This post is just a few thoughts I had on sales strategies going forward for each of the companies.  These are my opinions and you're perfectly welcome to criticise or post your own.  Nothing stated here is claimed to be fact. Assume that everything is based on my perception of how I think the companies think and is not backed by fact. 

I believe Microsoft's sales strategy prior to the competition with the Wii was to short circuit the console cycle.  They released the 360 only 4 years after the original xbox.  At the time, I thought their plan was to release the next gen 4 years after the 360, thus keeping their console at the top of the heap and able to do so by using off the shelf components.  At new consoles every 4 years without having to invest that much into research (like Sony / Nintendo did for their proprietary components) this could have been a legitimate way to stay on top by forcing the competitors to spend more money to keep up.  After the disruption, I think that strategy can no longer work as is.  An adjustment I think they need to do now is bundle the Natal with a new generation console -- a guarantee to the game developers that the Natal will ALWAYS be present on the system and thus truly get a lot of games built for it just as Wii guaranteed their quirky controller would always be available.  If they can add 3d visuals, then the technophiles will freak out, thinking about the possibilities of interacting in 3d space with 3d controls (natal being able to track in 3d).  The technology exists today to make this possible, but they'd probably want to wait until 2011 E3 for a reveal to let the 3D TV hype sink in a little more before revealing it.  But it wouldn't be out the realm of possibility to do that this year.

Nintendo surprised many by showing that there was an untapped market.  While several believe Nintendo will come back to hardcore gamers, I don't think they will.  I think they've seen the light and realize that there is much more money to be made off of their new market, which is devoid of any serious competition right now.  I think Nintendo is going to innovate further.  3D gaming is too obvious of a next step.  Everybody will be doing that on their next console.  Nintendo has to find something else unique.  Certainly the "no glasses" 3D is going to intrigue people, but I'm not sure it is going to be enough.  I think Nintendo will be revealing the 3DS at the E3 (with no plans for distribution until 2011).  That will make the Microsoft and Sony entries in 2 years at the E3 appear to be an "us too" entry -- most certainly they'll want to tap into the 3D hype as well and will do it either with new consoles or some kind of add on.  So then, in E3 2011 Nintendo will reveal the real secret -- some special way to interact.  Maybe instead of stylus, it uses the built in camera and you literally touch the 3d images, thus opening a new way to interact with them. 

There is alot of posibilities. 

Imagine if the 3DS was just a disruption device they dont even plan to actually sell?  its just a fun thought.

I belive Nintendo Needs to blow the roof off of this years E3 and they know that more then I do cause there, Nintendo.

Thats there sales strategie. Win E3 is all they are focused on. They need to make it that people like you have absolutly

no doubt in there minds that Nintendo Will Rock Your World!!!so ya its going to be hardcore game after

hardcore game announcments The kind of hardcore games that make you cry for mercy cause its just to much.

Then  PS3 sale stratagie will be Look it works and everyone is fully behind the Move and look at all the killer games we

made for you hardcore people. with there  Kool Kids play PS3 message.

And Xbox, are going to really trying to do what Wii did when they announced Motion controls. They know they Need to

have the bigest show in Microsoft history. So they will be doing something freaken crazy and there going to Disrupt the

marketplace.

The company that will inspire the gamers the most this E3 will have alot of success in the next 2 years.

So id say Kicking butt and taking names is on everyones agenda.

What makes you say Sony and MS are going to be me too with 3D gaming behind Nintendo? They are already there (put aside for a minute whether they are going to make it work well). No glasses 3D is all about the screen technology not the gaming device technology. Once TV manufacturers figure out how to commercialise glassesless 3D technology on 52" TVs gaming consoles will utilise it.

I really do not think nintendo needs to impress at all at e3. They have dominated, and continue to dominate the hand held and home console game markets. Casuals that nintendo has atracted have no idea about e3 nor do they care. All nintendo needs to do is be informative to the mediea, and get them to spread word of their new devices/games. As for xbox and ps3, I hope they put on  great show

Huh, well count me surprised.  I thought I had cancelled that message instead of posting it.I had added a bunch about Sony's attempt to take over the living room through a multi-media device and then had stalled on a future strategy for them, and hit cancel.  How did my message get posted in an earlier form?  Puzzling.

@Binary:  Poorly worded (and incomplete) on my part -- I just meant that all of the console makers are going to be jumping on the 3d bandwagon, not necessarily following Nintendo's lead. And according to recent reports, it looks like Sony launches 3D tomorrow, probably with the intent of deflating Nintendo's 3DS demo.  That's all the more reason why Nintendo has to have something different up their sleeve.  It is those differences that appeal to the new audience they are tapping into.

For the next generation of consoles, I think attaining the 'hardcore' will receive a much greater emphasis but will not infringe upon their strategy of pulling in new or on-the-fence gamers.

One reason they didn't dominate to capacity this gen is because their market was divided- they didn't receive any titles that would spur on demand from a more experienced crown on a consistent basis. If they did have that, their momentum leaving 2008 would probably not have been cut as severely.

I think they learned a serious lesson this gen, and that is how fickle people can be towards them. Nintendoo has to put them in a position where they have no choice but to join along.

IMHO, MS has the worst strategy out there.   It wants to concentrate on the US market with a mid-priced console while offering the product to other markets and wants the fattest markets out there.  It also offers online because the fat markets will go for online more and b/c online is the highest margin product for MS, meaning that when they sell online stuff, they'll get more profit from that versus a console or a physical copy of a game sold at say, walmart.

The problem is that Sony can just copy what MS has done and they've done so.  Sony is about to offer a premium services for its PSN, it has Home, and  will get the version of Netflix that doesn't require a DVD to put into it so it will be a much better netflix soon for the PS3.  MS needs to figure out how to offer more value to the customer and i' ve talked about Natal a lot, and i'm not impressed with what i've heard, not that I'm impressed with Move either, but in my opinion both will fall far short of hype.

So Nintendo's stratagy = Make a good platform to Sell its Software

Sony's stratagy = Make a platform that sells our TV and Blueray so we can Get royalties from them

MS's stratagy = recover lost PC profit from Consule Companys.