I think the Wii and PS2 are good competitors for the lower end market, the Wii has the advantage of great new contoller for a new style of gameplay, but not that good for many types of traditional games and complex games you need to use both hands on the controller for pushing buttons. The PS2 has a larger library of games and addtitional strongpoints with games like Eyetoy games, dance revolution and Singstar.
The PS3 is currently great for hardcore gamers (Resistance and Motorstorm rock, also very strong online, motion sensing is great in Motorstorm and PSN games like Flow and Super Ruba Dub) and multimedia ethusiasts (high definition/Blu-Ray movies/7.1 Audio/HDMI 1.3, etc) for the high end market, later when the price goes down and replaces the PS2 the console can be targeted at the lower end market.
The XBox 360 in its various version IMO is positioned somewhere in between, but currently offers a wider software library compared to the PS3 considering the year headstart, but IMO seems less sturdy considering all the user complaints.
Considering the PS3's backwards compatibility, to have the PS2 still performing well for the lower end market is an asset to the PS3's long term viability.
Essay Pro
