So we don't count the ps2 sales that were sold when gamecube and Xbox were out neither?? That would leave ps2 at 115 million sales and not 160 million.

I think that if Sony obtain a sale of every ps3 it ships from now until 2018, that unit is as valuable as any other. If having long legs in hardware were so easy, every company would do that. 

I think Wii was the more popular console from 2006 to 2010, but Ps3 was more popular than Wii from 2011 until now, and it will be in 2014 and 2015 at least. In my opinion PS3 will be regarded in the future as dominant as Wii in that generation. And this is only counting sales..., because if we count games, then,  IMO PS3 will be the clear winner (primarly because all the 3rd party support Wii doesn't have).

Yeah I do Believe so. Especially when Sony will do more price drops as they did with the PS2. When PS3 is sold for $/€80-100 in two-three years it will be a lot of consoles sold. The PS2 was dropped to €70 in Europe after 10 years on the market, and was as most popular after 7 years on the market.

PS3 after 7 years on the market cost €200 in Europe, PS2 after 7 years cost €140 in Europe.

I think the PS3 will do less than PS2 in it's full lifetime, but I do believe there is a possibility that PS3 will pass Wii. Exactly how much more the PS3 will sell, in Europe foremost, I am not sure. But I believe 100+ millions is fair to say.

And IF Sony would keep the PS3 alive for as long as the PS2(12 years), that would mean 5 more years for the PS3, I am almost confident it will sell about as much or more than the PS2. But I don't think Sony will.

Does anyone know how much the PS2 sold in it's 7th year(2007)? Would be interesting to compare that with PS3 for 2013.

im gonna have to say that ps3 will eventually pass the wii at some point not only do i believe it but it has to happen in order from my 2010 prediction to come true

but in terms of rating console winners per gen (since 5th) in what the offered overall im gonna go with ps1 ps2 360 regardless of what the sales tell us

Pretty much this.

It's not a better performance to sell faster than to sell longer.

Not so different in fact

Not really. Nintendo and the Wii will still win. Nintendo made a boat load on every Wii sold when Sony was taking a massive hit on each PS4 unit sold. That and the tons of software Nintendo sold with the Wii. The real winner last gen was Nintendo no matter how you slice it or try to change that. Sure in sales the winner may be the one with the most units sold, but sales rarely translate directly into profit. I understand this is a sales thread so raw sales data wise if the PS3 overtakes the Wii then in that context the PS3 won. It was still a loss for Sony that gen. They lost a good amount of money and lost a portion of their install base. 

It's more you trying to change the thread subject and  slice the fact the real winner in console sales is the most sold console at the end

For Gamers, games matter so PS3 is clear winnner in terms of IP's and games library when comapared to Wii. Nintendo might have have got money from Wii but they lost hardcore gamers which is not possible to get back easliy but Sony can make money back from PS3 in the long run and can offset from PS4 but Nintendo cannot get hardcore gamers easily which can be proved from Wii U.

Also we should consider the fact that Wii was a lot cheper and PS3 was expensive so PS3 did great even though it priced very high and looking to reach Wii numbers.

Possibly yes.

What if the PS3 surpasses the wii in the year 2020 or beyond (using an extreme example here) how relevant is that to "winning the 7th(?) console generation"? When most of the sales you needed to catch up to the wii occured well after the next gen happend? What if in future generations we have even more extremes happen...are we just going to say well you know PS6 sold more than the WiiME 50 years later...it obviously won that generation. Seems a bit silly to me.

Personally i think in some generations we have clear winners and in others we dont. Last gen is one of those tricky ones where all three consoles "won" in some way.

If we look at the lifetime of the generation, the Wii won that. If we look at the lifetime of the consoles..then the PS3 has a possibility of winning that. If we look at profits then either Wii or 360 won that. Theres just so many factors that come into play here. I dont think a blanket definition like "most units sold EVER of all time" sufficiently covers the question of winner of the generation. Not necessarily saying i have the best definition...but thats my take on it.

Let's see.

1. Profit Margins

2. Software sales