I had actually gone to an audition for You can't do that on Television. I didn't get the spot. :p

Now like others, being Canadian I may not of had access to as many of the Nick shows that others did since I only saw the ones that were aird up here. I never realized that Ren & Stimpy was a Nick cartoon. 

Before we get onto my answer, first a word from my sponsor: Blammo!

Personally I think the next few years are going to be decided heavily by the next few months. They're PR and handling of the situation has been, subpar. On the CC issue, there the rumor from last week (saying about 2.2 millions CC's were stollen), to which sony has basicly said 'Didn't happen.'

This, I think, is going to be one of the major deciding issues. If said stolen CC's were in fact nothing but a delicious and moist cake, it will help to restore at least some faith in Sony. If however this was the case and Sony is denying it instead of owning up. It will likely crush sony in the comming years.

In either case, over the next few months Sony really neads to light a fire under their ass. They need to get some solid information out to people, they need to get their new upgraded network back up, and they'll need to find some way of reasuring returning or new customers that something like this won't happen again. As much as such assurances are possible.

Personally I've always loved the PS3 over the 360, Mainly because of the backwards compatability (I have 1st gen model), and the native Blu-ray. The ability to play online with friends for free was certainly another selling point in my eyes.

Now I may be more forgiving of the situation given that my personal information was minimal, and there was no CC on my account. But so long as Sony learns enough from this mistake to better handle and take care of issues in the future. I'll probably stick with them, as will many people.

They will have work to regain some trust, but I feel their reputation is enough to let them continue. 

Hell If MS was allowed to survive ME, Vista, numerous anti-trust cases, as well as countless program security holes... surely there can be some room to forgive Sony.

Awesome Wringer this week! I'm sort of surprised that Ren & Stimpy wasn't a more popular choice, and you gave it very good defense as one.

I see the future of the PSN as a two way street, with one leading to a "Second Golden Age" for Sony, the other...well I'll get to that as it comes along.

Choice 1: Sony revamps server security. They make sure that absolutely NOBODY can get users' credit card information. They can pitch the NGP just right that Americans go bananas over it. Then sparks a "Second Golden Age," one rivaled only by the early 2000's. Sony needs to pour more focus into it's gaming department and please not only Playstation elitists, but regular consumers as well.

Choice 2: Sony crumbles. They can't get servers back up to there usual standard or don't employ enough security. Hackers, seeing an opportunity, take PSN out for good. The NGP never makes it, or even worse, does, causing Sony to lose more revenue. Sales nose-dive and Sony becomes another clone of Sega.

Either way, this "PSN Crisis" is a turning point. Hopefully Sony makes the right choice and re-invigorates interest in the Playstation brand. Or we could be left with only a "Big 2" left competing. 

I'm probably going to get the shit flamed out of me for this, so I may not be around a lot in the course of the next week. I don't care, but what pisses me off the most is it's fine to be loyal to any other brand than Sony. Apple, Ford, Levi's, what have you. But not Sony. Simply by owning a PS3 automatically makes you a newb and a fanboy. Fuck that shit. Fuck it.

I stand by the Sony brand and will continue to. The company may have made a series of missteps, but that is just a stumbling block in a bright future.

In my entire life, I have seen Sony grow as a brand. Sure, the Betamax didn't make it, but that was only because of a lackluster advertising campaign. The Betamax was a superior piece of technology as compared to the VHS, but it failed in the court of public opinion. I still own a Betamax.

People predicted doom and gloom for Blu-Ray, but guess what? It kicked HD-DVD's ass.

Have we forgotten how the Walkman not only single-handedly saved the music industry, but paved the way for products like the iPod? Sony did that.

Sony still owns Columbia Pictures, Tri-Star, MGM and Screen Gems. There will never be another James Bond movie without Sony. Or Ghostbusters. Or Men In Black.

The biggest problem Sony had with the PS3 was three fold: a late release, the high price and a juggernaut marketing campaign by Microsoft. You cannot forget that Microsoft spent more than $6 BILLION-- with a B-- in the year leading up to the release of the PS3 (as compared to $1.2 billion in the lead up and first year of the 360's life). Microsoft had the high ground, regardless of the PS3 being the superior console.

The next reason I think Sony will recover is because of the ministrations of both Microsoft and Nintendo.

Here we are, almost five years later, and the 360 STILL has the red ring problem. For the life of me, I cannot fathom a company would rather fix a defective product than fix the problem before release. Sure, it's cheaper for them to fix a ringed console than to avoid the problem altogether, but if you're a user, you're going to spend a month without your console.

Hell, my girlfriend at the time got me a 360 for Christmas. The damned thing ringed in the first 20 minutes I had it on. Brand spankin' new. When I sent it in, I tracked it online until it got to the repair facility in El Paso, Texas and gotten confirmation they'd received it. I never got it back, never got it back, never got it back. I called and they had "no record" of ever having gotten my console. They told me I was out of luck. Tell me that support's not fucked.

On the other end, Nintendo is suing the interwebz for using the term, "It's on like Donkey Kong." Oh how the mighty have fallen. In the 80s, Nintendo had to defend themselves against Universal Pictures for "infringing on their copyright" for King Kong.

Not to mention, Nintendo releases more peripherals and consoles than Sony, so Commodore, don't single out Sony for the PSP. I own a Wii. I like it, but that Wii-mote can never substitute a controller for gaming experience. Sure, the Wii is fun to play and it will last a while longer, but like blood from a turnip, the concept will run itself dry. I bought the Zelda: Twilight Princess Gamecube version just so I could play it with a controller.

Yeah, the problem with the PS network is getting on my nerves, because I'm ready to download Chrono Trigger, but guess what? At least I'm not having to pay for my online services. *cough*XBL*cough*

Lawsuits, yeah, they are a bit fruity. I GameSharked the shit out of my PS1. But those will fade. Bricking will soon be deemed illegal by the Supreme Court. Check Daniel Wolf v. Sony Entertainment. That one will go before the Supreme Court. Watch.

In the end, Sony, throughout their wide gamut of tech products, will prevail and become the #1 in the market once again. Even if the PS3 struggles for the rest of this cycle, Sony will prevail. And they'll continue to have my business.

ok I couldn't resist, i tried but I can't...

Mr. K, I don't think buying  a PS3 automatically makes you a Sony Fanyboy. I think you may have gotten there on your own ;P

Oh, and I have to mention this.

That's actually an old WWI ad trying to guilt young men into joining the Armed Forces. You can't see it, but there's a caption at the bottom that says "What did YOU do in the Great War, Daddy?" Just a little history lesson! :D

Mr. K, I don't think buying  a PS3 automatically makes you a Sony Fanyboy. I think you may have gotten there on your own ;P

I lost a friend because he found out I didn't own a 360 and a PS3 instead. Sure, it says more about him than it does me, but he launched a smear campaign against me on Facebook for being a fanboy. I still have people laugh at me for not owning a 360 because of that incident.

Some of the videos I posted on my old YouTube channel had PS3 gameplay on them. On one video alone, I got more than 1000 negative comments and an assload of thumbs down in three days because I wasn't playing the 360 version.

There was a video posted on Thursday night about the network issue and the possibility of identity theft. My comment was, "I still love my PS3." Once again, my inbox was raped with responses calling me a fanboy and saying I was "defending a shitty system."

The stereo in my car is a Sony. My surround sound system is a Sony. The only reason why my TV is a Vizio is because it was the last day of the sale and the Sonys were all sold out.

Sure, I own a Macbook Air and my phone is an Android, but I'm fine with that. They're what I wanted.

Although my last laptop was a Vaio.

The future of the PlayStation brand? I don't care, besides liking some games and the controller staying the same through out every console I don't like their console durability since my PSOne the sound was cutting out followed by being on the world map of a Final Fantasy game and entering a random battle took me back to the world map and did the same when trying to enter the town or the cave, followed about a month later my PlayStation 2 (original model) the memory slot one and controller port one started acting up saying that their wasn't anything plugged in even when I load a save file and was trying to save so I was afraid of data corruption is I need to buy a slim PS2 which was about $25 more that repairing the system and the new PS2 the power can not be turned off. The thing is I was thinking of saving up to buy a PlayStation 3 for $299.99 but after the above I am not and will get it when the system is $100 but will not be able to play my PS1, PS2 games on it, which I will ask wasn't that one thing that made the PlayStation consoles popular was the backwards compatibility.

Hell If MS was allowed to survive ME, Vista, numerous anti-trust cases, as well as countless program security holes... surely there can be some room to forgive Sony.

You forgot Internet Explorer and saying "program security holes" is being nice to it.
 

My comment was, "I still love my PS3." Once again, my inbox was raped with responses calling me a fanboy and saying I was "defending a shitty system."

And is this coming from people that say they are not 360 fanboys? I have read people complaining about how they are now on their fifth or sixth 360 systems and yet they will not buy another brand.

Technically the Launch PS3 with the ridiculous price, did have backwards compatability, mine does cause I scoured ebay till i found a 1st gen.

Taking out the hardware for the full backwards compatability is one of the things they did to reduce the price. One other topic that I didn't touch on before, and noone else has seemed to. Is really the genre aspect.

As someone who enjoys RPGs more than FPSs The PS3 Seems like the natural choice, it just seems to have more rpg titles available to it. with the 360 having more FPSs. A minor point in the over all chaos of the current crisis, but not something that should be overlooked when taking into account the future of the console. 

im not sure about any 1 else but my post seels like the right 1/4 of  it is gone.. if it looks ok to you guys then nvm

I really dont care all too much what happens to sony 

I own a PS3  b0th my tv's  are sony sure i like their products

But the only reason i got a Ps3 in the first place was to place FF XIII during the build up and that turned out

okay not great but after that i found my self doing the same damn thing as i had done with my wii

I played for a few months got a new game played some more as soon as i got bored i stopped playing

Even right now i dont use my PS3 (NOT because of the stuipid PSN thing) except to use netflix and im 

replaying XIII again.

And Mr. K yes people like that who hate the PS3 and Praise the 360 like crazy with no rational reasons

(Shocking I know a few who give good arguments against the PS3 with out trolling)  Are Ass holes 

well that could just be my grudge against Microsoft Gameing not PCs by Legally buying Rareware off of

nintendo

Now onward i see sony releassing a new consle in about maybe 2 to 4 years at the least and most

I see them trying to push the NGP and doing better than the PSP i dont see it taking the 3DS down as leading in 

sales

Dont get me wrong ill still buy one but there is really nothing compelling me to want one sure i say what as

a consumer 3 minutes of trailers for games i mostly dont care about

Come to think of it i really dont like sony first party games in the first place aside from the select few LBP ect..

Their next consle i still see them in third place copying nintendo about half way into the next cycle and doing

A Okay but not haveing large scale success.

im not sure about any 1 else but my post seels like the right 1/4 of  it is gone.. if it looks ok to you guys then nvm

Occasionally it happens. If you go back and edit it and you'll probably fix it.

I agree with what Aestolia said abut Sony getting some forgiveness going later on, but I hae to say, I also agree with Mr. K. about getting flak for liking Sony. It reminds me of the response I get when i say I like and own a sega saturn.

woah... ok had mre to say but the room is all spinny. time for rest and/or asprin

thank you got it i think

I think that Sony's brand is going to take a little bit of a hit, but it's going to be temporary. The XBox will probably take a bit larger of a "lead" in the American gaming industry, but Sony will continue to put out systems no matter how much of a hit they take because, compared to Microsoft in the "hardcore gaming" portion of the industry, they are the juggernaut in Japan. If the PS4 comes out and is awesome and at a REASONABLE price point (believe it when I see it to be honest) it'll do just fine. Fanboys (I'm using the term liberally here) will stuck to their guns almost no matter what. I've never been a fan of Microsoft in the gaming industry, which is a large reason why I went with PS3 instead of 360. Was it a fanboy move to purchase based on my feelings for Microsoft? Probably. I can't help it; Sony had built up some credibility to me with the PS2, while I hated the original XBox.

Personally, I don't really blame Sony at all for what has happened. They went after GeoHotz (or whatever the hell his name is) to send a message that publishing information that can encourage and open the flood gates for piracy is not something to be taken lightly. Do whatever you want on your own system, but don't go around telling everyone else how they can do it when it can be taken advantage of to pirate games (even though I know there are some more "white hat" ways of hacking the system). I think the longer this goes on, the more opinion is swaying against "the hackers" (people group them all together it seems) for launching a malicious attack that puts people's credit card information in jeopardy. It's one thing to DoS PSN and just bring them down (though still very inconsiderate to gamers), but compromising people's information? That's not just going after Sony, that's going after innocent gamers. Leave them out of it. </rant>

Sony as a whole is having a rather tough time of it. Their higher line of electronics as a whole has taken a pretty big beating as of late and that was before all of these natural, nuclear, and economic issues. Add in the PSN network stuff and now this hacker mess, it is not looking good. They won the Blu-Ray fight, but that cost a pretty penny to do, and I doubt they have recovered from that. Plus if they lost that fight the PS3 would be in an even worse position then it is in now. They are going to have to make some rather tough choices in the months and years to come. 

I personally only liked a handful of titles on the first playstation and only a few more then that on the PS2, more because I grew up with more PC gaming and couldn't get past the loading headaches that came with both the PS and PS2. It wasn't that I hated the Playstations, I thought they had some really good games, and I have enjoyed playing ports of them that help eliminate some of the loading issues. 

The biggest hurdle to the PS3 has been the lack of quality 3rd party titles. Sure they look good, but the gameplay really hasn't evolved that much from the past. Despite the hate I will get from it, it is obvious that Square, EA, Capcom, and various others haven't been as solid as in the past. Maybe it is because of the hardware challenges or poor business choices, but it has been lacking. Unlike Nintendo, Sony doesn't have a very strong first party line-up to fall back on, Microsoft is in the same boat just not as far along. Before the fanboys chew me out, Nintendo is in trouble as well due to the lack of evolving as well, the Wii is great but I am tired of Link always adventuring for a bow, hookshot, and bomb bag.  

My prediction:

Current market can't sustain 3 console companies at 1 time. X-Box isn't going anywhere, Nintendo isn't hurting although I don't really see it ultimately growing. If Sony can't get more support in gaming, then they are finished and the only question is who will confiscate the remains or will Sony give the rights to a new "console company". The Playstation can't continue to survive off of things like Netflix and being a Blu-Ray player alone, and the move isn't going to be the saving grace either. Really, why do Microsoft and Sony think that the Kinect and the Move will be profitable, things like that don't work unless the system is initially built for it.

Funfact:  It was Anonymus who hacked the PSN. At least the yare claiming they did.

I could put into words how I feel about this whole thing... but I'll let these people who have already said it say itfor me!

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2653-Piracy

"But Arkus, that is about Piracy! not what playstation should do with their brand!"

You'd be correct, However, there was some sound advice for Sony in all of that.

YOU DON'T FUCK WITH PEOPEL THAT INSTALL LINUX TO THEIR PLAYSTATIONS.

so busineses do their plans in 3, 7, and 10 years. So here is the break down

By the end of year 3 Sony needs to accomplish the following:

Not fucking with peopel that install Linux to their Playstation.

By the end of year 7 Sony needs to accomplish the following:

Not fucking with peopel that install Linux to their Playstation.

By the end of year 10 Sony needs to accomplish the following:

Not fucking with peopel that install Linux to their Playstation.

Following this sound, yet simple model will ensure success for the playstation brand. Assuming that the $24 billion they lost over all of this hasn't scared them away from the console market.

About them suing people trying to hack the PS3... I don't think it's right. If I buy an expensive console like that, I should be able to do whatever I want with it, as long as it doesn't affect other people in any way. Sure, they can remove the warranty on hacked systems, but seriously... I don't wanna buy a machine for 350-400 euros (or whatever it costs now) and not even get all the features. You hack a console to be able to do things with it that you normally wouldn't be able to, right? I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

About this week's question...

After LG sued Sony and banned the ps3 in Europe, things seemed to go down quite a bit. I don't know if that has been solved yet, but it sure wasn't a nice turn of events for Sony.
Later on, the whole hacking thing pissed people off, like you said, and now the PSN-issue. They've lost a LOT of money, and I think it's gonna take a while for people to regain their trust in Sony. Especially with credit card-info getting stolen from their network.

I think they'll probably get up eventually, but it might take them some time to get to where they once was.

In light of the recent attacks, (and also the concept of a new Nintendo coming to E3 this year) I think Sony will push to get a new system out on the shelves sooner than later.  Originally, the system was designed to be a "10-year console" in that it would be relevant longer than the fairly standard 6-year window of a console's lifespan.

The reason I think this?  They will want to get away from the attacks as much as possible.  Releasing a new system will generate interest again in the Sony brand.  Often times a new console (not an upgrate, but an entirely new console) is a forgive and forget moment.  People are willing to forget what happened to them in past iterations and will jump to the new system because it's exciting.

With the Project Cafe Nintendo stating it is stronger than the PS3 and will be more gamer-based, an attack on Sony might push people to the new Nintendo if the games are there to support it.  Also, even with the red ring of death, the XBox is still a suitable replacement to the PS3.  Yes, there will be no exclusive titles, but if you want to play your shooters or Mass Effect and such, they are there.  If Mixrosoft were to announce a new console first, then I would fear an end for the Playstation brand.  A new Sony console coming out would get the fans more interested for the next big thing.  It's in our nature to want the next version of something whether we need it or not. 

Also, I think this is the end of the Playstation Network as we know it.  There will be a number of people that will come back to it, but I'm sure a lot will not feel safe providing personal information to it again.  I myself would look to buying PSN cards rather than putting in a credit card, but I'm sure others will drop the idea all together.  A new system with a new online interface will get people to forgive and forget yet again.  Really, it would probably just be a new skin and a name change, but it's needed to convince people things are okay again.  It will make people feel safe (even if they aren't necessarily any more safer than they were a month ago before the attacks).

There will always be people who will forgive regardless, but I just don't know how big that number is.  This was supposed to be the year of Playstation because of their exclusive releases, but it's got such a negative spin now that they will need to work on the fans to smooth things over.  I really believe a new console in their future is the best way to push the negative press aside, as firmware updates and free content can only smooth over so much.

The problem is, are they far along enough in a development cycle to announce a new system as early as E3 2012?  Maybe, but probably not to release it in 2012 if their original plan was 10-year.

I also think this might be the end of the name "Playstation".  Like movies, if you keep numbering them people get bored.  this is why you see movie series with numbers drop them over time in favour of the "Title: Subtitle" format.  I think the new system will be the "Sony: Subtitle" now instead of a PS4.  It will aid in the distancing from the console that was considered too expensive to begin with, and that lost all your personal information in the end.

  Sony makes solid gizmos.  Mircosoft makes broken gizmos.  Nintendo makes Gizmos everyone wants.  I don't think the Playstation line is going anywhere as line as the battle cry of "Red Ring" against the Xbox exists, and judging by all its' iterations and permutations past Microsoft has no real concern over that, and as long as Nintendo is satisfied producing lower priced products with pan-appeal, then they'll have have the niche they've carved.  What I think would sink them is if Apple (Or Samsung, or any other major electronics player) decided to leap on the PS' wounded body and release a console that filled the void of product role out they're probably going to experience over the next little while as they try to patch the holes in their wound body.  Or if Nintendo and Mircosoft released their next gens really quickly and sort of put them too far back on the playing field to compete.  Or some combo of the two.  They are precariously balanced to be sure, but I don't really see anything happening that will kill them.

As a side note - The hackers that crippled them?  That's fucking awesome.  Too bad about the CC#s though.

First off I want to say that I have been a Nintendo gamer until about 08 I think, when I got a 360 for christmas from my grandfather. The next year I got a PS3 from my mom/her boyfriend for haunukah, and I got into PC gaming a few years ago but just got a new PC for christmas of 2010, the holidays have been good to me. So when talking about my video game platform of choice it would be the PC, just because of the convinence and things like Steam and the mouse. My second would be a Nintendo system because I love retro games, my Wii is mostly only for virtual console or retro remakes (NSMBWii or DKCR) or my N64 has been getting a lot of gameplay since I just bought Ocarina of Time about a month or 2 ago. My only handhelds have been and are Nintendo ones, I have a GBA, DS, and 3DS just sitting on a table in this room right now. My 360 is broken, not red ring, we don't know what it is, we have no idea what to do. My PS3 is downstairs in the dining room, collecting dust. I only have the Uncharted games, LBP, and Borderlands (which I have never played. Should probably return it...) and a bunch of demos, I have never bought anything online, so I am not really affected by this whole PSN thing. I do believe that PC is the best gaming platform, and for consoles it is just personal choice, but I'd pick 360 over the PS3 just because I have more games on it, I like the controller better, and though I would never play with them, even though I own both Kinect and Move (Christmas and Haunukah 2010 respectivly) and the Kinect is just better, the Move is just a Wii Motion Plus kind of... EDIT:Also I have a PS2, my big brother brought it with him when he came to live with us for a bit, it was in poor condition with one not working memory card and 4 games, it is in my brothers room and he is just a slob and it is in terrible condition, I tried to get into the GTA games a year ago but the controllers were too sticky and barely worked I didn't even bother.

As for what will happen to Playstation,  with the new Nintendo console coming up, Sony and Microsoft are really working hard to get a new sytem. Microsoft have allready been lookin for designers as we've seen ads, and Sony has been working on the NGP and thinking the PS3 could last until 2015, releasing a new system in about 2016. However now Sony is just confused, competetors are making new consoles and the whole hacking thing. I think it was foolish of Sony to get so defensive and track down that first guy who hacked PS3, then this happened and they are handling the situation poorly. As for the NGP, while maybe technologicly better than the 3DS, it won't do as well in sales and won't appeal to the general market (and I will buy a PSP while they are cheap :p) They will begin working on a PS4 as soon as they finish up the hacker situation. And gra007, I think it would be a bad move to change the name we all recognize. They will release a new system around 2013 or 2014 at about the same time as Microsoft release their new console. Nintendo will be a year or two in and will allready be making a lot of money. If they take a smart move and do go with the harcore market and continue to support the Wii (Like Screwattack's Top Ten Headlines of 2011) then the normal hardcore gamers will move onto the Wii2 (whatever it is called) and fan boys will laugh at all the 'fags' who play on a (better) Nintendo console. Sony fanboys (no offence Mr. K) will stick to the PS3 until the PS4 is released, so all consoles will stil be very active and still be making money, just the PS3 will lose a lot of players due to the hack and Microsoft will only lose a few players since the 360 is still cheap and has a good library of games.

This is where I am not sure of what will happen, when the Microsoft and Sony sytems are released a few things could happen.

1.) Microsoft will have a strong product that has been in the works for a few years and will be better than the Wii2, and Sony will have paniced and make a smaller leap to the PS4 and will be better than the Wii2 but not as qualitiy as the Microsoft console.

2.) Remember those Sega rumors? It has been rumored many many many times that Sega is going to make a new console. Recently there has been some 'proof' saying that they have copyrighted the names of the new consoles (Don't recall what they are) if Sega makes a new console in 2012-2014 Sega and Microsoft could have some competition. Judging from Sega's approach to consoles many years ago they won't bother with the kids and casual gamers and will compete with Microsoft and Sony's hardcore gamers. Some Microsoft gamers who haven't jumped on the Wii2, especially those who bought an Xbox when they heard Sega stopped making consoles, will be playing the New sega console. PS3 users who have stuck with PS3 instead of the Wii2, might join the Sega console depending on how the PS3, PSN, and Sony have been dealing with things. Microsoft will release as normal with the same product I mentioned before, better than the PS4, but maybe not as good as Sega, or maybe better. Sony will be scrambling to keep there loyal fans from the PS1 and PS2 period, which is likely all they'll have left. releasing a PS4 which will once again be better than the Wii2 but not the Microsoft console, and may or may not survive, depending on third part developers and the players.

Whatever happens I can see the next 7 or 8 years really shaping the future of video games until somewhere in the late 2020's, depending on who is still in the market. Nintendo will survive without a scratch and may be at the top of their game. Microsoft will come out with a damn good console. Sega and Sony will be trying to claim whatever they can and hold onto it. And who knows, maybe Apple will try to join in on the console market (there was an apple console years ago but basically sucked, but with Microsoft doing good and so many people behind the Apple brand, maybe they will give it another go?)

Great Wringer, Commodore!  I have to agree that I can still sit and watch 'Ren & Stimpy' to this day.  Not enough shows care about the quality of their animation like R&S did.

As far as this weeks question:  I think that Playstation can and will come back from this PSN fiasco.  I, personally, am an admitted Nintendo Fanboy, but that is not to say I can't appreciate or play X-box or Playstation.  I've owned systems from each of the big three at one generation or another.

The most probable outcome (in my opinion) is that playstation will have to endure a large amount of money loss and back lash, but I can't see them going the way of Sega and Atari.  Although this is alot worse than the "Virtual Boy" or "Game Cube" issues from Nintendo, I think that this will be looked back on as something similar.  The Playstation brand will have a scar, but will eventually look back on it as a lesson.

This is allll just an opinion from the outside.  I don't own a PS3 so I'm not as close to the source as many, many others.

When I buy one of there over priced an inferior systems I should be able to do what ever I want with it, after all did I not just pay for it?

Wasn't there a case with someone doing that to the 360 and was taken to court and the case got dismissed due to the person was allowed to do whatever they wanted with what they bought?

One other topic that I didn't touch on before, and noone else has seemed to. Is really the genre aspect.

As someone who enjoys RPGs more than FPSs The PS3 Seems like the natural choice, it just seems to have more rpg titles available to it.

RPGs are the only reason to have the original PlayStation. Thinking of it RPGs are mainly only on PlayStation consoles.

As I was watching this video, I suddenly remembered Invader ZiM.  HOW DID I FORGET THAT!!!!!!!!!!! Screw Doug, Invader Zim is my choice.

On to this wringer.

Sony is just too big of a company to "crumble" like some people have said.  If things get too bad in the next few months Sony might end all of its game divisions, but the chances of that are rediculously low.

The effects are deffently going to be felt for the rest of the company's life, but it won't be destroyed for a long time.

What I foresee happening is either Sony revamps psn and brings us into a golden age of digitally distributed media, or that psn dies and the playstation brand goes the way of nintendo, creating subpar hardware and gimicky products and various other weird decisions. Only sony wont have Pokemon to be their buffer.

I honestly feel that Sony is in no danger of leaving the gaming world, they have a much stronger foot hold in the market than other companies that drifted to the wayside. It's gonna take some PR and maybe a good lobbyist for awhile but eventually people will forget this ever really happened. Although right now there seems to be a large body of people that want Sony's head on a platter I find the more vocal people are the less prone they are to actually do anything.

I am curious as to why they are making another handheld when the PSP under sold the DS and the PSPGo was a huge huge failure but hey they're big boys now and can make their own choices.

Sony will bounce back I'm fairly sure of it.

I was never into Ren and Stimpy.  Even as a kid, it seemed way too out there for me.

As far as Sony goes, I don't think many gamers will care that much, as long as their bank accounts are not affected.  The people that are really going to be hurt are younger gamers whose parents pay for this service.  If you are debating between buying a kid a 360 or PS3, and know very little about both systems, this could be the thing that sways your opinion. 

Okay I need to edit my opinion because of something that recently happened. Sony recently decided to offer free games on PSN (I think you can pick two games out of five ) which although some people are rejoicing I find just kind of pointless and also fairly slimey.

You have a service that was compromised, where peoples personal information was also compromised and you offer them games on this service where they were recently burned(whoa run on sentence Batman!). Which for all you know could be compromised again. It just seems like Sony now is mucking about by trying to get people to forget this happened as opposed to really working on why this happened to begin with.

I question Sony's thinking process, though I'm certain they'll bounce back.

Kettleman that's not all they're offering.

They're also offering assistance for people who are worried about identity theft, While so far they've only said they're offering this to people in the US. They are offering a year of service through Debix (which is about $10/month for an adult). extending services for people who have lost time on subscribed features as well. such as offering a free month of PSN+.

I don't think this should be thought of as a bribe so much as. partial restitution. 

Howard Stringer, the CEO of Sony, did also provide a formal appology on behalf of the company in regards to how long it took to get people the information. While many of you may say it's just workds, I have to say it's more than that. It is an act that shows recognition of their errors, and to that end also a promise to do better int he future. 

What this is, is a campaign of saving face, which they needed to do. A campaign of starting some form of restitution, which they also needed to do. And a campaign to start rebuilding good will, which they've pretty much used up .

As a note they ARE working one why this happened to begin with. Which is why the PSN isn't back up yet. On the 1st they held a press conference saying it would be back up this week, Whic didn't happen. This is because of them testing the new security.