While everybody else is wondering exactly the opposite (shouldn’t it be “Can Sony save the PS3”?), Wired Magazine’s Frank Rose in their September issue looks into the history, politics, and economics of the PS3 and points out why it might be Sony’s last chance for redemption as an electronics manufacturer. Among other things, he points to the fact that Sony’s electronics division has seen profits plummet since 2001 and has had only one profitable year in the past five years. Along with these facts, he goes into the usual doom and gloom that we’ve seen from a variety of outlets so far - consumers don’t want/need a Blu-Ray drive; the console’s too expensive; the Cell processor’s too tough to program for; the manufacturing is too expensive. Still, Rose manages to get some interesting comments from some big names in the industry and other analysts.

Says Rishad Tobaccowala, of ad giant Publicis, talking about Sony’s strategy:

It’s very un-Japanese. It’s betting the company. If this thing bombs, there is no second coming. Everything else about Sony is a sideshow. This is the show

To be fair, Wired’s article also points out that this is not the first time developers have complained about creating for a new console, or that speculators have had jitters about a new disc format - many of the same issues being discussed now were pertinent back at the launch of both the PSOne and the PS2, and Sony has fared quite well from both of those.

For now, you’ll have to check out the article on news-stands, as the contents haven’t yet been released online. When it does hit though, you should be able to read the article using the link below! For now, you can head to news-stands and pick up the latest issue, September 2006, which features Beck on the cover.