Exactly.

And in comparison, the PS3 has more "laid back" core gamers - people who own more games than the casual gamer but far less than the ultra-core gamer.

I often see people who I met online on PSN only own perhaps 10-15 games, which is much less than the typical core gamer who visits forums like VGC.

So it all ads up. Different demographics on PS3 and X360, but both consoles end up with similar attach ratios.

I'd say that's about right. It launched a whole year earlier and many hardcore gamers are impatient so they made it their main platform.

You might be able to conclude that if you count JRPGs and more smaller/obscure games.

Quantity doesn't really matter to me. We can only buy and play so many games anyway. What's more important is:

1) Quality (is it a "must have"?)
2) Genre (how does it contribute to the portfolio of games? Adding another shooter to the Xbox lineup doesn't really attract a new audience)
3) Uniqueness (ignoring genre, how unique is it? I mean, does the exclusive really just offer an similar alternative to what the multiplat games offer, or is it something that makes the system unique?)

So wouldn't that mean a higher attach rate for the PS3 since there are more games? Wouldn't more games = higher attach rate? 

True, Sony has a larger spread of actual games than MS who only focuses on what they think will sell rather than the overall experience.

There is another relevant consideration, which is that a higher hardware sales ratio makes it much harder to maintain a higher tie ratio.

Analysts have noted in the past that the lower the hardware sales rate, the easier it is for software sales to keep pace. Conversely, a high hardware sales rate mean software has a tougher time keeping pace. As we know, both the PS3 and the Wii had a much higher sales rate than the 360.

Not when you're talking about a broader selection.  Having a more diverse consumer base would actually hurt the tie ratio in that case.  Most people have one or two main genres and then a few sub-genres that they dabble in.

Let's consider the PS3, which has a consumer base which includes the JRPG sub-group.  This group probably won't be buying a ton a games, as their favorite genre isn't expansive, and likely includes a lot of digital content.  This group would probably hurt the PS3's tie ratio.  The same could probably be said for other sub-groups where the PS3 consumer base is larger than the 360's, such as the fighting game group, the sports group, and the platformer group.

In contrast, the 360 has a huge number of FPS fans, a genre with a massive library of new titles this gen.  This group would likely boost your tie ratio by a major amount.

So, in truth, having a greater variety of games across many genres probably hurts your tie ratio, but it likely boosts your hardware numbers in the long term, as you'll get more total groups who want your console.

PS3 has no games, what are the core suppose to buy huh??

The problem with this thread, and everyone in it, is that you're all trying to paint this matter either black or white. You would have the truth be either one, or the other. The real truth however, is that it is both. Just as it should be. Fair. Balanced.

Your statistics and speculations are irrelevant, and meaningless. PS3 has sold more units because that is how fate would have it. More 360 games have been sold, because fate would have it. Both are simple matters of chance, for better or worse won by each side. Balanced. Fair.

You are petty to seek some sort of personal validation in this

Interestingly the attach ratio gap has been narrowing since Kinect came out. So that means a larger % of 360 sales post Kinect has been to non-core gamers.

Of course the attach ratio difference could be due to many factors that are not visible to VGC. So unlike previous generations when every game was sold on a disc, and thus theoretically tracked independantly of the publisher / console maker, this generation the digital sales means disc sales is only a % of a game's total sales. What that % is for any given game that has a digial version can;t really be known.