Yeah, it'd be the 360 suffering. Microsoft knew they couldn't go head-to-head with the PS3, they needed some sort of advantage. Its starting to look like those 12 months were exactly the advantage they needed (plus a huge price advantage). They'll maintain their sales lead in America for the whole generation, and possibly cover the Japanese difference, too. (PS3 could sell 80-90K a month in Japan this year, even as 360 outsells PS3 by at least 100K all year. Europe is the big question mark.)
Wii would have sold bonkers no matter the competition, and PS3 would have launched huge and stalled no matter. But it would have been hard for 360 to have the worst launch and get away with it if they all launched together.
"[Our former customers] are unable to find software which they WANT to play."
"The way to solve this problem lies in how to communicate what kind of games [they CAN play]."
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo President. Only slightly paraphrased.
