Poll Tally: PS3 Launch Fizzles

Because of the impending holidays, I’m going to assume that you’re going to have better things to do in the next few days than answer our December poll, so I’m going to wrap it up a little early. We asked you, our darling readers:

which of the three major console launches — Microsoft, Nintendo, or Sony — managed to fumble, stumble, and disappoint the most.

Not surprisingly, owing likely to the recentness of this particular launch, and the fading memory of how difficult it was to get your Xbox 360 back in the day (they’re pretty much ubiquitous and on sale now, thus erasing much of the bitterness of the launch), an overwhelming 44% of you pinned the donkey’s tail on Sony, for their exhorbantly priced, continually unavailable PS3.

Plagued by shortages, a refusal to restock supplies before Christmas, and utterly ignoring their own criticisms of the 360 launch last year, Sony has managed to aggravate many of its loyal fans, myself included, by failing to improve upon We were told that shortages would be minimal and that a worldwide rollout would cut continental inequalities. Judging from the looks of exasperation and annoyance on the faces of parents at local Best Buy outlets, I too would have to give the PS3 launch a failing grade. While none of the console makers managed to pull off a seamless release, despite all of them claiming to have the capability to do so, the PS3 takes the cake and will go down in the Play-Girlz books as the worst of the (current) next-gen launches.

The Xbox 360 squatted in second place at 17%, showing that past grudges can still be carried a year later, while Nintendo’s Wii, with a cheaper price point and refreshing (supposedly) stock, wandered in at 14%. A full 10% of you thought that all three companies did very well with the launches of their new products, and 15% panned the entire bunch as being inept.