PS3 can still finish in first place. The console wars are live and kicking. Wii peaked in 2008 with 25 million console sales. PS3 sales are rising and rising every year. PS3 will pass the 360 in 2011. PS3 moves to second place and starts chasing down the "invincible" sales leader. 

PS3 started slower but was at a much higher price than the Wii. Almost 4 years after the launches the Wii is on 75 million and the PS3 just over 40 million sales.

Wii sales started fast and well peaked in second year 2008 with 25 million sales. The sales of the Wii are expected to trend downwards over time. 2009 (20 million sales) was a 20% decline on 2008 sales. 2010 sales should be another 15% to 20% decline on 2009 sales: 16 to 17 million Wii console sales for 2010. 

PS3 may even claw back the  sales gap on the Wii as its big games and price cuts help  boost PS3 sales. PS3 in the next 5 or 6  years may well outsell the Wii by 30 to 40 million console units. Time will reveal all. 

PS3 can possibly make the biggest come back in console wars history. 2016 may well see the PS3 over take the Wii in total console sales. The chances are very slim but the PS3 has a chance of re-writing history. 

Not true. Because I'm going to win the Euro Million and buy about 10 Million PS3's, pushing it past the 360! :D

Fact!!

Finally somoeone that has actually thought this through.

PS2 - No.  That's 90% not going to happen.

The PS1, however, is possible.  The way the sales are steadily increasing means the sales will steadily decrease down the adoption curve by general marketing adoption curve theory.  Actually, the Wii is showing this to be pretty true - very fast acceleration and now it looks like it's deceleration is really fast as well.  We'll need a few more quarters to be sure on the Wii, though. 

http://www.quickmba.com/marketing/product/diffusion/

You can read about it here.  I'm thinking the PS3 is around half way through the curve.

So think we will see the highest sales of PS3 at $250 or $200.  The PS3 is looking sure to meet it's market projections  of 15 million this year.  At it's peak, I can see a 18m year, and then the sales levels will start to slowly decline.  The PS3 has the most current tech from all the consoles that correlates really well with HDTV / Blu-ray adoption.  That's another reason we're seeing such good sales on PS3 lately.

But they won't get that time. Much like jarrod believes, i too imagine that a new console from Nintendo will force Sony and Microsoft to jump. This "long generation" is just smoke and mirrors, and ignores market realities, as well has hard lessons learned by both Sony and Microsoft that if you let the competition have their way with the market, you enter into an incredibly adverse environment. Like the Xbox, which despite being closer to PS2 in terms of features and 3rd party support, was only one tiny push away from the neglected and featureless GameCube, and that was strictly because of PS2 momentum afforded from an extra year on the market, or how it took the PS3 two whole years after launch to finally achieve third party parity, because Microsoft got developers on board so quick.

I imagine they're both scared of a new Nintendo console, because if Nintendo could actually get third party support for whatever crazy scheme they come up with next round, it'll be all the more difficult for Microsoft and Sony to play catch-up

I can see it happening, the wii is burning out due to no support from major 3rd party releases and the 360 is pretty much about to get eaten up by the PS3 world wide,sadly. But facts are facts,The PS3 is in a good position to catch the wii however long this gen lasts.

Oh my god....!!!

Are you guys trying to make us have aneurysms?

Underlined; actually, I think the massive success of the PS1 was the biggest factor for the PS2's massive sales, they already pretty much owned all 3rd party support and came off of a tremendous success and they were competing against a company which had treated 3rd parties poorly all along and had sold less than half as many home consoles at best (standalone, not all combined) and another that made OS' with extensions and a tad software (games) for a living that had never made a console before and relied simply on having a bigger processor and mainly support from PC game developers to conquer the market.

Also, I remember fondly the days when every time someone would say "ten year plan" or suggest that HD consoles were more future proof a lot of the most respected members would say that the Wii would live the longest for sure and force Sony and MS' hand in starting the next gen. Now, the consensus in here is that Nintendo will almost certainly launch first next gen. By all means, I agree with most of your post and the whole premise of this thread is beyond ridiculous (sorry OP) but it just fascinates me how quickly things change and how quick we are to forget.

This has truly been a topsy-turvy generation so far.