Dominant to me means:
1) at least double sales of competiton - i.e. if PS3 sells 10 M and Wii sells 20 M its starting to dominate
2) direct impact on other consoles - this is an interesting one this gen as you could argue that gamers who want HD graphics etc. only have PS3 and 360 to chose from as Wii clearly isn't HD. On the other hand if you just want low cost console for family fun do you really consider Wii, 360 and PS3 then chose or do you go straight for Wii? I'm of the opinion that the difference between demographic/spec of Wii vs 360/PS3 that they may only be in competition in the most tangent fashion
3) majority support from other developers, etc. Again, this is where this gen is interesting for me as the literally vast difference between Wii and 360/PS3 means that many developers are split in support with games
4) they must be competing for the same basic function - i.e. you can't compare DS and PS3 as no-one (surely!) goes and looks at PS3 price/specs then DS and then choses one or the other.
So right now I think that we have the following:
a) Wii is dominating with certain demographic but does not dominate PS3/360 as I believe the majority of 360/PS3 owners never made a competative choice and the Wii sale does not mean a lost sale for either 360/PS3 (majority of the time).
b) neither PS3 nor 360 is dominating HD gaming as really 360 only has a time lead over PS3 but does not outsell it massively every week/month. This is most clearly seen by comparing both consoles first 12 months on the market - very little seperates their sales
c) we are however seeing regional dominance - so 360 is still main choice for HD gaming in US, PS3 is HD choice in Japan and its roughly even if you lump everything else together (although I think PS3 may just be moving a whisker ahead)
d) DS dominates handheld gaming although compared to previous gen PSP has made a noticable dent in Nintendo's virtual monopoly on gaming on the go.
There, was that serious and non-trollish enough?
Try to be reasonable... its easier than you think...
