Is that the case? 

 I don't think anyone can discount what Nintendo has done, and continues to do.  They're master in this arena.  (I'd have to look up the release dates to do the comparison...  I think the PS1 got to something like 100 million total consoles...  Added up, SNES and N64 may have toped that... I'm not sure about the times they were competing though).

Obviously it was a good one.  The PS2 was an amazing machine both from a sales and entertainment standpoint.  But what I want to know is if Sony actually planned to sell them both together.  Or if the PS3 had taken off like they had thought (5 million in sales w/o a game lol) would they have discountinued the PS2 immediately.  Either way it's conjecture and not a lot to talk about.  Let's add PS1 sales (I'm sure somebody somewhere is still selling a boxed one) and N64 sales too.  Then we can prove that Sony dominates .

the longer the ps2 is in demand that makes less demand for the ps3

 BTW, I've owned every Nintendo console... I grew up with Nintendo... In fac... I think Nintedo looks amazingly strong in the numbers I posted.

 As other have pointed out... Just the Wii alone has blown away the PS3/360.  Nintendo has been making money on the Wii since the start.

 But I only ask if it is fair to ignore the PS2... The PS2 is the device that WAS expensive and now is "cheap"... That seems to pay off in the long run.

Nintendo has a different model all together... So when looking at all these numbers and deciding who's "winning", isn't it a bit hard to align everything?  Each company has different strategies.  There could be a new Wii to pick up where the Wii left off... Maybe Nintendo was thinking a double 5-year cycle, while Sony was thinking for a single 10-year cycle (slightly overlapping).

I posted here because I've lurked enough to see that some people here do like to discuss the business... other's like to flame and get extremely defensive.

Well by your logic since MS chooses not to introduce a handheld its their own fault. And the PS2 is just as much of a different market from the PS3 as the Wii is from the DS so that argument is bunk. Why not just do a real company wide comparison?

Nov 25th '06 through March 8th '08

Nintendo - 66,749,907 - WINNER!!!

Sony - 40,494,964

Microsoft - 11,936,810

OR ooh I know how about we do a comparison of just current generation consoles from Nov '05 to Dec '06

Microsoft - 7,959,844 - ZOMG WINNER

Nintendo - 2,959,649

Sony - 1,232,643 

@yoppaDo,

No he just wanted to point out a scenario to inflate the ego. Perhaps if this wasn't the 20th time we've had this discussion you might get a better responce but its gotten really old explaining this to people.

There is a saying in statistics that applies here:

"If you torture a data set long enough, it will confess to anything."

  NINTENDO BIAS!!!

I think the SNES + N64 > PS1 thing is a good comparison - and it's even *gasp* anti-Nintendo! Fun fact: SNES games were still produced until late 2000, even after Nintendo ceased production of the console itself a year earlier. I suspect the same will happen to the PS2... but the SNES' long lifespan didn't exactly help Nintendo win the 32-bit wars. 

It's fair to ignore the PS2 because every winning console has sold well for years after the new wave of systems for released, and none of them ever had any impact on the outcome of the newcomers, so discussing whether or not it was the "right move" is a moot point--obviously it's the right move, that's why everyone's always done it.

 Yes, for the reasons you stated.  If it weren't for the PS2 Sony's gaming division would not have posted a profit last quarter, and previous losses would have been even greater.

You sure about that? That would make less demand for all consoles all around. Its not like Sony doesn't make a lot of money off of the PS2 and software sales.

The PS2 has been Sony's secret weapon the whole time. They can afford to take risks with the PS3 because of it and the PSP.

But hey so what if Sony has sold the most consoles even during Wii domination, that doesn't matter. Nintendo might be winning next gen currently with a last gen console, but Sony still has sold more consoles since both systems launched.

So basically, since PS3/Wii launch more people have bought Sony consoles and put them in their houses than Nintendo consoles. So Nintendo dominates next gen, but Sony still leads in console gaming.

 Good stuff, I never noticed that.

That's a fine way to look at the last year and a half...  And apparently it makes you feel good... So that is good too!

I'm not sure why it is so outrageous to consider consoles and hand-helds differently... Maybe I'm missing something there...

On your numbers, you should note that you're comparing:

4 - Nintendo Products

3- Sony Products

2- Microsoft Products 

It shows that Nintendo has sold the most total products in a year and a half.. .Sony looks respectable... MS doesn't come off so well.

But back to my sin of focusing on console game systems...  :)