360: Right in line with last year so far, we shouldn't expect the 360 to do anything wildly different this year. The safe money is probably on a slight increase YoY, but it won't be a shock for a slight decrease either.

Bring on week 2 - 10 numbers.

Nice work. I will be interested to see how it goes.

I expect PS3/360 to each end up about +1 million, and the Wii to be about +3 million.

Nice, the 360 beat its target from the year before and should do so again.

PS3 was slightly under it, and the Wii shatters its previous totals.

Update coming very soon, quite a bit of stuff being added.

Here's a quick little update for this week's numbers. A small taste before the buffet.

Week 2

Wk 2 2008 - Wk 2 2007 = Diff YoY

Wii: 527,317 - 280,223 = +247,094

360: 255,371 - 197,118 = +58,253

PS3: 209,239 - 229,151 = -19,912

Update done.

Please take note that for week 2 I've posed a question for you guys to address for each console as well as a bit of a bonus question to boot.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts, and there is plenty of data to kick around for all sorts of different ideas. Lets hear it!~

360 - I don't actually think the bulk of the boost was from Gears 2, things are genuinly hotting up now and I think the 360 can stay ahead of the PS3 for the next 8 weeks.

Wii - It will get even BIGGER come december but I think its going to settle around what it did this week for the rest of november. (I imagine a lot of people wanting to buy a wii now to save the upset of their children come christmas day)

PS3 - Its not surprising to see it do the least. What do people expect? I think last christmas it did better than the 360 because it had its first christmas in its best region. Europe doesn't look so tasty for the PS3 right now.

I don't think software has much to do with it now. I think after this christmas games will have little impact on console sales. Bar a few HUGE games.

Next week should show some good numbers too, but the week from the 16th-23rd should be interesting. The NXE comes out that week. Overall the 360 should exceed last years results if only by 10-20%.

Who knows, the Blu-Ray side of things is picking up but does that mean a PS3 boost or will the new $200 standalones steal the thunder?

Its probably up on last year, but at this point I'll call it as proactive people rather than a massive boost. Next week should be interesting as its the first real sales week of last year.

For the Wii, I think America numbers are really only linked to supply regardless of big SW releases a certain week. Others I believe would see larger weekly boosts with SW releases (supply is sufficient in Europe but I don't know if any SW has "boost potential in it, maybe Animal Crossing, Wii Music I doubt...).

Japan is probably the most sensitive to SW boost for the Wii and I am thinking that Animal Crossing will do wmnders for the console for this holiday season (will just be tough to distinguish between the boost from the game and the boost from holiday season).

360: This should give the 360 some momentum as we move into the holidays in earnest but will it be enough to outperform the PS3?

360 is going to do very well this holiday season methinks. That $199 pricepoint is looking very nice, especially for families looking for a quieter holiday season due to the economy crisis (hence the large ad push for the arcade console). The 360 didn't receive a huge boost this week, but it was still healthy. I see a lot more healthy weeks coming up.

PS3: So is this a sign of things to come or is simply a minor bump in the road as we head into the holidays?

I'd say that it's more of a bump in the road, but it should still be noted. The PS3, for me, is the big question mark coming into the holiday season. The 360's price cut will see it's true test during the holiday season. If it can hold up, then the PS3 might be held at bay. Still, the PS3 should see some growth... the question is whether it'll be larger or smaller growth.

Wii: The question now is whether the Wii is already in full swing for the holidays or if this is simply a glimpse of what's to come?

A little bit of both, actually. Wii is the hot product for this holiday season hands down, and it's already showing. With increased shipments to the regions, I see Wii breaking records left and right. I'm kinda scared to see how well it will do.

Bonus: How much do you think the software launches (or lack of software launch in the case of the Wii) affected sales this week? Would the PS3 have been down anyways? Would the 360 have been up anyways? And would a big software launch of its own have even made a difference to the Wii?

Right now Wii is selling on it's own merit. I'm always surprised to see how software isn't as big as a hardware seller as I think it will be. The last big one was Halo 3, but other than that I can't really think of a title that had such a large and long lasting effect on the hardware. The 360 price cut, however, is selling hardware. The PS3 is making headway as well, due to better word of mouth.