dude do you work for a living, i remember college, worked full time while i was there, and that right there what your pushing is bullshit.... and i had a good college job 

 It took 4 days till I had my new Xbox360 back + 1 month free Xbox Live gold. And I am in Europe. MS has a really great service. Well experience, I guess. ^^

And to keep on: You said:

"Look, looking at annual GNP (income per capita) figures in the United states, it is around 50.000$ per person in 2008."

1. Are you sure it is per person? I mean I doubt a 3 years old child has 50k to spend. I guess it is per employee or something.
2. Are you sure that 50k is the income, well with or without taxes?
3. Well the PS3 just can't match the Xbox360s sales, if it is not the price, what might be the true reason? Are you saying the PS3 is inferior? According to your logic it can't be superior, it sells less and price doesn't matter.
4. What is your prediction for the Xbox360 sales in 09? You say MS will be lucky, when they reach 35 million, so that would make 4 million in 09 and 4 million in 2010? Could I put this prediction in my sig?

DTG - But then you look at the value of thriftiness as a threat to the Playstation 3. Many may see the $399 pricetag, and what it offers as not being within what they want - Why buy a Playstation 3 for $399 and still have to buy games to use it...While you could get a X360 + games for $200, or a Wii + Wii Sports for $250?

Thriftiness may trump the idea that '$200 isn't much more to pay for a video game machine! I swear!'

But look at most electronics today - MP3 players, DVD players, iPods, cell phones. Most people go not for the costly device, but the ones that provide what they need cheaply.

Income Per Capita is not really helpful here, because it mixes those really rich with the rest it does not reflect how much money majority of people have (it's usually lower then GNP), so do not look at that. Plus like others have said there are so many spendings in every week/month that will make a purchase of a console a big deal, because budget needs to be balanced. It seems easy when you're single with no kids and have a good job that can support your hobby but thats minority of people.

Price is a major factor and PS3 is expensive, if it was not it would not get such medicore sales during the Holidays, when 360's are selling like hotcakes because of the cheap arcade model. Holidays do cost a lot of money, so people choose more economical product as a gift.

Im in University at the moment, and recently i've bought a DS then i had to starve (well maybe it a bit less)for about a week and not get wasted as usuall for this same amount of money to make up for money i've spent on it.

I know three people who bought 360's exactly when their existing one RRoD'ed, not wanting to wait for a replacement. It definitely is a real phenomenon (Cheapie D being a somewhat similar scenario?), but I doubt it adds up to a significant percentage.

 lol, you sound a bit elitistic but those comments were damn funny.

I'll agree that if you have kids, you'll find yourself with considerably less disposable income. Most parents however buy their kids bunch of useless toys, games, etc all the time at the expense of their own entertainment. If you postponed that furby and barbie house for a couple of months and bought a few crayons and a stack of paper in the meantime you'd already be much closer to buying a ps3. I mean you're only buying 1-3 consoles every 5 years, I'm not telling you to quit buying presents for your children. However better planning would afford you to save 399 on a ps3 by the same logic that you can spend 500+ a year on your childs (non educational) junk.

Also, people don't always go for the cheapest electronics. Look at the ipod. It's probably one the most if not the most expense mp3 player on the market...and the best selling one. Same with the iphone. Price isn't the sole determinant of uptake.

Even if you're making minimum wage and picking up checks from the government you should be making over 15 grand a year. Save up 30 bucks a month (8 dollars a week) and you have your ps3 in one years time. Which would be by last Christmas, instead of complaining in late 2008. Heck, even a young, unemployed teen gets more than 8 dollars a week in allowance,

So DTG basically turned this thread into putting down people for not buying a PS3.

A sold console is a sold console, no matter to who or for what.

The Xbox 360 might have the lowest redundant ownership rate in the history of console gaming... Think about it for a moment. Yes, many 360s break. But it's the only console in history to offer an automatic three year warranty.

Mine broke about 14 months after purchase. Under a normal warranty, I would have purchased a new one. Instead, I got another back from MS for nothing.

Now consider the failure rate of PS1s, PS2s, etc... How many redundant purchases were made of those consoles? Add in the Slim series, etc. and that number keeps getting higher.

Overall, there isn't enough data to make any kind of educated guess about this. My theory is just as likely true as yours.