Get ready for all-out war. Microsoft may beat Sony and Nintendo to market with Xbox 360, but the two Japanese competitors will unveil their own updated game players this week too.
Sony, whose PlayStation 2 dominates the U.S. market, has the most to lose in this battle. PS2 has contributed 40% to 60% of Sony's operating profits over the past several years. With Sony's core electronics business cratering and no obvious successor to the Spider-Man franchise in its entertainment pipeline, Microsoft's renewed assault on this bedrock business could not have come at a worse moment.
Like Microsoft, Sony--whose next-generation PlayStation might...