Exactly,  Was it last year that we got NPD numbers where X360 sold 5 times more than PS3?...Everyone was like it is over for PS3!   After some months the PS3 was selling more than X360 and it was very quite....Now MS manage to sell more X360's than PS3's....And bam...Sony is done for again..

what like the constent xbox 360 has peaked and its done for thread, since january. i dont think its the end for either, but it does mean that the ps3 wont over run the 360 next year, beyond that whos to say

 Its a wait game, until sony cuts price they WILL stay trailing behind the X360, and WII IMO

I really can't understand why people would assume that at a particular price the PS3 will (suddenly) become dramatically more popular ...

By the time the PS3 has hits any price the majority of potential PS3 customers at this price will have already bought a Wii and/or an XBox 360, or they are not interested in videogames enough to see the value in spending that kind of money on a system. If they have already bought another system they're a tough sell because the system has to justify its cost to the consumer when they already have a modern videogame system, and if they don't value conventional videogames that much you need to demonstrate that your system offers other values which justify the price. On top of all of this, the longer the PS3 doesn't stand out (in terms of sales) the less incentive there is from third party publishers and developers to produce exclusive games that would help it stand out in terms of sales.

With that said, it is likely that Sony will release the PS4 about 1 year after Microsoft replaces the XBox 360 which means that if they keep sales close enough (and cut into the XBox 360's lead) they will probably finish this generation in second place.

 Exactly,  Was it last year that we got NPD numbers where X360 sold 5 times more than PS3?...Everyone was like it is over for PS3!   After some months the PS3 was selling more than X360 and it was very quite....Now MS manage to sell more X360's than PS3's....And bam...Sony is done for again..

what like the constent xbox 360 has peaked and its done for thread, since january. i dont think its the end for either, but it does mean that the ps3 wont over run the 360 next year, beyond that whos to say

Sony was lucky as it was that MGS4 was coming out and they had the recent price cut. Before MGS4 they were feeling the wrath of Microsoft. The hot titles will decide which console is more popular. The price of  the PS3 really isn't helping though, with the Wii still being $250 and the 360's pricing going from $200-to $399 and as an added bonus you can get the elite for the same price as a PS3. At the end of the day it's a battle for the holiday season pitting PS3's games vs Xbox 360's games (And the greatest incentive for holiday shoppers on the 360's side is the platitnum hits and the fleet of games that came out from January 2008 to September 2008):

Gears of War 2 (AAA)

Fable 2 (AAA)

Halo Wars (AAA)

Banjo Kazooie

Naruto:The broken bond

Scene it: Box Office Smash (Hot family title)

Lips (Hot family & friends title)

You're in the movies (Hot family title)

Vs

Resistance 2 (AAA)

Socom: Confrontation

Little Big Planet (AAA)

Motorstorm

Singstar Vol.2 (Hot family & Friends title)

Valkyria Chronicles

Worldwide the X360 sold less than they did last year in the first 8 months of the year and I think that is a good reason to say the X360 sales have peaked and looks to die.  It something sells less than it did a year before most people will conclude that it is not that popular anymore.  (Not that I think it is going to die soon).

While PS3 sales are a lot better WW compared to last year it is just a matter of wait and see what it will do next year.