PS2 has likely pushed by the 160 Million mark by now.

I don't know how you got the idea that the DS stopped production, because it hasn't.

That said, I think most of knew for a while now that the PS2 wasn't overtaken by the DS.

When your next gen handheld is fully Backwards Compatible, it renders production of the previous version unnecessary.  I recall people on this site complaining that DS sales were too high just a few months ago claiming it was stealing sales from it's successor.  DS sales didn't die, 3DS sales took off and successfully replaced it in the handheld market.

It is of relevance. Handhelds have more people to target than consoles.

Sony has much better market penetration into the second and third world (markets besides the US, JP, and EU).

These emerging markets are perfect for selling older, cheaper gaming hardware such as PS2. Sony reinforced this with their recent conference in Brazil. These markets are also quickly growing, and will become much more significant in the coming years.

In other words by starting early and making the Playstation brand well known in emerging markets, Sony is effectively investing in the future. As these markets grow and more of their consumers gain disposable income, their first choice when it comes to modern gaming will be this well established brand they have known for years. Latecomers will only have to fight an uphill battle against a well entrenched opponent to gain market share.

Don't think the US/JP/EU market triumvirate will last for too long. China has already grown explosively in terms of buying power.

ps2 is 170m right now

As do affordable DVD players. It goes both ways. It's relevant, but there are relevant points on all sides.

Having said that Baldrskies makes the best point. I'm not sure if the DS is selling in emerging markets, but if it isn't that's totally Nintendo's fault.

ps2 is deserving. Kudos

But they didn't stop manufacturing the DS.   Some journalist who should have his writers license revoked jumped to the conlucion that Nintendo stopped producing the DS because they didn't include a projected shipment figure for the next fiscal year.  Then it spread like wildfire on forums....like this one.   

But when the truth came out that Nintendo didn't stop production and have no plans to stop production, it wasn't hot news and few people saw it it.

because both are beasts when it comes to sales. the Wii is a MAJOR success yet its still 50 fucking million away from them. even closer to 60 million. they are the only two consoles that we can compare each other too