You all do realize this is the dumbest arguement ever, right? The fact is both sides are righ, and both sides are wrong. Yes obviously both sides are competeing with one another, but lets be honest here. At a launch of 600 bucks for the PS3 compared to what 250 for the Wii these two consoles were not really competeing with one another. Obviously the system with over a 300 dollar price advantage was going to sell allot more than the expensive one. Yes we can put a pop warner football team on the field with the new England Patriots and call it competition, but i think the goals of each team are very different. As far as price is concerned the Wii is in more competition with the PS2. Yes all 3 consoles are in competition, but I think the goals for each within that competition are very different. I wo8uld say yes if ninty is successfull in truly long term converting these "New gamers" into real continued gamers. Both MS and Sony will be fighting for that market next time around.

I think the price argument is kind of silly in general because the Wii launched at a very conventional price for a new console, and the high price of the PS3 and XBox 360 was the result of choices that those console manufacturers made. If I decided to launch a $1500+ console would that mean that the eventual low sales of that system could not be directly compared to the PS3/XBox 360 because I was targeting a different market?

The fact of the matter is that Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all are targeting the exact same market with very different strategies; Sony bet that gamers would be willing to spend a lot more money for a moderately powerful system that took advantage of a new media format, Microsoft bet that gamers would be willing to spend more money for a moderately powerful system that had a quality online service, and Nintendo bet that consumers were looking for a new gameplay experience over improved graphics or technical features of games.

Essentially, to put this into car terms all three companies built compact cars; Nintendo anticipated higher fuel costs and developed a $15,000 fuel efficient vehicle, Microsoft decided to build a peppy car with a good radio that sells between $20,000 and $25,000, and Sony decided to build a sports-luxury car at $30,000 to $35,000. Nintendo's prediction of higher fuel costs was correct, and even if the other cars were less expensive many people would still favour Nintendo's car because of how fuel efficient it really is.

Happysquirrel, I agree with you that they are all competeing for the same General Market, which is Gamers. To say the price point isn't a valid arguement is being extremely narrow minded. Of course price matters. Of course the folks at Sony and MS knew that the price would be a handicap. Do you honestly think they didn't? If they did not think price was going to be an issue, why not release the PS3 at 700 or 800 dollars? C'mon be real. This whole arguement is nothing more than fanboy driven. Nintendo fanboys want to believe they have the "winning" console completely due to it's own merits and not due to a price advantage, and the HD fanboys want to completely eliminate the Wii totally from the equation. The truth is your both wrong. The truth is both are wrong and right. It's a stupid debate. They are competeing in the same market but all have different goals.

They clearly compete, anyone who doesn't see it is either dellusional or MikeB.

I just remembered an instance when Sony admitted that the PS3 is competing with the Wii...

Anyone remember when Howard Stringer attributed a spike in PS3 sales due to a price cut and Nintendo's inabilities to produce enough Wiis? That would suggest that he believes that the lack of Wiis on shelves means people would pick up a PS3 instead.

I'm sure I saw this on Next Gen, but I'm too lazy to look it up right now (maybe later). Also, my apologies if someone already mentioned this.

I will repeat my post. If the Wii wasn't "winning" the battle then PS3 and 360 owners would be saying "see we knew the Wii would compete with the HD consoles" but now it is thumping them it isn't in competition. Its a way for HD console owners to feel good about their purchase.

Of course they are in competition. They are all games machines that their primary job is playing games.

That's true. I notice that PS3 and 360 owners acknowledge that Wii is in direct competition with the two aforementioned machines only when it is convenient. For example:

- Last year when the PS3 outsold the Wii in Japan that week just after SMG released, there was a shitstorm on the internet and Sony fans recited "It Begins!" over and over and over again...

- Same for Xbox360 owners last September when Halo 3 released and saw hardware beat out the Wii by about 20,000 units.

So basically, when Wii is outsold by the PS360, there's elation. When Wii is handing the competition its collective ass, it's in a different market and not competing with HD consoles.

Then there is no pleasing you and trying to do so equates competing in the "Subjective Fanboy Olympics".

Two can quite easily play at that game: every game on the PS360 worth playing can be played on the PC.

See how irritating that is?

Not nearly as irritating as necrothreading to prove a month old point.