@ damkira

It is quite obvious that the 360 will dominate in NA.
The fight between 360 and PS3 is world wide and the only way this can happen is if Japan can compensate for the overwhelming 360 numbers in NA.

If the 360 can market Scene It and other games for families and kids well, they can begin to make gains on the Wii. Yes i know Scene It isn't Mario or any of those kind of games, but the 360 is really in need of a new IP that is rated E. Like a platforming game such as Crash Bandicoot when it came out for the Ps1. I do think the 360 will comfortably beat the Ps3 this holiday because of the strong lineup of games available though.

PS3 has one advantage - BR!
This fact may lift PS3 over 360 worldwide this Christmas. With HDTV prices going down many will want to purchase a BR player and PS3 is the cheapest.
Then, maybe they will purchase games as well.

I agree with you Duckaluck, but to be fair, xbox live is better and RRoD is less of a problem for xbox.
But BR is clearly an advantage and this will help PS3 a lot this Christmas.

I know this does not apply but I still don't get Wii.
I play Wii games about 15% of my game playing time.
But good for Nintendo - they have the bragging rights now and for many more years to come. Hopefully they won't pull a Sony in the future.

BR will not help blu-ray ALOT this Christmas. Most people buying HDTVs that want high def movies will probably go the way of HDDVD, considering most places are selling the new A3 for 199$. Not only that, people aren't going to pick up a PS3 because of blu-ray, people picking up PS3s are thinking games first, blu-ray is just a plus, assuming they even know about it. Most people who want to watch movies don't want a video game console too...for the most part, unless they were already looking to buy a console in the first place. It just wouldn't be cool to bring your date back home and pop the movie into your brand new....Playstaion?!@? "Why do you have that, isn't that for kids?"

I wonder what impact software will have more specifically the late season arrivals on the 360 in all its markets. Honestly Nintendo and Sony have expended most of their AAA offerings. However Microsoft still has Mass Effect, and Lost Odyssey. Compound that with that consoles more recent hits it might generate a substantial ground swell.

I purchased Mass Effect today, and have spent over six hours playing. The game is utterly breath taking. While the game has some technical flaws the usual ones endemic to Bioware games. Slow loading and the engine has some glitches. Overall the game is epic in every sense of the word. I see this game in the West having almost the same level of impact that Halo 3 has had. I assume that Lost Odyssey might also have an equal impact in Japan even if the spike it generates is not permanent.

Software late to the race might have a substantial impact. Especially hitting right on the cusp it could sway demand strongly to the 360. That proverbial needle that trips the balance for those sitting on the fence.

Sony has no equivalent of Halo 3, bioshock, and Mass Effect and those games resonate alot with the hard core gamers in the west. Microsoft is also trying to soften their image to casuals with Viva pinata, scene it, naruto, and guitar hero. Sony is putting up octopus ads of heavenly sword, lair, warhawk, and ratchet. Those games just dont get the attention of the core audience as much and they seem to make no strides to the casuals or lead them directly to the PS2.

Lost Odyessey will turn out like Blue Dragon did with the japanese market, with no real effect.