I think it's fair to say, TENTATIVELY, that a post-Christmas sales equilibrium has been reached for the PS3 and 360 and the PS3's is clearly significantly higher.

http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=PS3&reg1=Japan&cons2=PS3&reg2=All&cons3=X360&reg3=All&start=39404&end=39481

whoope doo

remember these two words....

7 million

the only way ps3 will surpass total lifetime sales of xbox 360 this year is if microsoft don't do anything about it.

No promoting, their big games get delayed, no unannounced games announced any time soon.

Microsoft is in this to win also , even if analyst are right with their predictions.

7.0 - 3.5 = 3.5 which means xbox 360 will still be ahead by 3.5 million.

and im sure microsoft isn't going to just let their lead diminish without doing anything about it.

2009 should be even more interesting..... metal gear solid series ends, god of war 3 comes out, the new bungie game, part 2 of too human and mass effect will be unveiled etc.

You really can't blame microsoft(videogame industry underdog) wanting to get in early and try to steal the other's limelight and it worked. Sony no longer has over 50% of the market. Even if ends up doing that it still took them 2-3 years to catch up. This console war is a lot more leveled between the three and shows which ever one we want to support we can look forward to more new and exciting games to play.

 Yay it beat the PS3 (so far) but look it sold less than in 2 years than the Wii did in 1 year.  Still losing for having a subpar console but now it is to a different company.  It doesn't matter who you lose to if you still lose.  Sad argument you have there since MS did release a year early and still got beat out, even after HALO came out hah that's just sad.  Why do you ignore Wii, cause it is beating your console like there is no tomorrow?  Maybe they will win the next gen but probably not.

thats impressive! Its obvious Japan numbers will extend PS3's weekly lead to above margin of error. I'd say PS3 sells 35k in Japan, 360 sells 10k (and thats being generous).

 I hope DMC4 had a bigger impact. 

TheSource Japan preview:

PS3 : 45k-65k

Xbox360 : 5k-9k

...

yeah well I live in philadelphia and as i stated i don't know how the ps3 sells else where. nor dor i care to argue about it on a msg board.

great you live in LA, great adults like the Ps3, great adults buy there kids 360s, and the wii is sold out. all great points. i'm willing to bet that latin cuisine sells a lot better in La than in philadelphia being that there's a huge latin demographic and as you've stated LA is 2xs the size of PHILADELPHIA. i'm willing to bet that plastic surgery, day spas, convertible cars,  and shorts probably sell a bit better there as well being that's it's southern california and the weather is fairly nice most of the time.  follow where I'm going yet? i'm making it painfully obvious.

the point being? there is no point. for every it's not selling here or it is selling here in my region, THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE 7 million sold. Period. But you've clarified for us all that a lot of those numbers are clearly coming fromthe US 1st or 2nd largest city.  But clearly that's not helping it's numbers in it's 5th or 6th largets city or in a lot of areas inbetween.

but yeah you know COMMON SENSE FTW

Who cares which company sells the most hardware. The only thing that matters is the games that are released. Wii and XBox 360 have better games than PS3 at the moment. Only 4 PS3 AAA exclusives out this year, MGS4, Final Fantasy 13, Resistance 2 and Gran Turismo 5. The 360 have more AAA exclusives out this year including Fable 2, Splinter Cell Conviction, Ninja Gaiden 2, Gears of War 2, Too Human and Alan Wake. Nintendo Wii have Super Smash Brothers Brawl out this year. Wii is alot cheaper than its competitors and sells more because it attracts a wider target market including casual gamers, children, women and elderly. The novelty nunchuck controller of the Wii motion control is here to stay and it will kill both PS3 and the XBox 360 in sales of both hardware and software.

wow, some of the hostility over the last 4 pages has been a great read.
Also, Sony does seem to bring out the best and worst in people, since Sony is in my opinion the most interesting company to follow sales wise right now.

Also a lot of new members posting for the first couple of times in this thread, I hope you guys stick around- since some of the future debates with you guys would be great.

I especially like the Phili - LA argument. that had me laughing good.

@OP, this has been said but I too find it amazing that Everyone has talked about how huge NA is for Microsoft, and it has been. NA has been almost entirely for the 360.
Coming across the sales showing that Microsoft only has a 10 k lead, now shows that Europe is more of an importance in differentiating sales figures for Sony than NA is for Microsoft.

And what if the unthinkable happens, and eventually Sony takes the lead in all 3 markets.

I always say "third place has never been so sweet" (referring to Sony), but if trends continue, as I suspect they will, it makes me wonder when I will have to switch it to "Second place has never been so sweet", and that just doesn't have the same ring to it.. does it?

GTA4 iscomming for both , so that will only help , and if we culd see both a pricecut , GTA4 and MGS4 in Q2 , than be shure that the PS3 will pass the 360 sales even in NA ...