The issue is:

1. Initial cost of the PS3 was way too high
2. They lowered the price which instigates consumers to wait
3. They kept lowering the price, more people started to wait
4. The games people wanted came out in it's 2nd year?**

yea 4 is probably bs, also 1 is bs also. 2 may have some foundation and so may 3.

But 2 and 3 couldn't have had that large an effect.

Since the demise of SCEJ, they have nothing to play, not even for the near future except maybe LBP thats why they're slacking on their console purchases. We've seen what big releases can do ala MGS4:GOTP

Whatever happened to WKC/WKS?

I am tired of people using PSP as a reason for PS3's future success. PSP never sold badly in Japan, currently it is at 10 Million so before PSP started selling really well it still sold around 8-9 million. So this was not really a come back it was just a big improvement for the PSP.

And do you really want PS3 to follow in the footsteps of PSP in terms of this "comeback"? Because then it would require Wii to sell to pretty much everyone that would buy the thing and only then PS3 can take the top weekly sales crown.

I am not saying that PS3 cant sell well in Japan but one game is not going to make a difference in the long term, you need a steady stream of games. Not even Final Fantasy can save a console in Japan if there are no other games people are willing to play.

There's no way... PS3 has showed no signs so far of increasing its popularity, not even with some big hits. FFXIII will produce a substantial peak, but that's about it. Similar to what MGS4, Yakuza 3, Hot Shots Golf 5, DMC4, Shin Sangoku Musou 5, Gundam Musou, Winning Eleven 2008 and GT5P did. Just look at the amount of hits the PS3 has received and still people don't seem to embrace it.

360 is gaining ground over the PS3, so things won't be easy.

White Knight Story (which releases this fiscal year, probably february-march 2009 in Japan) will be good for the PS3. I won't predict any numbers, the game doesn't get the hype MGS 4 had, but it's the first huge PS3 JRPG.

It is actually doing quite well fore the PS3

If the PSP had more games (any game, somewhere) it would be selling even better worldwide. Sadly it does not

If you take a look at the following chart you will notice that at a similar point in its life the PSP had sold at (about) 2/3 the rate of the PS2, and at about twice the rate of the PS3:

http://vgchartz.com/hwlaunch.php?cons1=PS2&reg1=Japan&cons2=PS3&reg2=Japan&cons3=PSP&reg3=Japan&weeks=90

This means that the PSP was never really selling that badly, and a fairly large boost (in terms of console sales) of 50% could boost the PSP to the sales rate of a console like the PS2 ... To get to a similar level, the PS3 would have to see a 200% increase in average sales which is not (really) plausable.

This year is a good year for the PS3 just look at it's growth. But, from next year will be the true killer for the PS3 with it's huge line up and lower price point. The PS3 has had too many delays with SW and is a little too expensive, we all know this. So, both these things will be rectified next year. If there is 1 thing that I have learned in 32 years, it is never to say never.

I remember people saying that MGS4 will not move consoles and will sell poorly on th PS3, lol. Just look at what 1 good Japanese game did for it, now imagin just what a few more will do.

It seams though, that there are many doubters and even with the obvious signs. I am sure, that come Leipzig and TGS many will change their tunes. Time, will answer all.

I could be wrong, but I expect the moves Sony to make from this point on can be classified under the "Too Little, Too Late!" category ...

In the previous generation over 75% of consoles were bought for $200 or less so a $300 system can not (really) be classified as affordable; and there is nothing saying that Sony will even reduce the PS3 to that price in 2009. On top of this, Microsoft and Nintendo are (probably) not going to stand idle if the PS3 reduces its price and starts leaching sales from their systems. Nintendo (in particular) is in the best position to counter this because there system isn't sold near to its cost, they are amazingly profitable from software sales, and they have lots of products (like Wii Fit, Wii Sports: Resort, etc.) which are very high demand and can be included in a bundle at little or no additional cost; I could be wrong but I suspect a $200 Wii with Wii Sports and Wii Sports: Resort, 2 Wiimotes with Wii MotionPlus and 2 Nunchucks is a much more attractive system (in particular for a family) than a $300 PS3.

As for software, the PS3 does have a couple of big exclusives in the future but as we all know it is a software library (not a few exclusives) that drives hardware sales. At the moment the majority of third party titles being released for the PS3 are also being released on the XBox 360, and a large portion of those games have another development team producing the same game for the Wii; I see this trend being expanded in the near future to the extent that almost all third party games for the PS3 will be on the XBox 360, and the vast majority of those will also have a Wii version. Now you may argue that the Wii version will be inferior, but consumers don't look at a system and buy it for the better versions of games because the majority of consumers don't check review sites or investigate average review quality.