...so if we were to adjust sales for comparable time on the market, which console has sold more? I have been wondering this for a while. seems odd that I havent scene this on the forums before. any info would be great.

Boring? I think it is relevant, if you had a 100 mile car race and let one of the cars have a 20 mile head start, and then say that car is winning the race. They are probably about even, but who cares, they have both won really, they are both selling well.

As far as the aligned launches argument:  I think that it is impossible to intelligently compare launches from the PS3 and 360.  Others have said similar, but i will state it my way.   To me, when the 360 launched, there were a lot of people sitting on the sidelines waiting for the PS3 to come out.  Now, when the PS3 did come out, it put a lot more consumers into the marketplace to buy a new console, as the PS2 was now officially out of date.  We will never know what level of advertising and promotional gimmicks might have changed for both consoles had they released at the same time.  Like others have said, how much would the PS3 been selling at in 05'?  If the 360 came out a yr later, could they have lowered the price $50?  Could M$ have upgraded the system somehow if they launched a yr later?  Maybe, the 360 made the general consumer more ready to upgrade consoles by being out a yr before the PS3, thus giving the PS3 a n advantage it's first year? It is a bunch of what if's either way, so why try to compare #'s from different yrs without the context to go with it?  It is truely impossible to compare them accurately.  Sure, you can take the numbers themselves, but comparing them is the same as comparing the first years sales of the Atari 2600 to thePS3 - it is irrellevent.