*kicks thread back on track*
X360/PS3:
Next year will be interesting for the PS3 and X360. Last year before the PS3 got a price cut I though Microsoft could simply sit on its early launch momentum. Sony has dropped the price to the point where they are competitive.
Microsoft needs to do...something next year. The 360 is similar enough that it has no unique features to differentiate itself. Meanwhile Sony has Japan and is pulling ahead in Europe. If they really want to boot Sony out of this race, they need to do something NOW and kill Sony's momentum.
The PS3 is cheap enough that Sony can finally compete. They have a few big hitters in store but they too need something that grabs Joe Casual and yells "BUY A PS3!" Otherwise it will be a long time before they catch up to the X360's LTD SKUs sold.
Wii:
Wow, Nintendo's been sold out since launch. Crazy. Better than any system has ever done before. Now 3rd party devs have the time they need to develop good games. Expect the Wii to do even better next year(assuming Nintendo can produce enough to satisfy demand.) A lot of new IPs should emerge, as well.
Microsoft could bottom feed off of Nintendo's short supply by dropping the Arcade to $250. Price isn't Nintendo's limiting factor right now so a price drop wouldn't help. Nintendo needs to predict how much demand will exist this year, not an easy task (but MS and Sony would kill for this position.)
DS:
Prints money. Nintendo doesn't have to do anything next year, the PSP is not a threat.
PSP:
Why doesn't software sell on this? The price of convergent products I guess. The jack-of-all-trades is still a master of none. Expect a few PS1/PS2 ports but not much else otherwise.
Wheee, I'll be quote shredded soon.
There is no such thing as a console war. This is the first step to game design.
