Nerds are the minority here in the States and the 360 is hip which is why we the In Crowd chose it as our console of choice and why its selling soooooooooo much better. 

1 Cheaper

2. Offer bigger name titles (Halo, Gears of War)

3. The system is at if not almost at its Peak in sales

PS3 should outsell or compete much more against 360 one their major titles are released.

Marketing. that's all.

I don't buy that, Europeans buy loads of American products. Always have and always will, but the 360 is like a unreliable vacuumcleaner (noise level wise) and there are many other reasons why the PS3 will do a lot better than the 360, the 360 may be cheaper but specs wise you get a lot more value for your cash buying a PS3. Also the most anticipated games are being developed exclusively for the PS3.

I don't think many people here in Europe per se love Japanese politics and culture neither, overall Europeans don't share the same humour and interests, often actually perceived as being quite weird. Europeans seem to love Hollywood, McDonald's and Coca Cola though, but Japanese tech products are of very high quality and Sony is a very international company anyway they employ lots of people in the States and Europe.

Its basically because american gamers felt betrayed by Sony 2 years back, with the Killzone 2 scandal/sensation. That was the first hole in Sony's trust, the year after that they had a lackluster E3 performance, in which Microsoft seized the opportunity and displayed new games for the 360. Those games gained more spot light compared to those on the Sony front.

One game in particular has Americans buying 360s alot, and I'd say thats Gears of War, its basically Halo's heir.

Later on it became the library thanks to contributions from Bethesda, Capcom, Namco and such. Which made the 360 gamers believe EVERY game is coming to 360 only. Microsoft managed to snatch away some games from its competitors and now they stand as one of the leading hardware developers in the core gaming community.

When the PS3 finally launched americans realized they didn't need the PS3 to get gaming, and now they've found a different source where they can recieve equally entertaining games if they were to be found on the PS3.

Well, thats how it stands so far... and to dramatize it a bit, PS3 owners are now getting look down upon in the US.

Well, at least untill the PS3 gains 1 or 2 big games the hardcore community will REALLY need. And when it gets back to that spot, the PS3 will regain some of its respect back.

It reads more like a summary I know :P.

I agree. 

As a nation we buy whatever is cheaper or whatever is seen as being a good value.  That is why all the cheap Chinese products at Walmart sell like hotcakes.  Toyota and Honda are considered reliable and thusly "good values" even though they are more expensive than American cars.  They are in the top automakers in the country.  GM may still be #1, but if you go to Michigan, you will find a ton of pissed off unemployeed ex-GM autoworkers.  Americans do a lot of things because of blind nationalism, but as a whole we don't spend our money on things because they are made in America.  As someone else said, the Xbox is probably made in Asia or Mexico anyway.  

StanGable is right.  Nerds hate Microsoft.   

It may be made in China but the profits mainly go to the profits that the company is based in.  Bill Gates is a billionaire and when he spends his wealth it helps other Americans.  There is a job multilier effect for income distribution in economis but I cant remember how much experts thought it was.  To make it easy to envision, imagine if Microsoft was based in Australia abd Bill Gates lived there, that would mean that America's economy would lose biillions of dollars and Austraila's economy would gain billions of dollars.

@Kazz

I dont think buying American is a major issue at all.  But for those who think about economics (a large amount since pundits are banking that the economy will decide our presidential election) it is in the back of their heads and can slightly influence their decision even if they are aware of it or not.  When calculating wether you should buy something or not, our mind automatically does a complicated cost and benefit analysis that the person isnt fully cognitive of.

I like your posts MikeB as, unlike most other people, you don't let little things like facts get in your way.

 I think the point people are trying to make is that people are less likely to buy the Xbox 360 in Europe because it is American.  As far as I can tell, that is the point.  I've never known an American to buy a console because it was made in America.  Hell, Since the mid-80s, Nintendo, Sega, and Sony have almost always controlled the gaming market in America (and Nintendo + Sony still control the great majority of it).

If anything, I'd think there would be more American's not buying a 360 because it is made by M$.  I knew people that didn't buy an original Xbox because of that but maybe M$ has proven itself to make good game related stuff in a lot of people's eyes. 

Release date, I saw quite a few people buying them around the time they came out, a bunch of sports games sold I believe. So I'd say starting a year early is a good idea in America.

Price. By the time the PS3 hit the floor, it was not exactly a cheap purchase. Americans love perceived value.

Live. The only person I know that owns an xbox doesn't use it much. But I know many people that absolutely adore live and spend the majority of their days playing halo 3. Not saying all 360 owners play halo 3, but it seems to be a "popular" game.

Western appreciated titles. Lots of guns :P Hell even their most critically acclaimed RPG has guns xD They chose a good "theme" if you will when releasing titles, better sports games, more guns.

Advertisements. If I have to give MS credit for anything, it's the ability to advertise like no other :P I can't tell you how sick I got of seeing Gears of War advertisements, then I thought it could get no worse, but MS defeated my knowledge and showed me Halo 3 :P Americans are MASSIVELY influenced by advertisements, I believe more so than any other country xD We love our Celebrities, billboards, and commercials :P America is a Mass Media whore of a country :3

I believe the PS3 will gain a lot of rep with a few of it's big hitters showing up this year, plus now that it seems Blu-ray is going to be accepted as the new high def standard, tacked on with more HD-TV's being sold and PSN getting a bit more to offer always helps. I don't see it being a massive 180 in America, but I see the market getting more passion about the PS3 within the next year or two. I expect sales to be about the same at the end of this Gen.