Oh wow, bdbdbd is a face I haven't seen in a long time.

Sony probably delays the PS3 until 2007, and Nintendo might not have come up with the Wii, who knows? It's literally unpredictable after the first couple of years.

"bdbdbd is a face I haven't seen in a long time" idk that name is just very comical to me Lol. Bdbdbd...what is the origin of this name? I'm very interested.

Some predictions off the top of my head:

- Trophies wouldn't exist.
- PlayStation gens would've been longer than they were.
- PlayStation consoles would've been more expensive for longer.
- PS4 would currently be approaching the DS/PS2 sales range.
- PlayStation online offerings would've been much slower in terms of roll out (but things like Plus still have come into force regardless, with Sony taking more inspiration from Steam and then TV/movie streaming services, rather than Xbox Live).
- Better PSV support.
- Fewer acquisitions by Sony.

Not sure much changes for Nintendo; the company does its own thing even with MS in the picture, but:

- Perhaps Nintendo home consoles would have received more third party support (and the tech gap would've been smaller in this other timeline, making it easier for third parties to make games for both).
- WiiU would've probably sold better.
- Nintendo's online development would've been even more glacial.

it may be from that old movie "the Black Hole" ....... i think that i remember the robot character saying that if i'm not mistaken

It's actually three times thumbs up. At the time my oldest kid was a baby two decades back, his mother was in the internet's mom's forums and they used there "bdbdbd" as thumbs up three times to wish luck. I did ask the same question back then as you just did. 

 A former mod here on VGC read it as "Buddybuddybuddy", which I'm also fine with. And bdbdbd is quite common online, so it's hard to find with Google search. 

First, the things that would not change. The Dreamcast would still fail and would sign Sega's exit from the hardware side of the market. XBox not being there does not change the fact that the PS2 is still around and that the Saturn was beaten soundly by its competition, so even if it gets one or two extra million sales, Dreamcast still fails. Likewise, the GameCube still sells about the same amount, maybe a couple million more, but again, the XBox did not hurt Nintendo's share of the market, the PS2 did that by itself. The PS2 would sell more or less the same amount, as at the point of 150+ million consoles, XBox not being there changes little.

After the 6th gen, however, things would change a lot. Nintendo would still go for an upgraded GC, which would be the Wii, and without any similar competition, Sony would take the PS3 gamble even harder. But in this case, the lack of a 360 is very important. At the time, the 360 was a clear and competitive alternative to the 599 US$ machine, especially to those who did not consider the Wii as a true competitor. But without a 360, they either go PS3 or go Wii. I imagine the PS3 would still have a terrible start, since even if there is little competition, lack of launch titles and exorbitant launch price makes it a difficult proposition. The Wii would still go on to be the best selling machine, but now it would gain a lot more attention from 3rd parties, as the alternative is a very expensive, very difficult to develop for machine (or PC).

Thus, 7th would not push graphics as much as it did, and neither would online gaming (both the Wii and the PS3 online services were comparatively inferior to those on the 360, though on the upside, the fact there was no paid online console could mean it does not become common going forward). Sony would start gaining momentum due to emergency measures with the PS3, but a lot more core games would have been developed with the Wii in mind (big games like GTA IV, Dead Space, Far Cry 3, CoD Modern Warfare or Mass Effect could have been Wii games, since the PS3 userbase alone may not have justified their development as PS3-PC games alone). With the Wii getting even more games, I imagine Sony would push their own motion control stuff even harder to try to keep up. I imagine the sales would be quite similar in the end, though the Wii getting more 3rd party support would mean its lifespan would be longer and wouldn't immediately dry up after thr 4th-5th year. Maybe it could have reached around 120m sales, while the PS3 would be around the 100m mark.

After that, the tables would turn, as Nintendo would be even more confident on the Wii strategy, and would go all in on the WiiU, though a longer Wii lifespan would make the WiiU release later, which could mean a console on par with the PS4 hardware-wise. Still, it would be expensive and confusing to those who initially bought the Wii, and would get a similar fate. It could have a much better launch due to the Wii having a bigger amount of core games than it had in reality, but it would still end up failing, with people going back in droves to the PS4. I imagine the WiiU could do N64 numbers, but not more than that, while the PS4 would be around 120-150m units. Perhaps at this point online would still be free, as there is no effective precedent for paid online, and Sony would not risk it to try to avoid sinking the PS brand now that they have it back on track. I'm not sure how midgen upgrades like the PS4 Pro would fare, but I imagine that, even if they released, it would not change much.

After that, the Switch and the PS5 would come out, and this would mark a full split of the market. The PS5 would stand as the single dedicated home console, while the Switch would be seen as a hybrid/dockable handheld. I imagine the numbers would be very similar to what we have right now, as the XBox XS is not really affecting the sales of either PS5 or Nintendo in any meaningful way. This would be the time where this home console monopoly would push many to just go PC, as I can imagine a Sony having this much control over the market would make them take controversial decisions which would cause people to abandon consoles altogether.

I think the "market" stays roughly the same size, however Sony and Nintendo are both slightly bigger.
Halo gets bought by apple (as was the plan, until MS swooped in last minuet and bought it).

Maybe Apple would be slightly more gaming focused than it is today?
Maybe the size increase of Playstation and Nintendo, leads to more and differnt types of games, being made in that time frame?

PS3 wouldn't have lost Sony as much money (or they recouped quicker).
How does that effect PS4? PS5?   Would the console market be as service focused as it is now? would you still be paying for online?
(xbox started and PS followed right?)  Would there be as many Games as a Service? I feel like xbox is partly responsible for hypeing that stuff up.

Would Nintendo have chosen to go "blue ocean strat" if they had 1 less competitor on the market? and got to keep rare?
Ei. would nintendo still be doing a main console + handheld strat today?

Nintendo choosing blue ocean was a result of two things, with Microsoft having nothing to do with them: increasing cost of game development and Sony entering the handheld market. 

Yes. The cons of that would be less online infrastructure including weaker subscription gaming services. The pros would be more complete and stable games for longer and some delaying of microtransactions. 

1. Cell would have evolved to Super Cell in the PS4 and Cell Max in the PS5 (yes it's Dragon Ball reference). And this would have possibly kept IBM relevant.

I feel that the Cell had growth potential, and that development for it wasn't much of a "hell" by the generation's end. So if developers had no alternative in the Xbox 360, they would have adapted faster and complaind less about it, and Sony/IBM would have also made some adjustments and made it more developer friendly over the generations. Then again, X360 and Wii/Wii U were also IBM powered, so IBM's problems go much deeper than Cell.

2. PS2, 3 and 4 would have been slightly-moderately more expensive. PS5 prices stay around the same as they are today, with a higher launch price but a pricecut in year 2 or 3.

3. Trophies probably wouldn't be a thing,

4. Online and subscriptions progress differently.

5. PS3 sells 135 million units and PS4 145 million units.

6. Dreamcast still dies, and GameCube's slightly higher sales wouldn't have made a big difference in Nintendo's "fuck specs" approach starting from the Wii.