...and the only way you could downplay Sony's performance was to take both of its competitors and combine them? You do realize that phrasing is likely the reason you're encountering most of the backlash, because you basically come across as desperate to find some way, ANY way, to claim that Sony's lead really isn't thaaaaat greeeeat. The way you finally picked isn't even a particularly good one.

'Yeah, if me and my friend BOTH attack that one guy, maybe while he's got his back turned, we can TOTALLY beat him, so he's not so tough! >.> '

He sounds pretty tough to me if you need to bring along a friend to stand a chance. o.o

Anyway, breaking them down individually, Sony's line-up has been pretty lackluster so far, they've been pretty sluggish to improve the platform itself, and many studios have yet to really throw their hat into the ring, yet they'd still been pretty handily outselling Microsoft month after month, in what was supposed to be Microsoft's home market no less. (Interested in seeing June's NPD; Microsoft may have had a lead the last three weeks, but they were probably slaughtered by Sony in the first week, so it will be interesting to see how it all balances out.) They've got an exclusive marketing deal going on with Activision for Destiny- which has the potential to greatly benefit Sony in particular giving the planned bundle- and Japan, Sony's usual stronghold, has been highly lackluster in terms of both developers and consumers using the new platform.

In other words, even though Sony is doing very, VERY well in terms of sales, the shocking part is that if Japan had received the PS4 like it did past generations, and if they'd hit more aggressively in terms of their lineup, it would be doing even BETTER, perhaps significantly so. Hell, I'm pretty surprised it's doing so well so early! Both the Japan situation AND the relative lack of content have the potential to be rectified, meaning that even when Sony's sales really begin to slouch- definition being 'Not The Lead Selling 8th Gen Console Week After Week'- they still have opportunities to improve and expand on these key weak points.

Microsoft on the other hand has actually, in my opinion, done a good job getting titles out there in the past eight months, they've reversed nearly EVERY negative sticking point on the console, and have made their pricing significantly more competitive, both with the removal of the Kinect, and with a greater emphasis on bundles, deals, and purchase incentives. They've been running, they've been running like Hell, and the best that it's seemed to do is slow the rate at which Sony pulls ahead of them. Sure, there are a large number of markets they haven't released in yet, but 1) chances of managing much in those markets are slim anyway, and 2) with no region locking, anyone IN those markets has the option of importing, meaning that consumer demand in Europe won't be as pent-up as some people think. Even assuming the VGChartz numbers are accurate and Microsoft has regained a sliver of a North America lead, (about time by the way, seriously, took them aaaages,) they still aren't even able to keep the global gap from increasing yet.

To frame it with your race analogy, Sony's stumbled a few times, and still seems to be kinda half-assing it, but is outpacing the others like Usain Bolt. Microsoft flat out tripped and face-planted at the starting line, but managed to get to its feet and has been running in a flat-out sprint ever since, only to watch Usony Bolt get further and further away. Microsoft might be able to tap into some reserves and run EVEN faster, but there's also the possibility that Sony will eventually actually start trying to actively compete, and will just end up pulling ahead even faster as a result.

As for Wii U, fiiine, if you want to include them. xP I think it has the potential to do very well, in no small part because, as I mentioned before, it is a much more distinct platform than the Xbox One/PS4 duo. Multi-console owners may be more likely to make their first two consoles an Xbox One (or PS4) and Wii U than they are an Xbox One and PS4, because you maximize the amount of content available. Folks who don't see the point in buying the Xbox One AND PS4 to try just a handful of exclusives are more likely to invest in a Nintendo machine as a second console. I know I intend to. So I have no doubt Wii U will be just fine, once they start getting some awesome Zelda and Smashing titles out there. They MIGHT even have a shot at a global lead, if they can secure the Japan market and keep Sony from getting a bigger foothold, in much the same way the PS3 caught up to the Xbox 360 because of that advantage; again, it's a fairly big 'if.' That being said, Nintendo will continue to be Nintendo, so short of indie titles, expect the larger third-party publishers to continue largely ignoring the Wii U in favor of the combined PS4 and Xbox One market.

In closing, I don't see the PS4 having PS2 or even Wii NUMBERS, but that's mostly because the market is different; most of the casual gamers who made the Wii so popular have moved on to mobile and tablets, and unlike the PS2 era, where it emerged during the rise of DVD popularity, PS4 has no exceptional media features that the competition doesn't. There are cheaper, smaller devices that provide a variety of multimedia functions now, which I expect will draw the bulk of the casual crowd, (for the same reason, don't have very high expectations on Microsoft's 'own the living room' plan succeeding.) I doubt any of the three consoles will achieve those kinds of numbers, (though I believe the software attach rates for all three might increase to compensate, meaning the game market itself will continue to grow, even if the hardware numbers are lower.)

I do however believe that the PS4 will continue to maintain a solid, consistent lead over the immediate competitor, in terms of percentages it will likely be even wider than the lead the Wii had over the 360 and PS3. The Wii U, however, is a bit of a wild card at the moment, so I can't speak towards the PS4's overall market share.

But is it an anomaly? Wii U has stabilised to about 60k per week, PS4 has been consistently around 100k per week, and XBO has been around 65k since the price cut.

Given that the big Wii U criticism was lack of a game that would sell the system (and all reports seem to indicate that MK8 is selling the system) and the big criticism of XBO was price (and it got a price cut that saw sales jump by more than 50% and stay steady from there), is there really any reason to think that these aren't now the new baselines?

And if you consider XBO and PS4 to be in direct competition, it makes sense that an improvement of about 30k for XBO would result in a similar drop for PS4 (factor in the summer slowdown, and it makes sense for the numbers to land where they currently are).

Or are you really making a prediction that both the Wii U and XBO sales, which have remained stable for the whole month, are going to drop suddenly for no reason, or that the PS4 sales will suddenly jump for no reason, just because this month is different from last month, despite notable events changing things?

What evidence do you have that either the Xbox One or WiiU have found their new baseline? The WiiU have been at 60K for two weeks and the Xbox One has been at 65K for just one.

The WiiU just had MK8 come out but doesn't have any other big games coming out for some time. The game has been great for the system but that boost won't last much longer.

The Xbox One just got it's kinectless SKU and has had discounts on and off for months. It's likely that the Xbox One will have a higher baseline due to the new SKU but we have no way of knowing it will be 65K. It is also possible though that the new SKU will just end up being another in a long line of failed attempts to boster sales for the Xbox One.