Who will win the console war, who will be second, and who will fail? The PS3, the Wii, or the 360.

WiiDS

The same answer I gave nearly a year and a half ago: MS and Nintendo. Nintendo will win because of huge profit margins, and a strong, growing fanbase that far exeeds that of the N64 and GC era, along with very strong handheld sales, and still a death-grip on handhelds. MS will win because they'll vastly improve their marketshare this generation, and actually become profitable. The live emphasis + downloadable content make this possible, as MS makes about 3x more off downloads than videogame sales.

Not sure what you consider a 'win' but I'll assume sales numbers here. At the current state, all things indicate a dominace of the Wii in all 3 major regions - Japan, North America, Europe Xbox 360 will come second place with a good library of games and strong sipport in the North America. PS3 at this point is extremely difficult to take 1st or even 2nd place for that matter. Thats the general consesus at these boards.

Wii will win. They will have the largest market share in each region. They will completely dominate Japan with 75% or better. NA will be closer for a while since MS has a big lead, but eventually the Wii will take the lead, same with Europe. As for $$ wise, Nintendo will blow the competition away. Sony and MS are losing tons of $$ while Nintendo is very profitable and with their increased market share will be able to push much more software. Nintendo may be able to take the top publisher position from EA as well, we'll see.

Will, I am speaking out of facts here, so don't get angry with me.

The Xbox 360:

Good games (huge base of it)

nice online service

comes in HD-DVD (nice)

Cool graphics

Rumble control

Kind of noisy

had some problems (Still some problems with scratching discs)

no HDMI port (some needs it)

no wireless (coming soon)

probably will last another 4 to 5 years before MS replace it.

Wii:

Cool remote

Killer games

Small

Cheap

Not state of the art in graphics (everyone knows that)

no Hard disk

Limited games (coming soon games are not so exciting for some people)

Some say it is for kids and old people only (not me, for more info check youtube.com)

probably will be here for 5 to 6 years

PS3:

State of the art graphic card and processor (Blu-ray is an advantage but not for now, sorry PS3 fan boys)

Cool games (both coming and just released + PS2 and PS)

Rate of 3.2 games a day (my own statistics based on EB games online store)

Now with online store for demos and multiplayer (can connect wirelessly to psp or Internet)

HDD 40 (comming soon), 60GB or 80 GB and bluetooth

No rumble (Fact Dual shock 3)

Expensive (way expensive)

Graphics are similar to rivals and in some cases worse (check opm.1up.com)

Backward compatibility (solved after the update)

RAM may not be enough for future games (News says that PS3 hardwares can be upgraded, though not how much it will cost)

Sony rep's say that it will be here for 10 years.

Who will win? you tell me.

BUT if you wanna know which console I went with it is the PS3.

WHY? will I did that analysis before deciding and then it hit me why I wanna buy one. I wanted to have fun for as long as I can.

Wii, was a great console and I loved the remote, but I didn't choose it cause of the missing features and that i am not a fan of physical activities.

So, I narrowed it and though about it, PS3 and 360 has the same games, so they are substitutes except for price. The only difference is that Xbox 360 will be replaced in 5 years and then I have to buy another console say for $400. PS3 is $600 and would be here for 10 years, and if MS came up with new technology I can take my PS3 to Sony and get the same technology added or replaced. Beside if BD was really the future well guess what, I already have it.

But that's only my story, I am not a fan boy, I used to have Xbox and I got upset when MS introduced the Xbox 360 and I ended up with no games. So, even Wii now for me is a no no. I want a console that lasts. Even if it means following a PR, well, PS one lasts for 10 years and PS2 for 8 and counting.

Mero, no offense, but PR is PR. I highly doubt that the PS3 will be around for 10 years. Am I the only one who remembers Nintendo saying the GameCube would be around for 8? It honestly could have been... y'know, if not for the fact that it sold horribly. If your main problem was longevity, you should have waited a year to have a good idea of which ones were selling the best. Sales dictate if something lasts, not what internal features it has. Why do you think your original Xbox only lasted four years? It had the most features, and online and HD *are* the future, the two things it did better than everyone else in the absolute. I mean, I'm an admitted Nintendo fanboy, so keep that in mind, but I like to think I put some thought into my fanboyineaty. There are plenty of reasons to own a PS3, but "because Sony PR said so" seems kinda silly to me.

Yes, Xbox is dead. Xbox owners were almost forced to buy a 360. They are at 10 mln. PS3 more expansive, lesser games, keeps supporting PS2. Sales aren't that bad. It's safe to say there equal at WW sales. 360 has beter games, but at the end of this year PS3 will also have good games. Maybe 360 line-up is better than PS3. Anyway the PS3 would still improve more than 360. 360 already has LIVE, PS3 is improving online capabilities. It means PS3 sales will improve more than 360, because Microsoft isn't making there console more attractive. The war between HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray isn't over yet. If Blu-ray wins it an advantage for Sony. Even if a Blu-ray addon comes for 360. Build-in is just better. The Wii is a cheap console with a Wii-mote. It attracts the non-gamers. And ofcourse some of the 150mln userbase of last generation. This userbase liked the high-end era with PS2, Xbox, Dreamcast and Gamecube. I don't think many of those gamers, want Wii Play or any other game like that. They want GTA4 or other high-end games like this. The wii is selling well because of their low price. 360 and PS3 prices will be more competitive in the future. Wii will be missing some key games, but will be the most attractive to non-gamers. Lifespan of PS3. It has the hardware of the future. It needs those "gloves" to compete with the Wii-mote. Wii2 could be as powerfull as PS3. I don't think Nintendo would bring a powerless Wii2.

Logically, it's likely this will be the outcome:

1) Wii

2) Xbox360

3) PS3

Currently, the Wii is outselling the 360 which is outselling the PS3 on a weekly basis. This trend has been true for several months now (that is, since the PS3/Wii launch figures came down to a consistent sales number). Trends like these tend to stick -- it really is quite uncommon for these figures not to extrapolate out over an entire generation. I'd give a 75%+ chance that the figures work out as described above.