Sony is having an uphill battle with fighting Nintendo and Microsoft in this video game war. But who says they have to fight them to win? What if there was another company they could fight and end up winning? Since Sony is a multi-facet company they can and will. Who is this other company? We all know them and many have recently hated them. I am talking of them, no other than...well take a look for yourself.







Still nothing?






Yes, Apple, the company that brought you the iPod, the iPhone and the piece of junk iPod Touch. But why them? Didn't Apple already mop the floor with Sony's Walkman? Yes! But didn't Sony just release a player that can play movies, movie trailers, and music? Yes! This is only part of their plan for that world domination thingy...




What are the means of the take down? How about video/movie downloads? It doesn't take a degree in rocket science or even model rocket science to see that downloadable stuff is the future. Everyone is digging into it, Microsoft with their Xbox Live Marketplace full of rentable movies and even Nintendo is doing it. Yes, they are! Have a Wii? Did you notice that WiiWare update about a month ago with the Metroid Prime 3: Corruption page thingy? Guess what, that had some videos in it, you downloaded videos. DUN DUN DUN!




Sony is doing this already with some trailers and such on the PlayStation Network (do they have movies up yet?) but in other ways as well. There is the new video Walkman that I mentioned before, experimentations with internet video, and Bravia Unit which comes in two forms and even one with a large harddrive. Sure some of this is already known and out but have many people added all the pieces together? Despite being knees deep into Blu-Ray's love cushions, they are full-heartingly supporting this new "format" for lack of a better term.




So we got a big ole company that made some poor decisions with a small shiny product and a big shiny new product and now looking to the next big thing to pull them out. But were they completely poor or just temporary? I am just surprised there is no known (yet?) interconnectivity between that fancy new walkman and the PLAYSTATION 3. There is already connectivity with the PSP and PS3 but they plan on expanding it in an iPod sort of way. Welcome to more digital downloads. Download movies and videos, put them on your dusty PSP and then get some use out of that handheld video game device by watching movies on it and music. I mean it's not like you are going to use it for games or UMDs, right?




It seems that Sony has a head on their shoulders. They might not have products for the now, but it looks like the products are for the near future. Both the PS3 and PSP or wireless devices which helps them interact and download stuff. Both have harddrives to download and store media. They are both ready for the next step. With NBC cutting ties and separating with Apple's iTunes services (representing 40% of their market), it only seems right and perfect timing to start up their services to sway people away. Think about it, would movie companies feel more comfortable with a company with contracts and soul-owning powers or another company that is IN the movie industry? They could see Sony as a like-mind group and could possibly want to join in with them. Sure a downer is that it probably won't be iPod compatible but there are TONS of other mp3/video players out there, like the Zune (haha, that was a joke!), Zen, or even the new Sony Walkman or PSP! Why not make movies only playable on their own devices? Apple did it.




But wait, wasn't there some Connect service that Sony had that ran some sort of download process? Yes, at the end of last month, Sony Announced it was ending it's Music Store, Connect, and it will be officialy over after March 2008. Hmmmm, interesting, no? It is thought that this was done so they can start to focus on an IP video marketing, say hello to video downloading services.

So what is holding them back? Nothing. Well besides selling their hardware. That and getting a download service that works. Of course you run into what format should be used? Then they will become like Apple with their own format like .psa or .psv or .mp5. You get the idea, with this expansion and video downloading it will only be available on their devices. I also doubt they will have a bunch of free programs that converts these videos like Apple does. But other than that...they have the movies from their Sony Pictures company for fodder to use.

Sony tries to take over and becomes an Apple clone. Charging unreal prices for shiny objects of lust and thinking that they are all that and a bag of chips. Now with a video download service, they will be more like Apple. Looks like Microsoft will be given another excuse to stay in this video game race that has and is costing them billions of dollars, that is if Sony's service takes off. But what is the likelihood of that?


[Via Newspaper Story as I was sitting in the stall, left Video Game Mags at home. Oh and some Gizmodo sites, duh!]