the blueray.

Because both systems have reasonable sales for North America and Europe, and the other factors where why the PS3 was selling so well in these regions. I'm starting to wonder if you have a reading comprehension problem ...

well it may have done it for the begining of the first half of the year.
but its a just a phase, the 360 is outselling the PS3 in PAL territorys now. and with no PS3 big releases to come, it won't be having the same advantage as in the first 6 months of 2008.
the biggest reason for the 1.5million jump has nothing to do with video games. bluray winning the war has pushed the PS3 into the market which was something it needed.
as far as a GAMES console, the PS3 still lacks presence for hardcore or casual gamers.
and you can see that by the software numbers every week.
9 out of 10 times the PS3 sells the least amount of games every single week!.
so what are these so-called gamers doing with the PS3?. the answer is not playing games, thats for sure.

I think thats a bigger reason for the Ps3 outselling the 360 this year than

Im wondering the same about you

and again with the condescending attitude.

Price and valuewise, I've always thought that the PS3 was worth the money.  Whether this is a fact or an opinion, just because something is worth it doesn't mean everyone wants it, can afford it, and/or has it high on their financial priorities.  In some combination it's the stability, Blu-ray playback, namebrand, 1st party support, third party quality titles, and free online that make the PS3 sell.  I do think that SONY needs to nickle and dime a PS3 userbase because of the price of the PS3.  And so far it seems that this is what they are doing.

Maybe some of "us" hardcore gamers are catching up on a backlog of PS2 games on the PS3.  And to think that PS3 owners are NOT gamers is conclusive as best to be nice about it.  Besides, common sense will tell you that the majority of the time PS3 software sales are the least  because it has the smallest userbase which is very reasonable given past history.

Ok LOL_MATURE, please explain which one of the following statements you're arguing because from your posts on this thread I haven't got a clue what you're trying to say:

1. If the XBox 360 was more competitive in Japan (and had sold more units) the PS3 would still have outsold the XBox 360 by 1.5 Million units worldwide so far in 2008.
2. If Sony not released the lower priced ($400) 40GB model in 2007 the PS3 would still have outsold the XBox 360 by 1.5 Million units worldwide so far in 2008.
3. If Blu-Ray not become the dominant format (or if there was a lower-priced fully functional Blu-Ray player) the PS3 would still have outsold the XBox 360 by 1.5 Million units worldwide so far in 2008.
4. If the PS3 was not begining to see the release of several well known high quality exclusives the PS3 would still have outsold the XBox 360 by 1.5 Million units worldwide so far in 2008.

One of those has to be true in order for my initial post to have been a false assessment.

The fact that I didn't make specific reference to Europe or North America demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of my statement "The XBox 360 is a non-factor in Japan" ... To date the XBox 360 has sold (roughly) 600,000 units in Japan which accounts for (roughly) 6% of the next generation market in that region which could be (accurately) described as being a non-factor; in The Others region they have sold 7 Million units which accounts for (roughly) 25% and in North America they have sold (roughly) 12 Million units which accounts for (roughly) 33% of the market, which means in both regions they're still fairly large portions of the market.

The PS3 is outselling the 360 in Others.

The PS3 is outselling the 360 in Europe.

The PS3 is outselling the 360 in Australia.

The PS3 is outselling the 360 in Japan.

The 360 is starting to outsell the PS2 in some areas, maybe that is what you are thinking of?

I must say I'm backing HappySqurriel because the 360 being near-dismal in Japan only helps all other competitors.  I don't see what's so hard about understanding his original statement.

It's called "market saturation". You cannot sell a product to customers who do not want the product, and eventually your stock of customers who are willing to be convinced to buy your product dwindles. The 360 is starting to reach its market limit. That's not to say that it's going to drop into oblivion tomorrow or anything, but its sales are on the permanent downturn that nearly every console experiences by the end of their third year on the market.