Winners & Losers: Sony Is No. 1; Discomfort for Select Comfort

Alamy Companies can make brilliant moves, but there are also times when things don't work out quite as planned. From a changing of the guard in the video game console business to retailers planning to cut our Thanksgiving get-togethers short, here's a rundown of the week's best and worst moves in the business world. Sony (SNE) -- Winner After 32 consecutive months as the top-selling video game console in the country, Microsoft's (MSFT) Xbox 360 was unseated in September by Sony's PS3, according to industry tracker NPD Group. Microsoft was never expected to stay on top forever, but the timing of its fall could be better. Both companies are introducing new consoles next month, and while it's widely assumed that Microsoft's Xbox One will be more popular than Sony's PlayStation 4, watching Sony retake the lead last month does make this holiday season's new console war that much more unpredictable. Sony rarely gets mentioned as a weekly winner these days, so let it bask in the glory of success. Thanksgiving Dinner -- Loser Remember when Thanksgiving was all about getting together with the family for a traditional feast as your uncles bickered about politics and you tried to sneak your vegetable onto your little cousin's plate? Well, that part of the holiday's festivities seems to be getting shorter and shorter shrift these days, with even more retailers announcing this week that they will opening for Black Friday before some of us have even finished our pumpkin pie.