I always thought that the best measure to consider which was the best console of a generation was not how much console units a console sold but how many games/software it sold. In that regard, is really impressive how well X360 and PS3 did, both surpassing Wii, and both with the best ratio by far compared to the rest of consoles. 

PS3 was a financial problem for Sony, no doubt about that, but as a gaming console, it was a juggernaut. In my opinion it still has the best/largest library of any PS system. The amount of new ip's, new first party games, goty game contenders that launched in that gen has not been surpassed in this one in my opinion. Just remember: Uncharted, The Last of Us, LittleBigPlanet, Assassin's Creed, Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect, Batman Arkham, Bioshock, ... plus established ip's getting to another level like Call of Duty, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Far Cry, Battlefield, FIFA, NBA 2k, ....and of couse succeful old franchises like Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, Ratchet and Clank, Grand Theft Auto, ... still doing great.

I joke that PS3 was the most expensive marketing campaign for PS4, but it really was. Without Sony's effort with PS3 during 2009-2013, PS4 wouldn't have had started as good as it did.

Where did you get those PS3 software numbers from?

360 must have final numbers very similar to PS3, around 86M+ units and nearly 1B game sales. (Up until 2016)

This was the most competitive dispute ever.

I really want the PS3 to get those extra 600k sales confirmed sometime, tho.

I didn't know PS3 was a bigger financial failure than Wii U. Can you tell me more?

Just look at Sony's profits(losses) over that period in there video gaming. And the Wii U actually made a bit of profit in it's last years.