PS3 passes two sales milestones since Slim came on the scene

[binary solo]

Twistedpixel said:
The important comparisons between the PS3 and other consoles are:

1. Vs Wii
2. Vs Xbox 360
3. Vs PS2
4. Vs PS4

In the order of importance, the reverse will be true for the PS4 and its main point of comparison will be the PS3.

The N64 is two generations old. So what the PS3 does relative to the N64 in Japan doesn't mean much.

Thanks for actually replying on topic, so I will do you the respect of responding.

I disagree.

If you only focus on those then you can never put PS3 sales in Japan into their proper historical context. Besides, the only unknown out of those 4 sales comparisons is vs PS4 and PS4 doesn't exists. So none of those comparisons is really worth discussing. OK vs Wii there is perhaps some interest in seeing what the eventual end of generation gap will be, but that PS3 will be behind Wii is not really up for debate. SO again of fiarly limited interest.

What is the measure of a successful generation in term of sales for a console in Japan? How many consoles do you need to get into the homes of consumers to make it a good generation? You can't just set the benchmark as vs the best ever selling console, and the best selling console of the current generation. And how is Japan's 360 sales any sort of yardstick by which to measure success? There is certainly nothing to be gained by comparing to anything Xbox when it comes to Japan.

Success may be defined by some arbitrary number, but another way of assessing success is to measure console sales relative to past consoles. What console currently represents the border between a successful generation and an unsuccessful generation. If you sell less than console X then you've had an unsuccessful generation, if you sell more then you can count your generation as a success. Again profitability aside. Currently I'd argue that the N64 represents that border between success and, maybe not failure but certainly disappointing sales.

Perhaps when this generation is done PS3 will become the historical benchmark between what's a good level of sales and what's a not so good level of sales.

The following is NOT directed at you Twistedpixel

Rather irksome that some people went off and started yammering on about profits. I acknowledged the profitibility problems with PS3's generation and asked that people NOT focus all their attention on that; put it to one side for a single thread is all I asked. It's about as tiresome as when people used to throw RROD into every thread that looked at some positive aspect of the 360. But I guess some folks are simply too bitter towards Sony to just keep their thoughts to themselves and simply not reply; saying nothing is a valid option, I do it quite a lot, some people should try it a little more often. You know not every thought that comes into our heads is worthy of airing in public.