It's like travelling back in a time a year except replace Microsoft with Sony and 360 with PS3.  Too many hypocrites on this site.

Jan 2009: Darn those Wii shortages! Wii would've done 10m in December! It'll be at like 35m this year after the shortages wear off though!

Jan 2010: You just wait. I bet that in no time PS3 will catch up to 360 and make a 10m gap. It's just 'cause of these annoying shortages that it's taking so long.

Jan 2011: Wha? 360's in third place!??

...I mean, obviously, yeah, I remember that I saw next to no (only about 100) 360s at every retailer I visited. Obviously, 360 will be ahead of Wii by the end of the year.

It also came to my mind. Something sure is that the PS3 situation back then proved to be true. If it also the case here, its a very similar situation indeed. Personally, I didnt do any research beside noticing that the percentage difference between PS3 and 360 in america is still high. Is the percentage difference a lot lower then it was before?

I don't live in the US so I cannot comment on any shortages other than anecdotal evidence I hear online.  I just find it rather strange that people accuse Microsoft of lying on this site when they state they're suffering shortages yet believe every word uttered from Sony.  It just reminded me of all the bickering last year regarding the PS3 shortages.  I guess we'll have months of it to listen to sadly with neither side able to just accept the fact it really doesn't matter as it will sort itself out in time. 

I have no idea about percentages as the shortages combined with holiday deals makes trends too unpredictble to judge.  Lets be honest you look at the Wii's holiday sales then compare them to August and September, it shows how different the performance of a brand can be depending on the time of year.

I decide to look just for fun, obviously my numbers arent to be taken too seriously, other factors could also be taken into consideration. If we look at it that way, shortages seems to have a slight effect.

19-25 PS3    410 749    360    775 144              360 at 189%
26-01 PS3   159 941     360    278 773              360 at 174%
02-08 PS3     98 481     360   145 161               360 at 147%

If we were to assume no drop on the Kinect effect after the holidays. 360 would stay at 174% of the PS3 sales, we would look at sales of 171K instead of 145K. If the shortage were already in effect in the previous week and decide to use the 189% instead, we would be looking at 186K instead of 145K.

Some might argue that its normal the 360 would suffer a worst drop then the PS3 because of the Kinect holidays effect. Something sure is, last week, 360 wasnt suffering too much from shortages. Around 40K at its very worst.

Great story, now put on your Nintendo jim jams and head to bed.

Agreed, many factors could be taken into consideration.

I dont think everyone is accusing Microsoft of lying. If you can find the article again, im pretty sure they said the situation would get bad in the next weeks. Basicaly, what im saying is, last week sales arent largely influence by shortages, but as Microsoft said, it will get worst.

There is not enough data there to draw too many conclusions, plus didn't the PS3 have a Walmart deal in your first week that would have skewed figures?  Will be intersting if you continue the table for another 4-8 weeks though, might be a interesting thread with lots of responses if you fancy making it.

Thanks for the suggestion but im not interested enough to do a thread about it. But, I guess it will get closer and closer. Will be interesting to see if 360 can regain this gap when Microsoft is officialy able to sustain the demand.

What's that supposed to mean? I was just illustrating your point regarding people being hypocrites when it comes to shortages at the start of the year and added the Wii example in 2009 because there were supposedly massive shortages the last December yet Wii fell to the ground just a few months later.

Don't see why you have to be so condescending and rude when I was just expanding upon your own point.