You've forgot to mention when Electronics Boutique purchased GAME for around £220 million - shortly after GAME floated. If it wasn't for EB being allowed to swallow up it's nearest rival, things might have been very different today.

Thanks - of course, this is going to open up some debate (it certainly did in the MCV office!).

If anyone feels another deal should have gone in the top ten, feel free to discuss below. We'll be keeping an observant eye out...

Tim

What about Domarks spending spree during the late 90's that ended in a total disaster - not surprised it did tho, could even make games that sold so no wonder it all went tit's up

But,...when you ended the last one with the comment that PS3 and Wii were neck and neck you lost all credibility.
Wii is outselling PS3 buy large margins everywhere.

Indeed - and the fact it's split across 10 'features' just proves this is a shamefull attempt to get clicks.

Another ridiculously pointless article designed to provoke more of the childish fanboy flame wars which taint the comments sections across the entire site.

"too close to call"

Fanboy baiting at it's most blatant, covered for ten pages by a thin veneer of journalism.

Did Sony commission you to write this piece?

The final paragraph of page 10 seems to be where you earned your money.

Oh dear. MCV puts up a nice little historical reminder to make our weekends a little more bearable and people attack them for (a) spreading thousands of words over 10 pages and (b) one tiny line questioning who will be the eventual 'victor' in Wii vs. PS3 – contrasting the closeness of the battle to Sony's past dominance ('cos that's a message Sony would want to pay to get out there... durrr).

I for one would like to say cheers for bringing back some long-forgotten memories (DMA!)... And to the fanboys trying their best to understand this stuff: please, please go away. Your GCSE's will be worth so much more than this in the long run - maybe give those a bit more attention.

ps. Still should have had EA Pandemic/Bioware in there.

How unbearable could your weekend have been for that article to have made it any better?

So you don't consider the closing paragraph of the entire piece to be at all questionable? Read it again and tell me that there isn't an unwarranted level of pro Sony 'journalism' at work.

A statement about their past dominance (even quoting a figure for those nervous investors), followed by a rather amusing comment about the PS3s sales performance in relation to the Wii being 'too close to call'.

I guess your weekend was so unbearable you'd enjoy just about anything, lucky that MCV was there with some propaganda for you.

Hi all,

As pointed out above, the reason this was spread over 10 'features' is because it would be impossible to read online otherwise.

The original article first featured in MCV magazine (Which I'm guessing you're not subscribers to), and had to be re-worked in order to make its formatting appropriate for online readers.

I'm not going to address the frankly odd accusation that the article is commercially linked (if it was, don't you think there would be more about the deals Sony has done in the past? Why have we given Microsoft's audacious purchase of Rare a whole page?)... but I will justify the final line of the piece, and the wording.

The point I make is that, commercially, PSOne and PS2 completely outperformed Nintendo in the marketplace - and there are plenty of figures to back up the claim. During that time, the PlayStation name became a cultural phenomenon.

The teeny weeny final line actually makes the point that, this time round might be the first generation in which Nintendo muscles out the PlayStation brand - which it passed up years before - to become the dominant force. Of course, we're only a couple of years into this generation, so to call it now would be a little premature.

Wii's certainly ahead, and showing strong signs that it could do it... but then Napoleon looked like he was going to rule the world halfway into his tenure.

Thus 'too close to call'... or: 'it's currently too close to call an eventual victor in the battle between Wii and PlayStation 3.'

Anyway, 'flame' away. Just hope some of you are sensible enough to understand what seems to me to be pretty sound reasoning.

Tim

I reckon that even though the deal did not go through, the Atari - Nintendo famicon saga should have got a special mention as it was probably one of the most important events in the entire timeline of this industry.