My personal opinion is that any other console would have failed at the PS3's price point guaranteed , Ninty heavily relied on consumers justifiying spending a small amount on a console with a weaker brand name at the begining of the generation , not things are different. Nintendo has definetley picked up more momentum this generation with the Wii but people are severley understestimating the strength of the Playsation brand name.
I wouldn't be suprised if Sony returned to the top next gen infact I think it's probable they will be, they've learnt their lessons and have most likely revised their stratergies , their biggest downfall was pricing IMO and they won't let that be an issue this time round.