Actually, more than anything, I think Microsoft's success and on some extent Wii's is due to Sony's suicide: the initial PS3 retail price.

I know how MS did it, they came out first which managed to get alot of developers on their side and got that big lead on HW which is the reason for their massive SW sales. Hows that?

It's even more amazing when you take into consideration the PS3 which has been following the total opposite path of the 360 with the least million sellers, a live service that is finally trying to catch up and a lot of delays(HOME) and trying to sell a blu ray player as well instead of focusing on gaming.

 Im on my twelth! I can't stop.

I keep the newest console in the middle of the stack of RROD ones. I keep the broken ones running just incase they decide to get better.

Its lost my last three because of that awesome game - Deadliest catch, was so intense it caused 2 of them to RROD straight away. Oh, I have one DVD failure, I keep it in there because the green lights break up the sea of angry red lights. *The sea, deadliest catch OMG, you get it right?*

i dont get it you praise ms for this but dont praise any other company.

eg ps1 and 2 both reached 100m and who knows when an xbox will ever come close to that.

microsoft is doing good now (good by their standards) but this gen isnt even over yet.
and would the dev support and the library of games even be possible if they had released their console the same time as sony. think about that.

They launched a year before the competition and at first ignored RRoD caused by their rush, but then started to do something about it.  Their fiscal numbers, however, don't include the billion $ plus RRoD repair writedowns.  Sales-wise, though...yeah, people were ready for a new gen and they were first.

PS3 has sold faster than 360 over the same period, though, even with a higher price and the 360 already out and somewhat (established).

@ 1 Year Myth

Saying that Xbox360 had a 1 year advantage is a myth - the concept is nothing more than a marketing ruse used from platform to platform. It's given credit (false) for attributing to the transition in the past, but other down played values came in to play in this transition.

Why would developers abandon the PS2 with an install base of over 100 million(20 million units sold a year on average) to go for Microsoft's install base which by the end of 2006 was nearing 6 million.

For the first year Microsoft was directly competing with Sony's Ps2 at a loss, but those games still sold like crazy, and RROD and so on and so forth, that’s part of what amazes me.

There was no 1-year advantage, as that would mean a preemptive of some sort, when at that time it was competing with the Ps2 and the GC. By that time Microsoft discontinued the Xbox so that isn't going to be noted – wonder why they discontinued the Xbox; because they didn’t want to compete with that too.

@d21lewis

I did, the entire post is just reemphasized by the last comment.

I'm saying that your basing your judgments on feelings of individuals - any argument should be based on a pyramid concept, you lay the foundation, and you make sure each part can hold up the next - until you get to the point.

However the way people feel about things isn't a strong building block, the only way peoples feelings about products can be measured is by following the money, that in the terms I used it is called "the market's decision." Where the money goes is where the market is.

That is why many companies like talking about revenue over profit, it shows their investors that a lot of money is flowing through their company, however the definition of that number can be destroyed by having expensive to produce and expensive to consume products... then again the word expensive is determined by the value placed by the market.

If people aren't buying product x but are buying product y - which are performing essentially the same tasks then chances are product y is more valuable or given a higher value. (There’s more to it than that)

If I simply said "I feel the PS3 can 'sell' more than the Wii because it has Blu-Ray which is the standard."

These are subjective and in some cases anecdotal talking points, they can be argued till the ends of time. The reason being that your talkin about selling something, one can not feel what the market will do, you can observe it though and predict it's actions based on historical context; which when observed accurately leads to an accurate result.

"Nintendo knew their product would sell - they just didn't expect it to sell this much, and this fast. "

That has been quoted so many times - it's not even funny anymore.

My 360 output 1080p out of the box (component).

I see things a little differently on this end.

I have a > 2 year old 360 that rarely crashes (Oblivion does it occasionally), has never scratched any of my 30 game disks, and I get to play online for about $3.85/month, which compared to the cost of WoW is dirt cheap.

Yeah, it's noisy, runs hot (so does the PS3... it just has better cooling), and the threat of RROD after my 3-year warranty runs out sometimes comes to mind (typically when I'm reading these forums).

But... overall I love the games and have had a good experience. Yeah, others haven't fared as well, but I still like the platform.

To the OP:

Are you involved in some sort of relationship with Bill Gates?