I agree, in terms of advertising the game, this move is about as fail as it gets. I guess by the time non-preordering folks get the demo, they can pick up some used copies of Killzone; at Gamestop.

Easy to say for the European guys, when the Euro soars high and every console sold converts to $530 or 50.000 Yen. No matter what analysts claim, one console sold in Europe subsidizes the price of three consoles overseas.

My guess is, Sony will do to each department, the thing they did to their TV department. Cut down anything behind the technological curve. Eliminate the low price segment if the profits per unit are too low. Don't throw 10 receivers on the market, concentrate on one. Focus on the segment Sony is actually renowned for. Quality electronics with a high, yet okay price.

How else would they ever be able to cut 16.000 jobs? They have to remove whole market segments, not just products.

In a nutshell, one lineup for the ideal Sony household. The Bravia TV, the PS3 with digital TV and HDD recording, the Mylo 2.0 for navigation, cellphone, PsP, mp3, social networking, the one receiver and the one 9.1 cubic surround BS box system. Videocameras and digital cameras still sold separately, everything linked up to the the PSN store for HD videorentals, music and games. At best, a price optimized and a luxury version of all that, but no more 10 of each in price segments $30 apart. THIS would be living. No more pink laptops and cheap stereo systems for teenage rooms made in China.

As doomed I pick:
Cellphones, Walkman, navigation, non-PS3 BluRay players, DVD Players, car audio, low price HiFi and Vaio media centers (can be done by PS3 or PS3 based platform), maybe even Vaio laptops.

Safe Zone:
PS3, LCD TVs, all sorts of cameras.

Rebirth:
Single portable video cellphone, MP3, PSP, navigation device. Challenge iPhone with a Mylo 2.0 convergence of all those other "almost purchases".

Collateral:
Marketing departments and assembly workers.

PC gamers have turned bonkers these days. Need reasons?
* PC gamers call games casual, although players can go 'Game Over' in these games faster than in any so called hardcore game.
* PC gamers will also try to call games "not hardcore" if the time requirements are less than "your entire existence". Just because a game can be played in 10 minutes does not have to make it less complicated. Especially puzzle games are anything but casual.
* PC gamers complain about console simplicity, yet they flock to MMOs which will base the result of combat on numbers people grind, without any display of skill whatsoever.
* Being hardcore on the PC has turned into playing only a single game day in day out. Team based shooters and MMOs dominate the scene. Good luck trying to sell them Crysis, when they still won't move from Counter Strike 1.6 to CS-Source.
* Has anybody ever looked at http://store.steampowered.com/stats/ on wondered about the statistic of 1.5M people logging onto Steam, but only 300.000 of them actually playing a game? Or why the newly hyped games (L4D, TF2) have nowhere near the number of players compared to CS?

PC publishers have turned bonkers too:
* They advertised Crysis mainly on the fact how it will not run your computer.
* They still develop games mostly for the next generation of video cards instead of making good use of installed technology. Then they are surprised how many people are excited about games on Source, a five year old engine, or at how many people play the "low-fi" WoW. Well, at least these games actually run on a computer.
* They released Spore mainly as a tool to create avatars and buildings, with almost no emphasis on the game reflected in advertising.
* They antagonize their customers with non-working DRM.
* They whine about bad PC sales, yet the PC has one of the worst line-ups of all platforms. Aside from WoW, the PC platform has no exclusive with any cultural relevance. It used to have Quake and CS and others, but they are not being developed right now.
* Have I mentioned EA's reasoning that a hardcore shooter will suddenly appeal to non-hardcore shooter fans by giving it Bugs Bunny graphics?

Can you imagine one side of this insanity trying to sell the other a game?