Yes, but Sony had a smash hit with the original Playstation which paved the road for the PS2. Its hard to imagine that Playstations success had nothing to do with PS2's success, right?  The original X-box had measly sales, so the brand was not a smash hit to begin with like the PS brand, which leaves a bigger chance of the 360 following in its predecessors footsteps I think.

Of course, it is not written in stone, but seems likely to me. People never really loved the X-box concept, and by and large, they still don't. 

 People have such short term and selective memories.  Before November 15, 2001, MS had never even attempted a console.  They essentially came out of left field with a vision of capturing a piece of the huge and ever expanding video game market.  Their first generation console lost a whole lot of money, and ended up capturing about 15% of the market.  Their next console currently has about 50% of the market in the all important US market.  Yes, that number will change in the coming years, and the system has been out a full year longer, but the fact that games division is finally turning a profit and has increased their market share is huge for MS.

No, the 360 will not win this generation.  But MS actually has a shot of making some money this gen, and have put out some really great games.  It was Sony's market share to lose, and they have.  Cut MS some slack and try to remember that they've only been in the console market for 6 years. 

It is because all the great software for the 360 is being pulled from the market January 1st and developers have stopped targeting the 360 platform and now using XBOX capabilities as the target.