Well, the PS3 has gained about 1.5 million so far this year.  World wide comparisons for this period to last year aren't very appropriate because the EU launch occurred in March and gave Sony a huge boost they didn't otherwise have.  Aside from that launch, the PS3 clearly had less momentum than Microsoft last year -- in the US the PS3 had several months of sub-100k units sold.  Now they're tripling that.

Holiday performance is a big question, of course, and depends a hell of a lot of Microsoft's holiday strategies and Sony's holiday stratigies.  However, one thing that is clear is that Sony's holiday performance in 2008 relative to Microsoft should be far better than Sony's holiday performance in 2007 relative to Microsoft. 

If I were a betting man, I'd say that Sony would outsell Microsoft world wide August-December 2008, but would sell approximately the same number of units as Microsoft in the US August-December 2008.  And that's much better than last year.  If I had to estimate the gap size in December 2008 I think it would decrease somewhere between 4 and 4.5 million units total gap leaving Sony within striking distance, although unlikely, in 2009.

SONY brand is strong, When the price is right it'll only get better

i forget that i opened that thread. LOL!!!

This was pretty much debunked in another thread (at least regarding consoles).  Someone posted a poll that demonstrated very little preference for PS2 users to choose PS3 over 360 or Wii.

RROD, very little price reduction over the past 3 years, and lack of compelling titles during the first half of 2008 has held the 360 back.  With the new Jasper motherboards (RROD elimination and cheaper component costs, i.e. - price reduction) and titles such as Gears of War 2 and Fable II, I believe the 360 will have some level of bounce-back.

i think it's pretty evident that the strong sony brand had eveything to do with why sony haven't been buried yet. if ms or even nintendo tried to release an overpriced console, do you think that they would have survived? the npd analysis was very interesting, but it was more a focus on brand loyalty than brand power.

You lost me.  What's the difference between brand loyalty vs brand power?

 true but that is just sad of microsoft but i heard that nentendo might even hurry and make a new one as soon as possble

More reliable hardware and better exclusive games ensured my purchase of a PS3 over the 360. It appears that many others have the same mindset.

well for myself I've had a PS3 for 11 months, and have brought 3 games in that time.

but in those 11 months I've also brought 4 Wii games and 9 Xbox 360 games. so software isn't one of the PS3's strengths as far as I can see. and many people I know with a PS3 are in the same position in regards to software.

still as many clearly point out, the hardware figure for the PS3 is good, but if it had better games it would be twice what the numbers are, or maybe even at Wii levels every week.

The ps3 is the most awesome looking console ever.