I think it had to do with the PS3 being behind by a nice round number like 10, and also it being released and selling during the exact same time period during the exact some span of its life.

If it makes you feel better if you align the launches of the Wii and 360 the Wii would be ahead by about 10.5m right now.

Wow, some of the replies here are priceless - true "Wii Bingo" all over again. People just haven't learned much from what happened this year.

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Just like with the DS - Nintendo is showing developers "the way" with the Wii. It didn't have that many quality 3rd-party titles out in its first year, but will have 2-3x as many next time - and it will only increase from then.

Have a look at the current Japanese charts. DS games from Square Enix, Level 5, Bandai Namco, etc. All the Wii titles are from Ninty. It will just take time.

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Ninty has their biggest success in '07 OUTSIDE of the holiday period. This is where the Wii was really selling steadily, making easy gains over the competition.

Once the holidays are over, the constrained production of the Wii will be much less important. Demand will drop, but actual sales won't drop (unless Ninty starts stockpiling for next year). Many, many people will still be trying to pick up a Wii post-Xmas.

And the real killer-app - WiiFit - hasn't launched in Europe or the US yet. Look at what it has done to reinvigorate the Japanese Wii market. Just wait until it hits Europe - and then the US.

And all this before Mario Kart & Brawl are even launched. Not to mention WiiWare, and everything else coming... 

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Structurally, the market has changed completely from PS1/PS2 days. The Wii is selling to a potential audience that is 5-10x larger than what the PS2 sold to. And the 360/PS3 are competing for exactly the same customers, and splitting their market straight down the middle (50% share each).

Lets see if people have changed their tune 3 or 6 months into next year - and then at the start of '09. 

I agree with 1 and 3 but not 2. Quality in games dont matter today. Actually let me take that back. Most of the time quality doesnt matter. You look at games like The Matrix which set a record for about 3 million pre-orders and the game ended up being a piece of crap and still sold millions. Assassins Creed, which a lot of people say is boring and repetitive, has sold so much that it is the fastest selling New IP of all time. Hell even Lair sold pretty well for the all the bad press it was getting. While games like Zack and Wiki, Phyconauts (spelling), and many others dont sell.

Sorry - I missed your point completely (couldn't understand what you were saying).

Its as Sqrl says - purely because both consoles launched at *exactly* the same time (except for Europe), so its much easier to compare them.

Its equally astounding (if not more) then the Wii has overtaken the 360, and now has a handy lead over it.

IMO, there is strong evidence that MS badly squandered their one year lead - and are now paying the price. Still - by their standards, year two was pretty good (lot better than year one), and at the least they have managed to match Sony/PS3 sales worldwide.

They are going to have to work hard in Europe though - as they have admitted. Clawing back some of the lost marketshare in Europe is probably goal#1 for them next year.  

Well okay I'll accept that games can sell well regardless of quality.  Advertising is certainly the biggest factor in software sales.  Oh and it's Psychonauts.  

@roadkillers: #3 is by far the most important. You should be comparing million sellers on the 360/PS3 to something like 300k-500k sellers on the Wii.

From a business view point (for an 'average', 'new' product), the Wii is easily the most compelling case at the moment - with the PS3 being the least compelling.

Its also worth noting that both PS3 million sellers are NOT exclusives - with the majority of sales on the 360 (Ass & CoD). Its a solid argument for x-platform development (360 + PS3 - which is solid), but much less so for PS3 exclusive titles.

Lets see when the first PS3, third party, exclusive million seller appears. Almost certain to be MGS - and that basically doesn't count, because *no* titles have that sort of brand name to call upon (its as strong as Mario really).

What about a new IP for the PS3, 3rd-party exclusive? Red Steel did it for the Wii - you could say that Rayman was an established IP (although a new genre).

that's the most bullish i've ever seen ANYONE be on the ps3

u think ps3 will sell at least 13 million next year and will sell 200,000+ lifetime? because wii is selling over 20 million next year and over 200k lifetime easy

I think thats one reasonable cause yes. 

While price is a factor in Wii's favour, the much bigger factor is ease of accessibility. Everyone likes the Wii, not just your traditional gamer.

'Gamers' make up approx. 11% of the population. This is the market PS3 and 360 are fighting over.

Wii is targeting close to 100% of the population and so far seems to be having success in all demographics. It's potential isn't even starting to be realized, as most of those in the Wii's expanded audience are not the types to sit around pre-opening waiting to get a Wii as soon as the store opens. No, they'll grab one when they see it on a store shelf and when it's a convenient purchase for them. Something we haven't seen yet as the Wii is always supply constrained.

Forget Wii being 20m ahead of the PS3 by the end of 2008, it's lead will be much greater than that.

Correction: Sony pulled out all the stops to avoid falling flat on it's face and having "Playstation 3" replace "Virtual Boy" as gamer shorthand for unmitigated disaster.

 It was pretty clear mid-year that the Wii was unstoppable - it was going to pass the 360, and the PS3 had no chance in hell of catching it this year or next. All Sony could do was ignore the competition and attempt to right it's own ship. To their credit, I think they have largely succeeded in doing so. Now they can focus on closing the gap with the 360. In a year or two, when they have dropped the PS3 closer to mass market prices, they can worry about Nintendo if they feel it necessary (odds are they won't bother, as the gap will be too substantial).