Sony took a battering as a whole, but PlayStation 3 continued its strong growth.

And while declining television sales and the strong Yen gave the company a bit of a battering (incurring losses of about $346 million), the PlayStation 3 business continued its growth.

It seems like so long ago since the bleak days of PS3, when Sony's system was getting battered both critically and financially. But that's become a thing of the past, and whether you choose to judge the PS3 against the success of the PlayStation 2 or its failings at the start of this generation will massively alter your outlook. Sure market-share was lost with PS3, but Sony's done something of an incredible job turning the system's situation around.

The console sold 3.7 million units for the quarter, up on last year's 3.5 million. That puts global PlayStation 3 sales at about 55.5 million units, now achingly close to the XBOX 360's tally. What's perhaps most amazing is that Sony still hasn't hit a mass market price point.

Even more promisingly, software sales also increased from 35.3 million to 37.4 million.

Elsewhere, PlayStation Portable sales also rose for the quarter, up from 1.5 million to 1.7 million year-over-year. Software sales dipped quite heavily though, from 11 million to 8.1 million.

The PS2 also continued its decline, with hardware sales relatively steady at 1.2 million but software massively down to just 2.8 million. Practically non-existant.

[source sony.net]