In bigjon's article comparing game sales on PS2 versus PS3, one of his hypotheses for the 'casual' PS3 titles selling less is that the 'casual game player has moved onto the Wii'.  I wholeheartedly disagree with that assumption.  So why have these games fared worse on the PS3?  The simple reaon is that many players are still playing their PS2s.

One of the reasons for the slow uptake of the PS3 is the strength of the older system.  GameCube and Xbox owners had no choice.  Their consoles are pretty much dead.  But the PS2 continues to have solid releases and in fact the PS2 was the second best selling home console last year outselling the 360 and PS3.

Every PS2 sold continues to be a 'win' for Sony.  It generally delays that user from upgrading to any of the newer systems.  And the longer that transition takes, the more likely that user will buy a Playstation product in the future.  Not that there's anything wrong with that. ;)

You make some interesting points. I still play my PS2 and see no reason to move up to the PS3.

You sound like phil harrison, strange your avatar looks like phil harrison with hair..

Anyhow, its not true that ps2 owners will "likely" jump to a future playstation platform simply because most of the american ps2 owners jumped to the Xbox 360.

 Right, so far, PS2 owners are moving to 360 and Wii.  However, it is possible that as PS3 continues to pick up steam less and less PS2 owners will buy PS3s.  So, a year from now, more American PS2 may be buying PS3s and Wiis instead of 360s and Wiis.

So, while the thread creators post was interesting, the conclusion is wrong :)

If I was a casual gamer, I'd buy the Wii. It just has a lot more to offer at the moment.

Not sure that's totally true.  I think a lot of 360 owners were Xbox owners mainly, while the 360 gain even more converts who historically would have been PC gamers particularly for FPS SP/MP games.  I think in US there are still quite a few PS2 owners who are still on PS2 or have bought a Wii, leaving their HD choice (assuming they want an HD console like PS3/360) open.

The PS2's sales are dying off though, slowly, very slowly, but they are dwindling.

the fact the PS3 has abandoned B/C in its most affordable model, its unlikely PS2 gamers will adopt that HD console because they can't carry over their library. And with so many price cuts, what reason have they to buy one now when they can just wait six months. The problem with having so many price drops is people start expecting them and become self-conscious about buying one at any point.

The 360 being a different brand faces similar oposition from the PS2 crowd.

either you can buy a new PS2 to replace your broken one or you can invest in the still questionable (to most gamers) Wii.

in my article in my analysis for PES 2008 I pointed out that the 3 million PES gamers that bought PES have still yet to upgrade. I pointed out how if the Wii version catches on and many of these PES gamers upgrade to Wii it could be a bad omen for the PS3 in others... but it got cut off when I posted it.

I'm not asking "to be annoying", but is there any evidence that 360/Wii owners previously owned a PS2?

Looking at the stats for NA:

- the xbox sold 16m, and I'd guess "nearly all of them" have upgraded?

- ditto the GC?

If both those groups upgraded, then that's 28/9m "consoles", add in new Wii users, and there's a huge market for an immediate upgrade, without even including PS2 owners?

I'd guess multiple console owners muddy the water, along with people who bought a GC/XB and then converted to PS2...

Wait, the PS2 story was forgotten?