At this time last year, Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3 videogame machine looked like a dud, outsold in the U.S. two-to-one by Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 and four-to-one by Nintendo Co.’s Wii. Now, Sony’s videogames business is back in the hunt. The Wii still leads in sales world-wide, but the PS3 exceeded Xbox 360 sales in the critical U.S. market during the first three months of the year, helped by an improved selection of games, a 20% price cut last fall and the lure of models with built-in Blu-ray DVD players. Sony has also continued beating Microsoft in console sales in Europe and Japan.

Sony is betting that some coming games will give the PS3 an additional lift, including Konami Corp.’s Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, a combat game due out in June. The game, which will be available only for the PS3, is the latest in a series that has sold more than 22 million copies over its life. The PS3 may also get a boost from the recent resolution of a battle between high-definition movie formats. The PS3 supports Blu-ray, the technology that triumphed over the competing HD-DVD format after Hollywood studios and retailers threw their weight behind it.

Source: The Wall Street Journal