Microsoft have far more money to throw around advertising the Xbox One yet its sales compared to Playstation have failed to deliver. If we go with your notion that its a trend, hegemony, neo-liberal media, the elite then the Xbox would be winning the advertising would have worked. That why we have the type of blame the dog news that you portrayed, short, sharp content spreading fear followed by and advert to stay in buy an Xbox One because some guy from Breaking Bad has one. The Xbox advertising campaign was far bigger than Sony's PS4 campaign. Its also the case that as the average gamer age has increased to being in their thirties and is still overwhelmingly male. Men like to research before buying electrical products, its considered the thing to do, its statistics, just like sports or cars with the horsepower what's under the hood mentality. A mentality driven very much by the media culture you refer to. Chomsky gives a lot of insight in to this in Manufacturing Consent which I assume you have read.