While it was briefly mentioned, NEC and Sega kicked off the fourth console generation early (in 1987 and 1988 respectively). Both consoles reached the US in 1989. Nintendo would not release the SNES until 1990 in Japan and 1991 in the US. And while the SNES quickly took the sales lead in Japan, it took years for Nintendo to catch up to the Genesis. So Nintendo has gone from third to first before.
And @ madskillz - The one thing the 360 does not have is the same sales curve. I don't think the system will reach the 22M the PS2 did after it's 2nd full holiday on store shelves. So while MS may have borrowed the PS2's play book, they didn't know that the industry isn't playing the same game this time around.
Can the PS3 go from last to first? It probably won't happen. It's going to be the Wii in front with the PS3 and 360 fighting for second place over the long haul.
Numbers are like people. Torture them enough and you can get them to say anything you want.
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