The idea that most Wiis were bought and then gathered dust after the owner bought maybe 1 or 2 games is a myth. The Wii attach ratio is over 7 games per console.

Also, Nintendo profited from the hardware from day one as it is cheap to produce.

By not offering backwards compatibility with the PS3 native, and trying to sell the PS4, they don't have a way for prior PS3 owners to migrate to the PS4.  Do you think they are going to allow PS3 owners to be able to stream games they bought prior they have no record of they bought new?  End result is either the PS4's sales will be stiffled, or the PS3's sales are going to get blunted.  This is due to a lack of native backwards compatibility to give people an upgrade path for their games and whatnot.  

At the point it matters, the PS3 will be in the realm of retro, where everyone looks with nostalgia and stops being flipping fanboys and what sold better.  People who used to not like the system in the day will end up buying them and enjoying content of the past.  Place doesn't matter then at all, partly because it isn't relevant to the ONE area where place and selling matters, that being third-party support.  You see the Wii U doing not gangbusters resulting it it not getting third-party exclusives, for example.

As far as the comment about making money being what matters, that is partly true in the business world, but not in console wars score tracking.

Of course the PS3 will win this gen. Who are the fanboys who thought otherwise?

It really depends on how the ps3 performs in emerging markets.

Given it still has a pricetag over $200, it could probably manage another 2-3 solid years of sales in North America and Western Europe after the ps4's launch, and probably an additional year in Japan, but it's regions like Brazil, India, and other South American and Southeast Asian countries where the ps3 could continue to perform moderately well - if not increasingly well - over the next few years. Should China open up to products like ps3, that could provide significant longevity for the system as well.

Sony has a worldwide infrastructure uniquely capable of getting hardware to such markets in a way Microsoft and Nintendo struggle to do so, and they are further able to provide superior support via online services in such regions relative to MS/Nintendo (note the disparity between Sony and Microsoft's offerings via PSN and XBL in much of Eastern Europe).

As third world countries gradually approach first world standards of living, they're creating new markets ripe for Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo to tackle. Sony did well in emerging markets like the Middle-east and the Philippines with the ps2. That is what, if anything, may allow them to surpass the Wii in total sales.

How is that exactly? Even if the SNES and Genesis traded places during the generation, even more than once how does that disprove my theory? When the new consoles came the SNES had sold more than Genesis, which is all I was saying, he who has the most console sales wins when the new consoles drop:). Newflash they stop tracking the PS3 after a while PS2 was and right now on wiki it says PS2 sold 155 million and we know that isnt true.Oh keep that delusional dream going that PS3 will past Wii, Sony lost get over it.

While you are correct that most stores won't stock ALL of the current gen consoles (there are currently 3 handhelds being sold, not just 2), they will keep one or two for longer than just a year.  I think it's a no brainer that the Wii and the DS will be the first to go.  Not only are they not pushing a lot of HW, but also not a lot of SW, which retailers care about most.  Of the 360 and the PS3, I think the 360 will be the first to go.  I can completely see MS abandoning it to support an all out war with the PS4, especially in the territory MS needs to keep the most.  I think we'll see US stores keeping the PS3 around for at least 2 years after the PS4 launches.  EU and Japan will keep it around for at least 3 years.  Emerging markets will probably have the PS3 for at least another 4 years.

Currently, we see these on store shelves:

DS
3DS
PSP
Vita
Wii
Wii U
PS3
360

With PSP and Vita swiftly disappearing from many stores.

In two years, stock of the following would not be overwhelming for stores to maintain:

3DS
Wii U
PS3
PS4
360
720

Add in Vita if it somehow turns things around - or nix Wii U, if you're feeling especially pessimistic today - and things still look more manageable than what we see today.

And if the PS3 does pass the Wii, your's will be one of the voices that other gamers, especially future ones, ignore.  Do many know or care about how the Genesis was close to beating the SNES?  Nope.  They just look at the total HW numbers and know that the SNES won in the end.  The same will be for the PS3 and Wii.

@ BHR-3

Welcome back to the dark side. 

In the big stores, PS2 only made it 2 years at the most in the US.  Probably less.  PS3 will not come even close to that.