Please tell me that's a joke. Or at least try to justify it, with things OTHER than specs. 

 I think he got that from the fact that there is a ton of casual games for the PS2 and Wii. 

While its true, I'd say that the Wii is still more in competition with the PS3 and 360, especially because the PS2 won't be around this whole gen. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

The Wii is competing with every video game system ever made, for the position of "best-selling video game system ever made," and it's winning.

Yeah... Ethos is one of the three main forms of argument.

Edit: On Topic: How can anyone argue that home consoles are not directly competing.  I can see arguing that while handhelds and consoles compete, it is indirect, but not this bull.  Consumers see all three consoles as just that: consoles.  They don't say "I'm going to buy a purely hardcore gaming console" or "I'm going to buy a console with more widespread appeal."  All three are simply consoles.  If one was to disappear from the market, the other two would be visibly affected in a positive manner (if there were not supply issues for the Wii).

I will write what I wrote in the other thread.

The real reason that PS3 and 360 fanboys do not think that Wii is competing is that they cannot believe that a "last gen" console can be winning a battle against their HD powerhouses. If the opposite was true and the HD consoles were beating Wii then the fanboys would be saying"we all new the Wii couldn't compete against the PS3 and 360". Funny how this is the case isnt it.

While all three markets appeal to certain niches that the others do not (or at least, not so much), there is still a large number of gamers who will be drawn to what each system has to offer. Even if these gamers buy 2 or 3 systems, there is a limit to the number of games a person can play. Each day spent playing a 360 game means one less day playing a Wii game (or vice versa), and in all likelihood fewer games sold for each system than if the others did not exist.

More importantly, they are competing for developers. The developers have limited resources. Two years ago, Nintendo couldn't successfully compete for third party resources, and as such they got a bunch of shovel ware games. As the Wii's success became apparant, some third parties claimed to be shifting their best development teams to Wii projects - meaning that they would no longer be working on 360/PS3 games.

Lastly, look at how stores such as Target and WalMart display video games and consoles. They are put together in the same aisle, with very limited shelf space. Where the PS2 might have had 2 or 3 cases of games displayed to the XB and GCN's 1, now the numbers are reversed. Wii and 360 (in the US, anyway) are being displayed more prominantly and since most stores have not expanded their gaming section, that means Sony has lost shelf space, which means it has fewer games on shelves, which will hurt their sales.  

Yes and no, it really depends on the market segments that are buying the console.



1. People who would have never bought a machine - Not competing with PS360
2. People who want a cheap basic system for their kids - Competing with Xbox360 arcade
3. Hardcore gamers - Competing with PS360
4. Casual gamers - Competing with PS360

Segment 1 which is a significant part of the market for Wiis is not competing with PS360. These people play Wii sports and Wii play and buy Wii fit, its the non gamers, gamers system. Possibly as high as 50% of the Wiis have been sold to this group, however the household may include people from the other groups who will also use the system. Like kids. So its not cut n dried.

I would say about half of the Wiis total sales are up for grabs from the other 2 consoles if they make an offering they want at a price they can afford.

But lastly, its impossible to know how much they're competing. The Wii has always been out of stock and underselling itself. So it is impossible to measure how a price cut on another system causes any substitution effect - the real measure of competion.

in terms of sales from launch

otherwise, it still has a long way to go but I think it will do it (maybe except DS) 

This should sum up the Wii/PS3 market.  

Perfect and possibly a decent proportion of the overlap would be people who would get both anyway.