because they CANT beat them.

it`s that simple.

First, I don't think Sony would ever go for that kind of nonsense. Their quality in hardware to be mixed with the faulty MS hardware would not fly with them. I think Sony buying out the XBOX brand would make more sense. At least it would give them a product that wont overheat and they would probably just discard it anyway. Sony and home consoles is just meant to be and everyone knows it. The software part of the article is just ridiculous. Sony has the software coming in now and they have the most exclusive studios. More than the MS and Nintendo combined in the world. So you know the games are just going to be flooding the market sooner than later. Sony FTMFW!

that's quite possibly the most off the wall, stupid sh!t article I've ever read! This guy has his head in the sand... last I checked, the gaming industry was doing just fine. Recession my @ss!

Couldn't agree with you more Anego. I figured I would put this BS out there there to see where people stand with it.

some classic comments will be on the way. 3...2...1...blastoff!!

LOL... is this a joke? no approveal from me, no sir.

Lets be honest, M$ couldnt afford to buy Sony anyway.

What a tard. There are not enough idiot adjectives to describe his stupidity! shaking head.

Sony has from the time they stepped into the gaming arena, to the end of time, be the king of next gen gaming. DON'T bring your Wii sh!t here either. That novelty will prove to be a a passing fad. REAL gamers want systems that kick REAL butt. I'm 38 years old and I go to tell ya, I've been SICK of Mario and the bunch for over a decade now! Is THAT what you want in gaming...more of the same? HELL NO! I mean COME ON, Nintendo, come up with a NEW IP will ya!

merge and wipe MS off the earth lol

to begin with and again why would sony want to have there software in there hardware?? thats suicide!.

microsoft should just by the world and then 30% of the worlds light would turn red

... no

Is this guy stupid or what. Why the hell would Sony let Microsoft buy them. Microsoft is becoming more bankrupt than ever,with failed 360 systems, A rushed Vista OS, and a crappy search engine. They need to just start over not buy other companys or try to buy ideas. They should stick to what they no best and that is software simple as that. I see Microsoft becoming the next Sega in the video game business. Just creating games and thats that.

i have tried hard...... but it still dont understand how this falls under the category of "NEWS" or anything else for that matter

M$ might be rich, but they sure as hell aren't that rich- Sony is a pretty huge company too

Someone should buy Nintendo though, because lets face it- in a couple years they will be back to being a crap company

The whole "one console" dream might seem cool cause you would be combining Halo, Zelda, MP, Mario and all of sonys franchises into one machine, but competition is what drives the industry and without it everyone would be so much more worse off

I wouldn't want a PSBox 360 thankyou very much..

Then I'm in. I'd hate to see stagnation in the industry, all due to the Wii's lack of technology.

I dont know where microsoft would get all this money from....M$ is worth around $238 billion hardly enough to buy Sony and why would sony screw themselves by doing that and turn themselves from inovation to stealin....

This article is beyond ridiculous.
Especially about the friends list, all everyone talks about is how BAD the Wii friends management is with it's codes and lack of games that actually have online play.
PS3 has a very good online interface, several online games. Wii has none of that, it's a disgrace.
The 360, ofcourse, is the pinacle of online game play. If anything, the Wii needs to follow Sony, fix everything that is serious lacking on their console, get the online interface up and running and get 3rd party developers from releasing crap.
Wii may be ahead for now, but Sony is making the comeback or the century.

I have said it before, and I will say it again. I am glad that both companies are battling for supremacy. It will make for better systems, and better games in the long run.

Also... MS needs to borrow money to buy Yahoo.... they would need to borrow much more to go after Sony I would think.

Either way I doubt this will ever happen.

but it wont

I hate Microsoft but this would be a good move cause they could both join forces and take down Nintendo together;)

Since Sony is a much larger conglomerate.

what a piece of BS.

I prefer Nintendo instead of Microsoft, but other than that, choices ad diversity and we can't be monotoned; it's just plain boring.

can they afford this company, there yearly revenue is $60 billion. rmemeber no- single person owns sony

this comapny owns metro gowlny, columbia pictures and even part of the 4-10 billiob and growing dollar company Square-Enix

Even if M$ wanted to buy Sony, they don't have the money to buy Sony out. Sony is a much bigger company than M$.

That Scott Stein guy shouldn't smoke crack before doing his editorials.

Why not having ford, toyota, crysler, etc all merge become one, that way the new brand has the best of technology?

Why hot having all MS OS, Linux, Apple OS, etc.. merge and just become one operating system?

what kind of bs is this?

ps3 will kill 360 sometime down the road!

Considering that Microsoft is actually having to -borrow- money for the first time in its history to try and make a bid on Yahoo I seriously doubt that Microsoft would have the cash to even come close to what Sony is worth.

Despite the fact that it is nigh impossible to even try and dream that notion this article is probably the funniest thing I've read all day long.

At the rate that Microsoft is bleeding money (maybe not with the 360 , but their PC divisions are hurting big time and then you have the travesty that is Windows live search) this article could work the other way around, but seriously though....this article is retarded and its someones pipe dream to try and create a unified console which would be a horrible horrible thing.

"Nintendo’s edge isn’t games -- it’s the fun factor"
What? The Xbox 360 and PS3 aren't fun to play with now?

That is a really poor article, devoid of any research or even rational thought.

is this guy on drugs? microsoft should buy sony? why would sony need microsoft? sony can bring itself back to the top. this is the dumbest article. EVER

Hes in the WII's ASS PS3+360 < WII ROFL................ Just because they can sell a 200 dollar system faster and more then a 400-600 dollar system doesnt mean they are better/superior. I could see if this article came out after this year and hypathetically the ps3 somehow didnt sell like it should then I could expect an article like this but now? Ps3 is on a rise why would sony merge with MS? so they can have their bad hardware team work on a ps3 and add some rings to it? Wii maybe fun and all but its not that great its just the cheapest thing on the market and has this false illusion that just because its selling it must be good.

MS can't afford Sony. Sony is a much larger company in general.

Why Doesn't MS just buy some car companies and some small countries while their at it.

F**k! buy McDonalds and call it Donalds-Soft

Buy Nintendo, buy everything!

Straight up BS!

Microsoft should just never invest it's money in anything ever again...

The idea of MS buying Sony is a little far fetched. Sony is a very large corporation. Aside from that, looks like within a few generations if Microsoft plays their cards right they will be outdoing Sony when it comes to console hardware. Sony has stated that they want a 10 year cycle, and Microsoft wants a 5 year cycle. If a new console came out today, it would without a doubt be more powerful than the PS3 and probably near the price point. The problem at that point is software. It wouldn't sell well for a couple of years because of the software support, unless MS put the time in to make it backwards compatible, something I have a feeling they put more thought into after the difficulty with the first Xbox games.

Like anything, we shall see.

This is the most ridiculous article. Sony would never sell to M$.

The official definition of recession is when GDP growth is negative for consecutive two quarters or more. Therefore "We’re now on the verge of a recession," is false.

Did the guy even know what Sony's book value is right now? technically its very hard if MS want na buy out Sony, they cant even buy yahoo without exchange their own share.

Beside, the wii "fun" factor get old so quick, I know, my friends came over. They get the taste of fun from the Wii, then it get old after 3 months of Wii party. Why? because the control thus easy not 100% perfect and some time not react to what it was intended to. The poor graphic doesnt create the "wow" factor and the lamest line up of party game made me buy wii game once every 5 months.

Yes the wii will sell well, but graphic , for me atleast, is till a big thing.

The article argues that the reason that they should merge is that the two systems are both similar, and the fact that a far different system is outselling them both. What he doesn’t realize is that competition leads to innovation, which is the driving force behind all new technology. Just look what happened last generation, the GameCube got all but disseminated by the other two systems, and Nintendo realized they had no hope to compare to the technology this generation brought. So what were they forced to do? They had to be innovative is a designing a completely new system architecture. The new “useless” technology he states is relative and a matter of opinion. Yes it may be overwhelming to the average consumer, but to the core video game audience, the PS3 and Xbox are marketed towards, it’s very important.

The author fails to also recognize that if there was a merger between the two companies, they would maintain a monopoly over the entire core market. You know what that means right? Inevitable you’re paying more for hardware and software. Good for business, not for us :) Core gamers would have no choice to fork over even more money to play games of higher difficulty. What choice would they have? Play the next gen Wii? I say competition is great, so long as the consumers remain the focus of the industry.

"What Sony and Microsoft can’t buy, though, is innovation".

BUY innovation?!?!? WTF?!?!

Who says they can't MAKE the innovation!

Why buy when you can create!

Article-"If the next Wii decides to become a true HD system, where will that leave Sony and Microsoft then"?

Wrong! He just screwed himself over. That made no sense.

Where will that leave Nintendo. MS and Sony will be way ahead of Nintendo, it will be HDplus, 1210p lol.

He doesn't realize that Nintendo is playing catch up in the tech department

Sony and Microsoft? Whatever...

that would be a weird company

HELL no ps3 games mixing with 360?! THEY suck to much to even be on the borderline of what a 360 games is.

haha i stoped reading when i saw, "games are Luxurie, nobody needs them". i mean wth, whats the point of that? we dont need most things in our world, we dont ened ovies,. we dont ened cloth, we dont need airplanes.we could live from water and bread and sleep, but we dont. =D.
stupid Bias.

Do they have the money?

...not to mention that it would be a disaster for gamers. Look what competition has brought to us gamers in the last year... price cuts, innovative games, an explosion in games development, games/systems on sale almost every week--- did I mention price cuts?

If you want innovation and better prices to continue, then mergers like this are NOT what you want....

MS would turn the Sony brand into complete garbage.

Another person who thinks that the game companies should make a one console for all machine. It's never going to happen!!! These guys are almost as insane as those 9-11 conspiracists who think the government destroyed the twin towers!!

Can't wait for the news article that comes out saying..

"Why this guy should shut up".

PLEASE DONT DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! /end sarcasm

In a parellel universe where the impossible is possible, if microsoft was to buy Sony, the ps4 would get RROD LOLZ.

BWAHAHAHHAHWAKNGFDG HAHAHAHAHA

lolol i didn't laugh so much in long time

it should be the other way round. "Why Sony should buy Microsoft instead"

This will solve doomed Windows vista.

hehehehe buy Sony hehheehhehehe funny.

When stupid pple see Sony they see only US things like some vaios and PS3, DO YALL EVEN KNOW HOW MUCH OF A BIG DEAL SONY IS .....LOL ITS SO FUNNY TO SEE IGNORANCE,,I travel round and i know, and will say, MICROSOFT CANNOT AFFORD SONY idiots

This is what he says about Hi-Def.
"We’re now on the verge of a recession, and Sony and Microsoft are in trouble. Games are luxuries. Nobody “needs” them. Nor does anyone need such hi-tech features as the Blu-Ray, HDMI compatibility Sony’s pushing."
"...Sony and Microsoft are selling hard-core gamers hard-core online experiences that require HDTVs for maximum appreciation -- HDTVs that most of the U.S. population still do not own, despite Best Buy ad campaigns suggesting the contrary."

AND then he states this:
"...Nintendo’s edge isn’t games -- it’s the fun factor, the unique experience. And it only needs to bump up its graphics to corner the market completely. The Wii’s unique controller, simple games, and easy-to-use feel, those are locked in. If the next Wii decides to become a true HD system, where will that leave Sony and Microsoft then?"
This is the biggest load of BS i've read in a while. It's fanboy level at the LEAST. Jeez.

please god no. Microsoft does not need a bigger monopoly . competiton FTW!

I think everyone needs to relax. The article is certainly not news (at least not real news). The author was joking, and it was pretty funny.

The possibility of one of these companies purchasing the other is so remote, that it is practically inconceivable. Unfortunately for all of the haters and fan boys, both Sony and MS will be around to battle it out in the next round of the console war.

SONY COULD NOT BUY MICROSOFT, THEY ARE CONSTANTLY CONSISTENT IN THE TOP 500 FORTUNE COMPANIES and FORBES LIST THAT MAKE ALOT OF MONEY. Sony isn't even near.

As a previous poster showed you. Microsoft's market value is almost $300 billion dollars.

Well To start with Sony Should Buy Yahoo!
Just to mess with microsoft. Then all the PS3 browsers should have Yahoo on it... Yahoo im on psp's and on ps3... THen add the playstation links to all the yahoo sites like MS dose x-box.

Draw ur line in the sand and declair war on them!
Ps3 is on its way up... Sony intended to loose money to begin with
Thre motto is the 10 year life cycle of the system... x-box has a 3 year at best... My brothers been through a few of them already.

On top of that.. Sony should buy the marval Comic contract that M$ just lost...

This moron complains about the online interface.. has he been hiding in a hole to not know homes on its way?

Neither could buy the other. Sony is bigger but doesn't have the liquid cash to do anything while there's no way MS could buy a larger company with so much capital. A games division joint project would be interesting though. Only question is what direction the hardware and service would go.

This would NEVER Happen unless Microsft was looking to lose 3/4 of there fortune. LMAO Sony isnt Yahoo.... The are also a corporation worth hundreds of billions and soon with Blu Ray becoming mainstream taking off and LCD's taking off they are gonna be worth that much more. In all sersiousness.... Microsft couldn't afford Sony. THATS HILARIOUS. What a noob.

What are you Nuts? PS3 and xbox competition is a good thing, competitors forces each other to keep they're price down. if they both got together they could double the price of the console they'll make and nothing could be done about it. Yes they still have the Wii to compete, but I see the Wii and xbox/Ps3 are 2 different types of consoles and isn't direct competing as much as the Xbox vs PS3 since those are so similar.

So in other words, if microsoft or Sony buys another, which will never happen unless one of them goes way off track and loose massive ammounts of billions. then I beleive the consumers will pay alot more cash for they're gaming needs

Very interesting article, and it lends credence to Denis Dyack's idea that not only is a one-console world maybe where we're headed, but that it will be sooner rather than later. I don't know if we will see Sony and Microsoft link-up, although in this day and age nothing is impossible. We may see a universal standard or platform emerge, in which case ANY electronics manufacturer could make a console that plays all the games out there. Who knows?

I have to agree with him on most of his points, though. I am on my fourth Xbox 360 in three years as well, which is really disappointing, and I primarily play DVD's and Blu-rays on my PS3, mainly because there really isn't much of anything yet that is worth playing on PS3.(Note: I have picked-up Uncharted, F1 Championship, Motorstorm, and Tekken Resurrection Online, but that's about it so far.)

Stupidest article in the world. When times are bad, people turn to movies and games to escape from reality. If anything, VG sales will go up.

Rather than them buying each other, what about a merger?

i dont see that happenning.... even if they combine..the wii would still win.

It would be better if they stay seperate the compition for the console war is what drives them to make better products/hardware/games which is win-win for us gamers. So a merger or a sell off is a BAD idea IMO.

Maybe Walmart should buy them both.

Sony doesn't need help MS are noobs when it comes to video games.
Nintendo is in it's own playing field.
Sony are already kings and I don't think they want to share their power and profits with anyone especially some rookies like MS.
Sony is so far ahead of everyone already they have OLED HDTV's coming out in Japan that kill all the newest technology we have now.
Sony can easily upgrade the Blu-ray disc to more memory and resolution when ready.
Sony already has the technology to build the next Playstation and I bet you one is made already.
My uncle used to work for Sony back when he lived in Tokyo when they developed the PS1.
He owned the PS1 when it first came out in 1995.
When the big Sony boss invited him to go over and do business at his house he already had the PS2 like 2 years later.
It doesn't surprise me that Sony can't release another Playstation.
Besides Sony stated that the PS3 would last 10 years in all from birth to death. Sony didn't say when a PS4 would come out did they?
I expect a PS4 within the next 7 years as well as another Xbox and Nintendo.
PS4 (2014)
Xbox720 (2012)-Just because we all know MS in in a rush for the consumers dollar.
Wii2 (2014)
Sony at this point has the technology to go further right now and the other competition doesn't.
Toshiba isn't even close to making an OLED TV yet.
Only Sony and Samsung have the technology to go beyond the competition.
However MS doesn't have the technology to make another console.
Reasons:
1.) Sony and Samsung have the 1st OLED's for sale now and have mastered the technology.
2.) MS needs to focus on the competition at hand now dealing with the ever stretching boundaries in sales worldwide for both the PS3 and Wii.
3.) MS is still recovering from the loss of their dead format the HD DVD player.
4.) MS just can't afford to toss the 360 this early in this competition.
If MS does make another console it to fix the hardware problems and possibly the new change in format space for their games.

Though it would be sort of a monopoly I would love to see the consoles come together to make one super console so that all gamers can all get the same games and experiences.

This guy is obviously a communist and doesn't understand competition.

ROFL @ Sony + Apple.

If that ever happened PS3 would have launched at 1299.99. All apple does is over price things..I would never want any company to be with them. Sony + Microsoft = less quality gaming. They won't be competing anymore...which means they just half-a$$ things.

Japanese Regs prevent foreign ownership to exceed 30-40% of their companies without some sort of special clearance.
Hell Disney's Mark Cap is more than Sony but you dont see Disney taking them over now do you.

man XBOTS IF YOU WANT SONYS GAMES THAT BAD GET A PS3 DAMN IT ALL

No Thanks

As much as i would like for 360 to drop off the face of the earth and MS leave the video game world to Sony and Nintendo, A merge would not be a bad thing.(To put fanboism a side). However I dont see this as a buyout just a joint operation, neither side has the ability to buy out each other or willing to let that happen.

First off this could benefit us not worsen for the consumer. This does not cause a monopoly in the video game world because there will always be Nintendo and that would not go anywhere ever.

Second joint operation means joint resources meaning better quality for lower prices. If more people are buying consoles then they have more money to work with on lowering cost production and the consoles since there is bigger return. There will always be the consumer demand for lower prices video games is not something people need, but what people want. Meaning the companies will always be forced to lower prices if they want to or not for the fact are people going to put up with high prices for no reason.

Third Developers are happy because they only have 2 systems to work with and dont have to split their resources so they can make better quality games that have higher probability on seeing a huger return.

Lastly not as much flame wars on which console is better because most people will have either Nintendo or the joint operation system or both which I think should be still named Playstation (Or another name would satisfy me all together) still because its been out longer and brand is bigger than xbox will ever be.(Not a fanboy comment its the truth)

In conclusion the merge could be better for everyone not just some monopoly some of u are stating it could be. Now will this ever happen I doubt it but just something people could consider before just completely tossing this aside.

"...Sony's online friend management and gameplay are an utter mystery, requiring endless navigation of its Byzantine menu structure."

Are you joking? wow this dude is either a moron or a total fanboy.

Good post

whatever its kinda weird though...

No thanks, I like my electronics to work and be good quality.

simply put, competition is healthy

Why do they call it the xbox 360?
Because you turn 360 degrees and walk away.

Why does everything need to merge ? I like diversity. Else eventually the world will end up in one company. And then the departments within the company start to compete, or how should this end ? It definitively will not end in one (!) perfect product for all and every needs. Can you imagine ? Go into a department store, and you can have exactly one toothpaste. Perfect. No need to choose.

all I have to say is "oh helll no"

why does the title imply that sony is buying microsoft? This is the first i have heard of this.

When people who know very little about the economy talk, it's a sad thing.

If it happens...

...the Earth will be flung from its orbit by the collective explosion of fanboy heads around the world.

Sony and microsoft joining sides is like trying to get the Israelis and Palestinians to be friends which equals = impossible.

What kind of idiot writes these articles?
MS cant afford Sony, sorry.

#2 MS buying SONY? ROFL!!! YEAH RIGHT! #3 MS just CANNOT EVER BEAT SONY tis the reason why the fanboys posted this rediculous news lolz # WHY would MS try to buy SONY? Because MS CANT survive for much longer! and finally #5 The GAMING industry CANNOT live without SONY PS products. IF by some miracle MS buys SONY then the game industry is dead.

.....LOL sony doesn't have any games im interested in and I could care less for FF.......

....i'll take half life instead, xbox exclusive only and the new incredible RPGs like project: origins....

....and fu** that worthless company's stockholders for once, I hope the 360 ruins them in the end....

if anything Microsoft should actually buy, its a company thats WORTH it...why not purchase up EA + bioware?

besides final fantasy garbage, sony's got nothin anymore

NINTENDO owns all the hot properties even though they wouldn't sell, I'd rather see NINTENDO & MS reach a full-on partnership and watch $ony go under....

"SONY" the same dumbass SONY who thinks FF7 is the greatest game in the world.....LMAO!!!!

the same $ONY who has no respect for any real games, the classic games which MADE video gaming.....aka DUNGEONS & DRAGONS.....

the same $ONY who the PC realm nearly totally hates, and would rather watch the company go under after the shoddy hardware they put out....

please gents....please be fuking serious, $ONY is total crap and in the end MS will win and take them down a notch in japan.......$ONY is not worth 100 billion, and microsoft's share value is 300 billion....

they could buy out NINTENDO and do some really great things including have dragon quest on their systems.....

When you see how well the whole monopoly situation has worked for MS in PC operating systems;

- Thats exactly what I want in gaming also.....

On second thought, maybe not... ever.....

Yeah, like Japan would ever let that happen...

I bet that if the headline said "Why Sony and Microsoft should join forces" instead, the comments would be drastically different.

I love psn and never have a problem with it . Only thing i hate is when my buddys come on and they text me i have to get out of a game. the presentation in HD is awesome . very affordable and easy to navigate . playing online never a lag and i can find my friends easy . please stop findind reasons to hate..

im getting really tired of these idiot sony fanboys its Fing microsoft u think there revenue will be posted on the internet plus how many people do u know that have sony computers right in addition almost every computer in the world has Windows on it not every body has a playstion or fing sony TV so by common sense microsoft is a much greater company than bulls@#t sony these people(microsoft) know what they're doing

only reason why d1cksofts marketshare is higher is because its based outta usa, and our market is vast, and our money is spent rapidly in this country, thats why we are in debt, but sony is gonna turn that around as they already have, i just dont see how having game machines selling so high, and movies, and are that much under d1cksoft.

and bill gates has over 100 billion of that