing its fair share of price drops in recent months, it’s quite mind-boggling to see that Sony hasn’t made an effort to lower the price on their PlayStation 3 SKUs.  Granted, the 80 GB PS3 was introduced last September for $399 (replacing the $399 40GB unit), with all things said and done, $400 is still a lot of cash to drop for the “cheapest” PS3.  Both the 80 GB and the 160 GB consoles do not have backwards compatibility for PlayStation 2 games, which means that you’ll either have to keep your PlayStation 2 or live without.  Even though they have Blu-ray technology on their side, Sony’s hope to compete with Nintendo and Microsoft’s lower-priced consoles will never materialize unless they start thinking about lowering their prices, plain and simple.  This is a video game console we’re talking about here, after all.

Sony needs to work on a lot of things if they wish to pull themselves out of the gutter.  Although the game side of business is more of a hit or miss kind of situation, that one breakout game, which is still nowhere to be found, could help turn things around in a hurry.  Add to that a rethinking of Home and the way it’s supposed to work and a price drop on both SKUs, making them more accessible for the common consumer, and the PlayStation 3 could be back on the winning track.  Wishful thinking never hurt anyone, right?