I've been saying for years that being the most powerful has never been a direct reason for "not winning" a generation. People saying that the most powerful console couldn't perform the best because it had never happened before were basing this on an absurdly small sample size. Power is simply not a negative in the minds of consumers.

In fact, when coupled with a relatively reasonable price, being more powerful is a substantial incentive to consumers.

If you count the Steamboxes, it's not themist powerful :P

You you count stemboxes then all consoles are weak. Point was about consoles. Not PC.

I think because the casual market has significantly changed.
Last gen the wii introduced motion play that was easy to adapt for everyone and made the wii lead despite of being less powerful than their competitors.
This gen the WiiU doesn't have a lot to offer for the casuals, it's just core gaming.
So the only points for casuals to search their system this gen is power and amount of advertisement.
Since xbox1 and ps4 have more third party, they naturally also receive more advertisement. So people just go for the ps4 because its cheaper than xbox1 + more powerful.
While the smaller group of core gamers goes with nintendo.

The PS3 caught up because it was bigger WW than the 360 and had EU and Japan to fall back on. MS doesn't have that so it will not "catch up" to the PS4 but it will sell better in the UK and US than it is now and other places as well. Overtake in the US and UK is is a toss up.

OT:

Sony didn't make the mistakes it made last gen and both MS and Nin made a lot of mistakes. ALso the PS brand is bigger WW than either of the other two.

The 'most powerful system never wins' was always kind of a stupid "rule" that some people got too carried away with. Almost always there were other aspects at play there.

The SNES did beat the Genesis and Turbo Grafx 16 too, and it was more powerful than either.

The N64 would have beat the Playstation had Nintendo not been stupid and crippled the console with cartridge only.

It's that gamer's trust Sony more ... (Well, at least on the console front.)

Do you see that tongue at the end, it means he was kidding...

Ok just stop.  Being the most powerful console is never a DETRIMENT.  It is always a good thing.  However it is usually a corelation that they lose.

This time however it will be a big reason the PS4 WON.  For the same price as an Xbox One you get a console that is smaller, twice as powerful, with more games, and with a clear focus on gaming.  People aren't loyal to any brand, and their not as stupid as some think they are.  Of course most people buy the PS4.  You would be silly not to.

1. ps move. sending it out to die was the best decision sony ever made.