JL, what you addressed isn't really the crux of my comment but I'll respond.

I'm not arguing that Sony doesn't need the PS4 to sell well to recuperate their R&D expenses. I'm saying that Sony will continue to target two separate price markets with the PS3 and PS4 as will Microsoft with the 360 and X1. Gaming consoles are a fairly elastic good. As long as there is a demand for the older, cheaper, consoles and software from a segment more sensitive to price, it makes no sense not to continue selling that product line. These consumers are not likely to buy the newer, more expensive, console just because a cheaper console is no longer available. In general, this strategy isn't much different than the strategy any other technology manufacturing firm uses (e.g. Apple, Samsung, etc.)

I`m not aware of promotions for BF as i`m not from America. But here in Europe (Portugal), it`s lowest price is 199€ and sometimes it goes to 149€.
Xbox 360 didn`t have an official price drop here aswell - at least i can`t remember - yet, the price kept coming down with time.

With the money they are making i don`t believe they will apply a 100$ (possibly more) and lose all their profits on the console. Assuming that they profit that much on the console.

I always thought that having high prices when the new consoles were to arrive would harm both MS and Sony. And if you add to that a good support from 3rd parties, we could see exactly that in the near future.

Well the reason I picked a simple aspect of your post to discuss is because you yourself said you had difficulty reading my "walls of text".

I am thorough when debating with someone. Everything can't be adequately said by one word or one sentence answers.

Now the point I'm making is that Sony doesn't have the luxury to do this strategy with the PS4 & PS3.
They need a HIT out of the box with the PS4 & the success of the PS4 will shrink the power of the PS3.
They don't need people holding out on the 7th gen systems. They need as many people to make the jump as possible.
The overlap period cannot be long. They cannot afford another situation like the PS3 & PS2.

See, this kind of thing is part of the reason why the SNES didn't outsell the NES.
The NES overlapped the SNES for a long part of its life & some people didn't make the jump until almost the N64 came out.
SNES was trying to get out of the shadow of the NES & as soon as it did that here comes the 5th gen systems starting with the 3DO & Atari Jaguar.
SNES was fighting to get out of NES' shadow on one end, fighting off the Sega Genesis on another end, & trying not to get crunched in by the coming 5th gen on the other end.

With the overlap of the PS1 on the PS2, this kind of thing didn't matter as much because PS2 was backwards compatible with PS1 games.
AND PS2 took the torch over from PS1 so Sony strung together record successes back to back.

The situation of the PS3 overlapping the PS4 is much different than the NES/SNES situation or the PS1/PS2 situation.
Nintendo is the best developer of all time & had gained massive amounts of money from the NES era.
Their 1st party efforts always come back to them & keep them flush with money.
They could afford the overlap.

Sony had record success from the PS1 giving them cover & then the PS2 picked up the torch & gained record success on its own.
The money was there from the old gen & then the new gen made new money.

Sony doesn't have that money anymore.
Their platforms are not upheld by their 1st party efforts like Nintendo. The 3rd party upholds the PlayStations.
Because of that Sony doesn't get the money flush that Nintendo does.
And PS4 has no backwards compatibility with PS3 so gamers have to choose between the two.
PS3 will end up being the enemy of the PS4 the longer the overlap goes on.

PS4 has to replace the PS3 in order for Sony Computer Entertainment to turn things around.
Vita is not doing it. PS3 is eroding & not bringing in enough money.
PS4 MUST be a BREAKOUT hit & cannot share the spotlight with the PS3 for very long.
John Lucas

U keep saying this but Wii sales started dropping 2 years before Nintendo stopped supporting it.

2008-24.2 million sold, peak year

1st Parties-Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Bros Brawl, Wii Fit, Animal Crossing, Wii Music

3rd Parties-Sonic Unleashed, Call of Duty, Force Unleashed, Boom Blox, De Blob

2009-21.2 million sold, -12% YoY, $50 price cut

1st Parties-Wii Sports Resort, New Super Mario Bros Wii, Wii Fit Plus, Mario & Sonic Olympics, Metroid Prime Trilogy

3rd Parties-Just Dance, Sonic Black Knight, Modern Warfare, Darkside Chronicles, House of the Dead, EA Sports Active

2010-17.3 million, -18% YoY

1st Parties-Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Party, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby Epic Yarn, Metroid Other M

3rd Parties-Just Dance 2, Skylanders, Epic Mickey, Monster Hunter Tri, Sonic Colors

It wasnt until 2011 that Nintendo stopped focusing on Wii and even then it had a few big games like Skyward Sword and Return to Dreamland.

I still have to disagree with this. I don't see this as people holding out on the 7th gen systems. These are people holding out for less expensive consoles in general. Two years from now someone wanting to play a console but not wanting to spend $300 to $500 for a new system may opt to buy a PS3/360 for $150 and be content picking up GTA V Greatest Hits for $20.

Of course Sony and Microsoft want as many customers making the jump to next generation as possible but until COGS for the new consoles go down and/or software revenues significantly outpace hardware COGS, they won't be able to address more price elastic customers. If you consider the fact that PS3 and 360 will from here on out will be pratically self sustainable for these customers with their huge libraries of physical and digital software, these consoles end up being cash cows for a few years.

Well I'm glad you said it!!!!! That's entirely what it comes across as, blind baseless faith.

Wii hit the grounding RUNNING, it was pretty damn obvious it was going to be a success.

Ouch. Looks like you overshot the mark (as did Lucas and Zero)

WiiU shipping 300k means it's still UNDER 4m lifetime for its first 4 quarters.

3DS under 35m too, but barely. Down YoY is worrying for sure.

No I'm talking about quality third party games, and that was the majority. Games like GTA, Bioshock, Red Dead, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, ect Wii got none of it, so yes PS360 gamers won out.

Doesn't matter if you think all first parties aren't equal, what matters if what peoples taste is. If they love MS or Sony first party your opinion on Nintendo being the best is worthless to them. They like MS or Sony first party AND they have all those quality third party games. That was my point about gamers winning on PS360.

Semi-religious bullshit? Hey guys I think johnlucas doesn't mean to sound religious... I don't find his posts disturbing, actually I think they are funny, he writes them like that on purpose!

It's his prediction, even if it's crazy I think we should respect it.

I think he raises some good points, his predictions may be really high but I don't get why many people get upset!

I don't see why you should respect crazy predictions.  If I told you I thought the world was going to end in 2 weeks you'd dismiss it as a crazy prediction with very little basis if any in observable data.  This is the same, John is telling us that the gaming world is going to collapse with Nintendo being the only major console maker to emerge from the ashes, it has no basis in what's happening now and I have no reason to give such a prediction any level of respect other than John's ability to write entire novels worth of posts.

Cap that all off with John's obvious love for Nintendo and his previous predictions for Ninty success and you have a plethora of reasons not to respect a prediction like this.