According to this site's estimates the PS3 is only a few months or even weeks away from passing the 360 in lifetime sales. Of course these sales are just estimates from this one site based on its unique tracking methods. 

However when Wii Sports became the best selling game of all time according to VGC it was BIG NEWS. The story was carried by newspapers, G4, new programs and many other outlets. I believe its one of the biggest stories in the history of VGC.  

Do you think a similar thing will happen if (when) the PS3 passes the 360. Do you think other gaming sites will carry the news. What about general online news sites and newspapers? Could this lead to increased scrutiny from outside sources. Will it prompt a response from Sony or MS?

Thoughts?

It's a possibility. I'm sure many people are aware of this site and it is pretty big news that a lot of people may be interested in.

I think it's pretty big news.

Just wait for the $99 PS3. That's going to sell like hotcakes.

I think we are a long ways from a $99 dollar PS3. The tech on that machine is still pricey.

When/if PS3 passes the Xbox360 on VGChartz.com, it will still be debated, and we wont see any real definitive answer until after 2013. Many Sony Fanboys here will cheer, (come a few weeks) and I'll probably smile, but that's it. It's not that big of a deal.

What makes me happy is that Sony has hinted on taking the right steps for the next gen. Sony is not stopping the support for PS3 titles just because their new machine is arriving, and faith in them in the stock market is coming back. This make me happy. Now they need find a way to embrace the homebrew community & connect them with game developers. Create a marketplace where those homebrew ideas are not used for pirating, but sold to improve the PS4 experience. That is who they can truly win the next generation.

Now I want the Xbox to fire back and make the next generation a real freaking competition. Make want both consoles, or I'll be very disappointed. I'm not worried about Nintendo because they financial stable and incredibly creative; they will be fine.

Given the complexity of the hardware, I doubt this will happen anytime soon.

That's what we all (should) want, a very strong competition and I think it will be. Both will get very strong and mostly equal 3rd-party-support, that's a tie. First-party we will have to see, of course. I am curious how secondary features might take a crucial role (kinect, pseye, apps, yt-integration, media-player-function, perhaps 4k,...).

No, PS3 is still a huge flop. Sony went from having 80% market share to just 30%.
They lost billions, everything what they made on PS1 and PS2.
They also lost exclusive support of 3rd parties.
And most of PS3 1st party exclusive games are a huge failures like Starhawk, Socom 4, Twisted Metal, last two Ratchets, God of War: Prequel etc.

Well if VGChartz is right the XBox did outsell the Gamecube as well last gen. Personally I think Microsoft did really well outside of the RROD issue and not making many non-Kinect exclusive games the last 2-3 years. People can forget about Live going free because that's not going to happen with all the subscriptions sold.

PS3 did lose a lot of market share and you can blame their initial launch period where their price tag was too high (but if it was lower it would have cost Sony even more money) and the fact that Blu-Ray was not essential as DVD was. PS2 was not only a great gaming system but was one of the cheapest DVD players on the market.

The third party exclusive thing? Touchy subject. But bottom line is companies want to maximize their sales and they believed being on multiple platforms those sales would be better.

Not going to go into Sony's losses. It was the price they paid to dominate the blu-ray market and they thought it was important. If it wasn't for the RROD costs Microsoft would have been more profitable years ago as well. Luckily for MS they have other means of making money.

Since so many of my real life friends don't hardly know about the PS4 coming out, I say no.

The Sony fans I know already think that happened a long time ago. So there is no news for them. (But they also think the Xbox 360 and the Wii are years and years older than the PS3.) The Xbox fans I know, don't care. And my non gaming friends just want to see what Kinect is like. Yes, it has even been called 'The Nintendo Kinect!'

It will be big news hear, an many many threads. It's going to be like when the Dudley Dursley doesn't get enough bday presents. But like throwing a bunch of doggie treats in a kennel - the inmates are happy but the general public doesn't care.

I think it might be little late. About 5 years late to make that big of an impact, but chances are it still will, even though many don't really consider it news worthy, there are some who will.