Well the numbers are in for the month of July.  So I figured this would be a good time to look back at the month and do a bit of a review and see how each of the 3 consoles did.  Well lets dive right in.

 PS3

 Well first of all this was the PS3's 2nd best month in its lifespan, second only to the month of  January which was boosted by post X-mas sales.  But even January was only 30k ahead of July's final tally, so a very good month indeed.  The final week of the month was absolutely huge, as a minor decrease in US sales were more than offset by a near tripling of last weeks Japanese numbers (up from 13k to 37k). All in all this was a solid month for Sony and their "4-d" graphics producing black box despite the usual doom and gloom that surrounds the console on these forums. And more importantly to the shareholders of Sony stock is that when the dust settles in this console race we might be looking back at the month of July as the turning point for the PS3. Only time will tell....

On the subject of software: As I am sure some of the more active members here know there was a lot of debate on the topic of Everybody's Golf 5 which debuted this week at #2 with 184k units sold in Japan.  It should be clear to everyone now that this seemingly innocuous golf game really can and really did move units in Japan. 

PS - I have to admit that I was cought off guard by the game's ability to push consoles out the door.

360 

Picture perfect is not the phrase I would use to describe the month of July for the Xbox 360.  This was the console's worst 4 week month since its launch by a fairly sizable gap of 60k units short of the previous low point of 287k in March '06.  I think the most obvious reason to point to for this month's drop is the "Voluntary Manufacturer Warranty Extension" or as it is known to most gamers the "Red Ring of Death (RRoD)" issue. Consumer confidence in the 360 is probably at an all time low right now, but the question is whether MS can turn around the console's image and get things going on the right track before the PS3 has its sights sets on passing it. Well lets move into the software side to answer that...

As probably 1/3rd of 360 owners know the launch week for Halo 3 is going to be huge and it is pretty clear that this holiday season is going to be primed for the 360 to turn its image around with its humble assertion of "Best Holiday Lineup Ever" or something to that effect.  So the answer to the above question is "very likely".  As for the recent software lineup the big game for the month in the US was NCAA Football '08 which sold a sizable 362k units in its first week debuting at #1 and #2 (the #2 version was PS2) on the US charts this week.  But looking at the sales numbers I think even the staunchest fanboy will have a hard time convincing anyone the game sold any consoles as sales this month were pretty much identical week to week.

Wii 

Most were probably unaware of the Wii's stellar month due to its always gaudy sales numbers but it did in fact have its best 4 week month since its launch (this sounds familiar doesn't it? more below).   Aside from the usual banter about conspiracies and stockpiling, the big topic this month was probably a toss up between when the Wii will pass the 360 and when it will break 10 million.  Well it is pretty clear at the moment that the Wii will very likely break the 10 million units sold mark next week and it has a shot to pass the 360 the week after that if it can muster up some solid numbers over the next two weeks. There are plenty of prediction threads floating about but it seems that the attention is turning now to whether the Wii will be able to hold the lead once/if (according to some) it gets the lead. With the release of Halo 3 in late September and GTA IV in mid October we could definitely have a battle for the top spot brewing in the next few months and it will be interesting to see if the 360 has the lead going into the holidays if it can keep it.

On the software side of things there was a lot of excitement for Japan this month as Dragon Quest Swords and Mario Party 8 were released.  DQ debuted at #1 with 310k units and it was able to move some extra consoles which fueled the stockpiling controversies. And of course Mario Party 8 also debuted at #1 in its opening week with 278k.  Last but not least I wanted to mention that even though Mario Strikers Charged was technically released this month in the US its sales numbers will be included in the data for the week ending Aug 4th/5th, so no data to go on yet folks.

Conclusions 

Well as I was trying to highlight for folks, I think the month of July '07 is actually a pretty interesting month.  Stellar performances for the Wii and PS3 accompanied with the lackluster sales for the 360 could ultimately prove to be a turning point in the console race.  I am sure many 360 fans will be replying to say that a single month is not going to decide this race, and I agree. But I think we have to respect the significance of a month where all three consoles are at an extreme for their respective lifetimes.  

Well I have already droned on for long enough, I will let the rest of you finish the conclusions section and tell me why I am wrong, which is probably what most of you are wanting to do by now lol. 

PS - Remember this was just meant to be a summary.

Interesting...

PS3

 Well first of all this was the PS3's 2nd best month in its lifespan, second only to the month of  January which was boosted by post X-mas sales.  But even January was only 30k ahead of July's final tally, so a very good month indeed.  The final week of the month was absolutely huge

out of the ps3 and 360 im inclined to think that the ps3 has got at least 2nd place covered, there have been hardly any good games released and its starting to outsell the 360 at a steady rate now, i think that once the games come the sales WILL follow

360

Picture perfect is not the phrase I would use to describe the month of July for the Xbox 360.  This was the console's worst 4 week month since its launch

well the 360 has had a TON of good to great games released on the system as well as a long head start and i think that the last month has shown what the future holds for the 360, besides halo and GTA what other games coming appeal to people that DONT already own the system? 3rd place looking more and more likely 

Wii

Most were probably unaware of the Wii's stellar month due to its always gaudy sales numbers but it did in fact have its best 4 week month since its launch

They are just spoon feeding the masses and with more blockbusters on the horizon than any other system atm whats going to stop the sales? 

I think PS3 and Xbox will end up about even, but that's not good news because if the situation is:

Wii: 4x
Xbox: 2.5x
PS3: 1x

As it looked like before the price cut, then 360 would get attention from third-parties and survive maybe even profitable.

However with the PS3 rising and Xbox falling it may end up like:

Wii: 4x
Xbox: 1.75x
PS3 1.75x

...and both consoles would be in bad shape. At least if two consoles dominate rather than one the market gets a larger variety.

If you are talking about the wii then LOL.  As far a list of blockbusters goes, the wii is the weakest of all.

 This is entirely a matter of perspective and opinion.

Sometimes I get this feeling that on VGChartz, all forum discussions are really the same. What am I doing here?

 Can you imagine what people would be saying if the reverse was true?

We dont even know if PS3 can win one month barely-wait for NPD's.

Put it this way, there's absolutely no way PS3 can be second in North America, and Europe is very much a tossup. 

360 has all the games and rumored to have not one but two price cuts coming up.

Again, it's hard to get a handle on overseas sales and Japan is a lost cause, but in the world's largest video game market, the war between PS3 and 360 is over. 360 has won. 

 From the perspective of most of the "Core" gamers, yes.  It still has a few excellent "core games" however.  Also, the wii has a competitive upcoming library for both casual and wider audience appeal games than the 360 or PS3's lineup as well.

Responding just to the part I put in red: For the month of July current numbers indicate the PS3 will outsell the 360 by 24,455 units. Even with as much as a 20% increase up for the 360 and 20% decrease down for the PS3 the 360 would still be no where near a doubling of sales numbers in the US. But to answer your question directly, the 360's japanese numbers are very very weak at the moment, the PS3 can make up ground lost in america, in japan.

I won't get into the rest of your post, but I do have a question for you. Are you looking at this as a console race in 3 different regions with each region having a winner or just 1 overall race? Only reason I ask is because if its the former then you should be aware that most people will be speaking in terms of the latter.