Well, all of the analysts a year or so ago said that the PS3 would be a dominant or at least much stronger force starting in 2008.  It is definitely stronger than what it was but how far can it go in the future?  I think that HOME will help, its video sales will help, and all of the extra applications like the music video and audio player-selections will help as it will let sony use the assets of its other divisions to make the PS3 more attractive as a product.  But look at another side of things.  The economy has slowed recently and both MS and Sony have taken a hit, financially speaking, but Sony has taken a significantly larger hit than MS. 

I haven't read anything by Pachter or any of the other analysts comments over the impact on sales that the poor financials will do for sony, and perhaps they are still trying to figure out just what this means for the gaming market, but I think that MS being a tech company, and one that  supplies a product more needed than entertainment, will be better equipped to handle the new economic landscape.  I can only assume that a slightly hobbled Sony will be less competitive with its gaming division, as it takes money to do more things, put in more add-ons, make price cuts, bribe developers, etc.  This is a real business here. 

So, I think that reduced expectations from Sony are in order, and that we might be seeing an even more dominant MS as they might be able to gain some in the marketplace from a weakened sony.  Anyway what do y'all think?  Tell me like it is vgcharters.

sony will beat microsoft this gen simple as that, there is gears 2 and halo wars left for 360 this gen for exclusives so it's pretty much done
not flaming just being serious

I firmly believe that the Blu Ray will carry Sony past the 360... The idea being that there are people killing 2 birds with one stone. As HD becomes more popular PS3 becomes more appealing to people. With that being said... You are right Sony is up against the wall so to speak. Microsoft right now can afford to do more... But in 2009 I think Sony makes a big comeback. (It starts with the Holiday season though.)

 Well the Blu ray thing is definitely helping Sony as blu ray is past the hyper expensive startup phase and moving into the growth phase where it is going to get bigger and bigger I think, mabey even 20% of the market as we're going to see some cheaper BD players in the future.  Even better, Sony doesn't have to spend all that much at all on the brand as they really just have to collect royalties from movie companies at this point....and MS a couple of years down the road if there actually will be a BD enabled 720.  BUT, even with the money from Blu, Sony is still doing bad.  Blu just isn't enough to help Sony financially right now. 

Nope was it more of an anal-ysis or something?

In times of economic problems, families are less likely to go out and spend money on dinners, movies, family entertainment. They are more likely to spend money on things that will allow them to stay home, save money, and have fun together. This could be movies, video games, etc. I doubt you will see a downturn for Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo ... or if there is a downturn it is equal to the average downturn of other industries.

As families attempt to cope with recession they will turn to home entertainment to save money.

@Jedson, yeah I think that MS will be negatively impacted as well....just that Sony is doing pretty bad profit wise right now and that the poor economy will be worse on them than MS

The PS3, honestly, is not doing badly at all. It has performed really well in the face of a competitor that released a year earlier, and that it has yet to solidly prove that it's "superior" to. I think that alone suggests that the PS3 will likely win based on the Blu-Ray and brandname alone.

If there ever are a significant number of killer exclusives for the PS3 that leave the X360 crowd drooling, it'll be all over for MS. Ms doesn't really have a way to fight the PS3 tide, other than price cuts and lucking out, or spending a LOT of money on buying timed exclusives.  It seems that MS doesn't really know how to call a good 1st- or 2nd-party game concept as a good one.. they seem to just spray-and-pray, and sometimes they get lucky, or they rely upon their bankroll to buy a good one once its a proven winner.  Almost every great exclusive MS owns, they gained the exclusivity rights to well after the title was under way.  

That doesn't bode well for the future.  Eventually the MS stockholders will tell them to pull the plug on their games division.  Heck they are probably trying to turn the X360 into a Wii right now, in a desperate ploy for decent returns.

2009 will be the msot crucial year yet for all consoles o believe

I remember last year, when the 360 had no exclusives left after Halo 3

Off the top of my head, the 360 still has the following exclusives coming up:

-Halo 3 Recon

-Splinter Cell: Conviction

-Alan Wake

-Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts

-APB: All Points Bulletin

-Huxley

-Ninja Blade

-Lips

-You're In The Movies (Those two WILL sell some consoles)

-WET

-Star Ocean IV

-Forza Motorsport 3

And don't remind me of the large list of PS3 exclusives--I know about them, they look great, I'm excited for some of them.  I'm not putting them down--I'm just not being an ignorant idiot about this issue.