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As the three game platforms begin true head-to-head competition with the launch of the Wii and Playstation 3, several factors could hurt Sony’s chances of having its PS3 platform from becoming an unqualified success.

Some of these are already well known. The Wii costs about $200, Xbox comes in around $400, and Playstation at $500 to $600.

Ninetendo outsold Playstation in the US during November and plans to ship four million Wii consoles before the end of the year, about double Sony’s shipment target for PS3.

More recently, it has become evident that the Wii has a much more intuitive control panel than the Xbox of PS3. While this may not matter to hardcore gamers, it does to many consumers who want an easier to use product. Sony faces a very difficult question. Is it possible that owners of Playstation 2 will simply contnue to buy games for the older platform and buy the Wii for newer games?

Several of the top video games are designed for the Wii and it has a control board that is set up like the traditional contollers for older game platforms that can be used to replace it more intuitive contoller. In other words, you can use it like a classic gaming device or employ its next generation capacity.

Sony cannot afford to have a lot of its customer hang onto their PS2s and buy Wii, but that may be exactly what happens.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.

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