I think it's a bit incorrect to say the Wii and PS3 are competing for different audiences.  I'd say it's more accurate that the Wii goes after a larger audience.  The Wii does go beyond the PS3's demographic and capture casuals that the PS3 isn't targeted towards but it also goes for the core gamers that the PS3 does go after.  How else can you explain how a title such as Monster Hunter 3 would go from being a PS3 exclusive to a Wii exclusive?  Also all the rumors/talk about KH and people still aren't sure which system it will end up on.  

There are definitely titles on the Wii that wouldn't fit with the PS3 userbase (although that may change if LBP helps get more casuals to play the PS3 like some believe) but the Wii userbase is so diverse that i'd say any title on the PS3 could have fans on the Wii.

 I would've agreed with you but I feel now that Nintendo has forsaken most of their hardcore users, not that they really had a lot of hardcore gamers to begain with (Nintendo has always targeted less of 16-32 age group that PS360 have).

 And I don't need to really explain why Capcom chose MH games for Wii? Capcom has always played by their own rules, like giving GC their best game as "exclusive" (RE4) only to take it away in a few months... I rather not try to read too much into the thinking of Capcom.

 To me.. Wii is a casual console with mininal hardcore elements, While PS3 is a hardcore console with mininal casual elements. 

THey are both consoles (cars), but they are catering to very different crowds. 

First of all, I think the SNES did in fact outsell the PS1 early on, possibly for as long as a year... however you seem to have double standards, because the PS2 isn't outselling the top-selling 7th gen console (Wii) The PS2 is in fact much less spectacular than all that came before it. All it has managed is to outsell the two lowest new consoles slightly for 1 year. The PS1 outsold the two lowest 6th gen consoles by a much better margin in their first year and also did it for their second year. (not sure about 3rd but I think it was still competitive) the SNES as I said managed to outsell the leader of the following gen for a while. (and probably outsold the Saturn throughout most of it's life) Dunno about the NES - SNES situation, but I would guess NES did outsell SNES for a short time, and before that I think it was still outselling the Genesis/Megadrive.

It'll be considered 6th, unless it continues right on until the 8th starts, then that'll confuse things. But as stated above it's common for the dominate console to continue to sell strongly into the next generation.

The only real exception so far is the Atari 2600 as that outlasted the 'next' gen consoles like Intellivision and the later Colecovision. But in those days the industry hadn't settled into the current 5 year turnover, systems just came and went whenever.

Wow, wishful thinking, but no...

Sry but MH3 won't be coming to PS3. You will have to own a Wii to play it.

It would be more logical to think that RE5 will be coming to Wii.

WoW had it right, they are a figment of your imagination

no, because it will always be sony's 6th generation system

I've never bought the "Wii is abandoning the hardcore" argument. Zelda:TP, SMG, MP3, SSBB are games that core gamers love (and that includes the 16-32 age group you clearly mentioned) and are amongst the most popular Wii games. Then there are games like Fire Emblem and Trauma Center: New Blood which have difficulty levels that would scare off casuals, the TC game actually was docked points in some reviews for being "too hard". If you're a core gamer who says there are no games for you on the Wii you're either a huge FPS fan (which I will concede need more quality efforts as many have been subpar so far) or not looking hard enough.

And saying Capcom does their own thing isn't a valid answer to my question.  Capcom ported RE4 for sales and money which they got.  They made MH3 a Wii exclusive after the other MH games were Sony exclusives.  Thus I really don't think they are "catering to very different crowds" as you say and simply that the Wii caters to everybody, core gamers included. 

Maybe not, because PS2 launched earlier than GC and Xbox.
But i have a feeling that Sony may skip the "8th" gen console and focus more on the portable gaming device.

what a fascinating topic to really provoke thought and get varied discussions brought on the table. So here goes with my opinions on this matter...

No