I think it can go one of two ways....

If the Wii U gets a price cut, some big first party games, and proper advertising, then I can definitely see Nintendo winning the holiday season.

The new Xbox is the easy pick though, because holidays provide the biggest boost in NA, and MS have really established the Xbox brand as the platform to beat over there. Combine that with Kinect 2.0, possible TV programming, and god knows what other entertainment features they'll throw in there....I think you got a sales winner. Not to mention MS has the best marketing team.

The PS4 will do very well for Sony (I know I'll probably get one), but I don't see it winning the holiday sales battle.

It depends. I'm going to wait until after E3, since information on one is only based on rumors. So I will tag for now.

Probably because of Mario, and a likely price cut and heavy marketing, the Wii U.

I am going for Wii U

From the reported release dates of games cross gen games, I would be surprised if the PS4 launches before late November, I am guessing a UK release date of 15th or 22nd (because those are the 2 dates I am away) of November at the earliest. Watch_Dogs has been announced as a launch game on the 22nd, so the most realistic actual scenario is a launch after then in North America, maybe earlier in Japan, and then hopefully a European release around the same time. This means that globally, there will only be 1 month of sales.

There is also a good chance that the console won't make it this year in all territories. This means that the console is going to have a heavily supply constrained 1 month to sell before the end of the year.

The Xbox launch is more up in the air, but the latest rumours are suggesting it won't even make it this year. I wouldn't count on that, but it is hard to predict what kind of buzz it is going to have going into launch without even seeing it announced. At the moment, the PS4 seems to have more excitment around it, but it is impossible to predict what that will be like going into the holidays.

I don't really know what the HDer twins will do in terms of launch titles. I don't think that either will want to be 2nd, but equally I don't think they are going to launch on the same day, I think they all know that it is not a sensible idea from a purely practical basis. Having said that, I would be surprised if they weren't both released in the USA in November, so I think the 720/Infinity/Fusion is going to have similar timing issues to the PS4.

I think the Wii U is far from dead and with some big games and an extra 2 months in which to sell, I think that it is the safest best to back

It's fairly certain it will be the Wii U. Even if demand is through the roof for PS4 and NextBox, there is simply a limit to how quickly consoles can be manufactured, shipped and sold through the supply chain. The new systems will be happy if they sell as Wii U did last Christmas, which is very well and one of the best ever launches. Wii U, on the other hand, will have an abundance of systems available and likely some black Friday promotions and so forth. A repeat of last year's numbers would be considered a failure.

Further, the Wii U should have a large slate of available titles while selection on the new systems will most likely be limited and include a lot of games that are available on current gen. There is also a good chance that the systems will be $500 or more, limiting the audience and making the cheaper Wii U a more attractive option for many.

The only way the new systems would outsell Wii U is if the system really tanks and finds no interested customers. With new names and marketing I think this will be unlikely, and Nintendo still holds the desperate option of a price cut at this stage should things get real bad.

im tending to lean wiiU. but it will all depend on the cost. what would hurt wiiU is if microsoft does the subscription rate thing with the base the same as the wiiU price drop and actually has something worth buying it for. and if they split then ps4 will take 1st

WIthout launch line-up or even a price for PS4 and Xbox3 no one can estimate their sales numbers.

But it seems the Wii U will have pretty big line-up for the second half of 2013 and it will be the cheapest console of the three. So I think the Wii U will have the highest sales whatever price or games the other to will have.

Wii U but not by much and mostly because the others wont be out the same time frame. Also it takes time for awareness. So wii u has some benefits there. But after expect both ps3 and 720 to sell better.

Wii u will sell around 3.5 mil and reach around 8 mil lt
Ps4 will sell a less than 3mil

WiiU by a landslide, since the others have no chance in hell at selling well.

hmm, I think the Nextbox.