This thread has nothing to do with any of us owning or buying a console, really. This thread is about market speculation.

Fact of business, unmet demand is potentially transferrable within an industry assuming products hold relatively equal value(value is relative to price). For essential goods, if Mcdonalds is closed, people go to Burger King, or maybe the grocery store. If Google is down, people use Yahoo. Non-transferred demand is pent up until it either dissipates(bad), is transferred(bad), or is met(good). Sony said they might not meet all of this demand for months, in essence, putting their momentum on hold by either dissipating or transferring a certain amount of their demand.

The Wii sold to the mass market based on motion controls, and fitness themed videogame. This is the most influential factor in its mass market appeal, imho. There was no product that held relatively equal value or status at the time, in the eyes of the general public. There was nothing to transfer that demand to. The PS3, on the other hand, has a direct competitor.

IMO, decrease in momentum is expected in all consoles equally this year. Well the price-cut is mandatory for all of them to stay in the competition well. Heavy Rain will sell some systems along with GOW3 and the Worldwide sales are decent for the console. 360 needs to fetch the Japanese market to be in par with the PS3 WW sales, and not America alone.

I never implied bias. Im not reading between any lines.

One other element I notice is Sony's comments on working with the retail base to sort out availability - which I believe translates into getting them to order more than they did, etc. based on recent demand, so I'm pretty sure this was half Sony's issue and half a problem from some retail areas.

I agree though that this is not time for having shortages, and Sony need to sort out any as fast as possible.

Momentum is things that may fit sports teams, and competition between one team versus another one. The reality of the marketplace is NOT momentum. People don't buy consoles due to momentum. They make choices based on personal preferences, and the preferences of those they know. They also are influenced by marketing, and library of games. But momentum? Well, that is in the heads of people who who root for a videogame console of choice.

By the way, isn't the PS3 outselling the 360?

Edit: And I just saw the 25th aniversary remake of We are the World for Haiti, and this thread about videogame companies having momentum and who is on top, and there is some sort of scoreboard seems increasingly like a vain pursuit.  Isn't there more pressing things we can tend to, while using videogames as devices to distract, rather than obsess over?

Momentum causes sales, and it relative to demand. It is also affected by sales trends. There are all these things relatable to momentum. Imagine if Johnny buys a PS3 because of a new game that is released, or because of a price cut. He then tells his friends about said game, and they buy it. Now, all members of that group of friends have a PS3, except for one. He will want a PS3 now, and so forth. If he can't find one, and instead buys an Xbox 360, then the momentum sony built from the price cut, in that group, will not grow as much as it would have otherwise.

Momentum is the reason things taper off. Often, an inciting incident(price cut, new game, competitor mistake) can start momentum, but momentum isn't stopped as suddenly as it is started.

The PS3 is a ball on a rail. Think of the price cut as a big push of that ball by Sony. Over time, the ball will slow down, and it will need another push. Software releases are little pushes, stuff like that. Every move by Sony should be a push. Not meeting demand is not a push, it is a mistake. It was a rough spot in the track Sony knew about, but didn't fix. When it gets to the other side of that rough spot, it might not be going as fast as it was before. Sony will need to push it again, to rebuild momentum. If Sony stops pushing the PS3, the ball will stop. If they give it a big push, the ball will go very fast. You only get so many mega-pushes in the videogame industry. The price cut was one.

Thing is, when you give a mega-push, you want to make sure you are in a straight-away. Just like in Wipeout HD. Don't waste a boost on a sharp curve, or a ramp unless you know exactly what you're doing. You might hit a wall and waste the boost.

I speculate that Sony is wasting the boost by using it in a curve.

It most certainly is relevant in all the industries I've studied, and as far as I know, the term momentum didn't start out in sports. I would speculate it was a physics term first(see my above example). It is simply relatable to anything on a linear structured path.

As far as us having better things to talk about, that's ignorant. This is a videogame forum. You could say that anything here is a waste of time(and many would), but to me, it is important, so please refrain from calling my interests "vain persuit"s, and telling me I should talk about We are the World instead.

If you have a interest to discuss We are the World, or Haiti(sp?), please make another thread, and pay no mind to this one.

Zenfoldor, I disagree with your comment regarding momentum. Products sell because they appeal to people on a personal level. Product availability is an impact, but the bulk of the sales don't go to people who know of sites like this, sales numbers and so on. But momentum? Momentum, if anything, is something you measure based on what else is going on. It isn't a driving factor in sales I don't believe. Having must have games and/or much have functionality in a console counts, plus exposure. Anything more than that? I don't see it at all. Things like what is going on with the Wii is an example here. It had a right price point, did motion control, and also had apps people want to play on it.

If you want to speak of something called "momentum", then talk to a company to continue to put out stuff customers want to play, and features they want.  Actually what you wrote about "momentum" might explain why games being discuss on here are sometimes discussed as puff pieces by people.  You have individuals hyping games in hopes that somehow it would help with the "momentum" of a console, the way cheerleader shout on the sidelines for a given team. 

In regards to the "We are the world" comment, it was pointed at more of an interest in how a company is doing saleswise, than people having an interest in videogames.  To concern what place these corporations finish, unless you work in the investment industry and make a living forecasting, seems to be a vain pursuit.  An interest in games aren't such, I believe. 

Richard, I disagree. I believe the gaming industry, like most other markets, are affected by trends and products do gain momentum in the marketplace, just like in every other competition. I believe momentum is a basic part of almost everything that is quantifiable, and I don't think it is something that any industry can shed so easily.

Momentum doesn't necessarily cause sales, or lack of sales, but sales trends do indicate something, and the word we can reasonably use to describe ever increasing sales trends usually brought on by a catalyst is momentum. Even if you disagree that increase popularity due to that catalyst can also influence sales, you certainly must accept that some influences do cause sales to increase and decrease.

Here is my take. If you believe in a trend, you believe in momentum. If you believe that something being popular can perpetuate itself into being more popular, based upon nothing else besides that original popularity, then you believe in momentum.

Do you believe the PS3 nor the Wii ever had momentum?

Here is a definition of momentum: Impetus of a nonphysical process, such as an idea or a course of events: The soaring rise in interest rates finally appeared to be losing momentum.

That's the dictionary's example.

The Wii sure had (has) momentum.  When that thing took of it was like a rocket.  So many people bought it due to nothing but momentum and the buzz around it without really knowing what they were buying.  So I agree, momentum is real in the market and important for consoles.  Look at PSP in Japan vs PSP in US - a clear case of good momentum and impetus in Japan vs real stagnation and lack of momentum in US.

I believe what you see as "momentum" comes from meeting the demands of a market better than an opponent's console. The measure of this is reduced to sales, which is about the only way we track things. If a market is at a saturation point, things tail off for a console.

As it is now, the PS3 is slowing down some SALES WISE, but it still leads in the world over the 360. In North America, the XBox 360 is still leading in sales. However, it is trailing the Wii. It continues to trail the Wii, and hasn't led often in sales worldwide over the Wii. As far as generating it being the perception of being the top console you have to get, the PS3 lost that to the Wii, and doesn't appear to be getting it back at all. If there is anything "momentum" as in an aura that makes it feel one MUST buy it, because it is THE thing, it has to start beating the Wii on a consistent basis, and it isn't there yet.

To sum up, I say that people DON'T buy consoles due to something called "momentum" (unlikes sports teams that can get in synch and perform at peak and continue to win). Momentum is for vehicles, sports teams and armies that can roll over an opponent. A marketplace is far more of a dance between a company and consumers, where you be agreeable to them, so I don't see there being momentum at all. I do see a company needing to be a leader in capturing what customers want better than the competition though.

I think people here would be a bit surprised to find that the rest of the world doesn't even remotely share the same set of values on here, or feel the same way as people on here about things. Most could care less about how the consoles are selling, and don't take any form of pride in any way from the place a console is in saleswise.