With the new year approaching, I'm preparing some lengthy articles about the year, half year, and quarter in review, to be followed by a preview of 2008.

Here is a look at the big sales issues of 2008 for Wii/DS/360/PS3/PSP/PS2

Ten Things to Watch (Wii)

1) Smash sales in Japan

2) Wii Fit sales in America

3) E3.  The big hand has been played, Smash, Mario, Zelda, Wii Sports, Wii Fit.  What else does Nintendo have up its sleeve?

4) Shipment forecasts.  Can Nintendo make 20-25 million Wiis a year?

5) Third Party Million Sellers.  Wii has three currently.  How many more will be added?

6) Price cuts?

7) Square-Enix.  Will Square-Enix offer major, non-side story games for Wii?  The Monster Hunter announcement could be a preview of what is to come, or an exception.

8) Early year supply.  If Nintendo wants to keep outselling Microsoft in the west, it will probably ship more units than it really can in December, and will probably be all but tapped out by March, after Smash/Wii Fit.

9) Profit.  Will Nintendo beat its profit projections?

10) Can the Wii achieve DS-Japan like success in the West (i.e. one out of 6 Japanese people owning DS in three years) ? 2008 will be telling in this regard.

Ten Things to Watch (DS)

1) When will DS hit the wall in Japan?  Can it sell another 5+ million units in 2008?

2) DQIX sales in Japan

3) Nintendogs.  Will it ever stop selling?

4) Shipment forecast.  Up or down?  2007 may be the peak year for DS, but we'll see

5) Successor announced?

6) Price drop?

7) Recent PSP Japanese sales a symbol of stronger competition late in life?

8) Piracy concerns.

9) 3rd party million sellers.  DS has 10.  How many more in 2008?

10) How will the DS game download station impact software sales.

Ten Things to Watch (Xbox 360)

1) Hardware sales.  Was 2007 the peak year?

2) Software sales - will 360 remain strong for 3rd party games?

3) Proftiability.  Can Microsoft stay profitable (in this sector) following the Halo 3 revenue boost?

4) Japan.  How close will Xbox 360 be to 1,000,000 by the end of 2008?

5) Others.  Will 360 begin to sell well outside the UK/Ireland/Australia/New Zealand region?

6) GTA IV.  How well does that game sell when its combined base at launch will likely be ~25-28 million.

7) Banjo.  How well can that sell to the 360 demographic?  Will it help in Japan? Banjo Kazooie launched for N64 in 1998 in Japan and sold 400k by the end of the year.

8) Holiday games.  Halo 3, Mass Effect, Bioshock, etc were all 2007 releases.  What will be the big holiday 08' release?

9) If Sony drops price again will 360 be outsold - routinely - by PS3 worldwide?

10) Will Wii pass Xbox 360 be passed by Wii - LTD - in the USA by the end of 2008?

Ten Thing to Watch (PS3)

1) With the $400 price point now worldwide, what will be the new minimal threshold for PS3 in 2008, after the holidays?  This year, it was in the high 50,000s post Euro-launch, in summer. 

2) Will PS3 outsell Xbox 360 worldwide most weeks?

3) How well can GTA do on an expensive console with 9-11 million users at launch?

4) True release dates for FFXIII?

5) Will publishers continue to support PS3? Only 12 games have sold over 500,000 for the system to date.

6) How will Home be recieved?  Little Big Planet?

7) Can Sony 'refresh' PS3 in Japan as it did with PSP in 2007?

8) Will the model madness continue? 80gig/60gig/40gig/20gig - all in launch year.  Does that mean another four models in 2008?

9) Will Sony revise its shipment forecasts up or down? 

10) Will PS3 break even/profit for Sony as PS2 sales decline? 

Ten things to Watch (PSP)

1) Will sales stay about 40,000 per week in Japan after the holidays?

2) Will software sales increase?

3) Will the piracy concerns be addressed?

4) New PSP announced?

5) Price drop?

6) Will PSP get more significant exclusive games?

7) 3rd parties - PSP has 9 third party million sellers currently.  How many more are coming in 2008?

8) Will the non gaming features be expanded?

9) Will we hear more of the ever rumoured PS Phone?

10) What will happen to the UMD format?

Ten Things to Watch (PS2)

1) Will PS2 sales finally drop below 5,000,000 units worldwide in 2008?

2) Will PS2 be outsold by Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2008?  In 2007 overall, PS2 outsold Xbox 360 and PS3.

3) How will publishers adapt and react to PS2's declinining software sales?

4) Where will the middle of the road games (not the sports/casual gamer and not the hardcore gamer) go when they move on from PS2?

5) Price cut?

6) What platform benefits most from PS2 not taking development resources?

7)  How many units have been shipped vs. sold by the end of 2008? 

8) Should Activision continue to support PS2 with games like Guitar Hero 4?

9) Will PS2 continue to outsell 360 in Europe?

10) Are there any significant exclusive games to be released for PS2 for the late, late adopters?

I think Sony needs to make a new version of the PSP with a second control stick and offer a slimmed PS3 in late 2008.

new ds not needed je, wii selling fine no worries

Two analog sticks on the PSP would mean a new system since games made for the PSP with two sticks would not be supported by the other PSPs.

They would have to realease PSP2 which won't happen for a while.

I agree on the slimmed down PS3 though. 

Hmm?

@Source

About the PS3 "things to look out for", what about Metal Gear Solid 4's sales and reception?

MGS4 is important but I think Little Big Planet and GTA IV sales will be more telling.

What! No "third of a year" article?

Be interesting to see whats next after WiiFit in the "wii" series

yes those are good points to keep in eye out for

I think that a PSP 2 may be announced at E3, but won't reach Japan until 09 and the rest of the world even later.