It's still too early to tell that for sure, cheer up and wait a few more month till next year before jumping to any conclusions.

@gebx

Don't worry, the 360 isn't going anywhere and if anything it will be in a much better position in the future compared to the PS3 than it is now. One of the major things that up to now has held back the 360 from slaughtering the PS3 in the console high-end has been it'd overheating issues (notice PS3 fanboys never attack the 360's gaming library because it's far superior to their own and they know it).

That issue (overheating) will be put to rest when the 360's new hardware revision comes out since it'll produce far less heat and be a part of a motherboard redesign to address the overheating issues. When it becomes widely known that the new systems don't have the issues of previous ones it's highly likely that those that were sitting on the fence over quality issues will buy one.

Also there are a few other things that the 360 has going in it's favor. It has an incredibly strong Christmas lineup (Nintendo may have a stronger first party lineup since they have 3 major games compared to the 360's 1 major first party game (two if you include second party), but the 360's much stronger third party exclusives is what will ensure that the 360 has a very good Christmas. Regardless of what some people hope for, there simply isn't any game coming this X'mas for the PS3 that has the hype and expectations of Halo 3. They may have Haze and UT3, but the former is an unproven franchise and the latter is PC based with many of it's fans choosing the PC version as opposed to Halo 3's console roots. There's a reason why Sony excutives have been coming out and saying Christmas 2007 isn't a big deal for them.

As for next year things will likely get even better as the strong third party sales on the 360 this year will help attract new games and the very poor PS3 third party sales will likely catch up to the PS3 and we'll see reduced third party support compared to the 360.

So before throwing in the towel I only ask that you wait until December 31st because I have a feeling you'll be *much* happier about the 360s future then :)

I hear a lot of talk about the Wii this Xmas but i personally believe the 360 could set itself up for a stunning final quarter of the year.
GTA and Halo lined up for the few months prior to Nov-Dec will build up software and hardware sales and the trend will only continue into November and December where i imagine they could sell at least 3-4 million in those months in America alone. Wii needs to deliver on its promise of getting the big 3 out this year or it will miss a great opportunity.

60 million is way too high, and even 35 million is a bit optimistic.

The 360 does fairly well in N. American, but in the rest of the world, it does very poorly, actually worse than the PS3. The 360 is selling at about the same rate as the Xbox, and of the seven active consoles, the only one it's ever managed to outsell is the PS3. It hasn't even outsold the PSP worldwide.

Its library lacks diversity. It has a lot of titles for older American males(shooters, racers, sports), but it doesn't have much for anyone else. This is why I think a price drop wouldn't really help the 360 as much as everyone thinks. It simply doesn't have mass appeal.

Halo will move a lot of hardware this Christmas, but what about '08? They haven't really announced anything big for next year while the PS3 and Wii have several big name titles coming.

Anyway, as far as how long Microsoft will keep making consoles, my guess is that it depends on profitability and marketshare. If the 360 fails to make a profit and/or the PS3 outsells it, I don't think they'll be back a third time.

"I do agree and worry they'll do this. But if you haven't read the forums, the big rumor is that MS is dropping the price August first by $100 on all models, and throwing in a free memory card for the core units @ $199. What say you then, if this is the case?"

Has this been announced by MS themselves?

I can see Mrstickball's reasoning but i have to agree with the general populus here that whilst the 360 can set itself up for a good Xmas, it has to cope with the fact that it is being marketed at a limited audience, sales of Viva Pinata show this and this will limit the potential sales of the 360 in future. I still anticipate the 360 to outsell the original xbox by far but i can still see it coming 3rd in this generation.
That is only my opinion though and will probably turn out to be wrong.

What turning point? Console sales are just continuning trends that have been going for a while now: Wii constantly selling out, X360 sales slowing down and PS3 a marginal improvement but low actual sales. What's different.

 -The PS3 isn't reasonably priced. Neither is the 360 for that matter. I could see the panic alarm going off if the PS3 was doing Wii like numbers but its a bit early to be throwing in the towel. Lets see how long the sales bounce lasts from the PS3 clearance sale before you start to give up.

-Turning point? The Wii has still been outselling the 360 and PS3 combined inspite of the PS3 clearance sale. Unless PS3 or 360 start gaining on the Wii, the turning point of the console war will continue to be E3 2006. E3 2006 is where gamers and the publishers started to get the idea that Nintendo was on to something. Sony still hasn't recovered from the snafu leading up to and at E3.

-The "Falcon" version of the 360 reportably costs 50% as much to manufacture as the current design. The current design costs $323.30 to manufacture as of 11/06. So I think a $50 price cut is unlikely. Expect a $100 price cut. MS is going to go for the jugular.

-It is quite possible that Halo 3 will disappoint millions of 360 years. Of millions of them will be buying 360s to play the game. Thats millions of more users that can pick up Gears of War, Area 51 Blacksite, etc.

-Haze is an unknown. Halo is a known. Haze could very well be a better game. Haze be could very well be a bomb. We don't know. We have at least the Halo 3 beta and previous games in the series to surmise how the game will play. Free Radical, the developers behind Haze, have a good pedigree. That said, we can't assume that Haze will play like Goldeneye 64 and Timesplitters.  

-Improve X-box Live, have you used the Playstation Network? XBL is far superior to PSN. Now if PSN were the equal of XBL, I could see your point, but I really don't know what you are getting at here.

-You believe MS will raised the price of Live and or MS points based on what. That flies in the face of good business. If anything, I'd bet the prices for Live and PS poitns would fall since MS is getting some competition, albeit limited, from Sony and Nintendo's online efforts. If they wanted to jack up the prices of Live and MS points, they had the opportunity before Sony launched PSN, and before Nintendo brought the Wii online.

-HD DVD is dead? That relates to the 360 how exactly. Its obvious that MS wants its users to buy digital downloads. As of right now, the Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD battle is at best a Pyrrhic victory for Sony. Assuming they when the battle they will have sacrificed dominance in the video game market to do so. All for a medium that trails DVD and may ultimately lose out to digital distribution.

-Now this is the weakest statement of all. The PS1 wasn't a quality console and was riddiled with over heating issues and DRE. The PS2 came out and sold in droves and it was also riddled with DRE issues. Issues so bad that a class action suit was filed and Sony was forced to capitulate. The PS2 has sold better than the PS1. That nullifies your statement.

-I believe you need to look at the big picture. By the time this generationis over. MS will have gained more market share. How much is up for debate but I do see MS leaving a market in which they are gaining strength

-I believe Peter Moore left because EA gave him 1.5 million dollars upfront, a higher salary, and he gets to spend more time at home with his family. 

"Predicting the Future - Wii won't catch up to the 360 till Early 2008!! "

I dont know when you made this prediction, or if you mean US sales? The Wii will outsell 360 in a couple of weeks. Probably week ending 19th August.