MikeB your post describes precisely why I think the PS3 will never get out of its third place hole. Even with a serious software drought the N64 was able to sell extremely well on hype alone. Nintendo's attitude towards third parties and format choice caused them to not have the software variety necessary to pull ahead of the Sony Playstation. The PS2, like the N64, sold on hype alone initially. For the first 12 months the PS2 had little to offer when it came to software but it rode the hype machine until the Gamecube and X-box launch. By that time, the PS2 did have necessary software to maintain its momentum. Which it still has today for the most part. The PS3, like the N64 and PS2 before it, had a great deal of hype behind it. Unlike those two consoles, the PS3 hasn't sold well out of the gate. The wouldn't matter if the PS3 launched first but it didn't launch first. So Sony doesn't have the margin of error that they did with the PS2. In Japan the PS2 had sold 3 times as many consoles by this time in its lifetime.

@ Darc Requiem Interesting perspecitve, but note the N64 launched at only $199, if the console launched at for example $499 without any added features and functionalities I think sales would have been very slow. What I liked about the N64 was that this console still used cartridges, thus you had to worry less about damaging the game and if you have kids, you don't have to worry about scratches or about cleaning the disc due to fingerprints. In my country, there was an article in the largest Dutch news paper yesterday regarding a TV consumer program which did research after hunderds of user complaints with regard to scratched XBox 360 discs, investigation turned out XBox 360 DVD drives were faulty and damaged the fast spinning discs at various places. (Microsoft refuses to restore the damage and replace the units, legal experts said their conduct is against Dutch law) Apart from the larger storage capacity, this is one factor I like about the PS3's protected Blu-Ray discs, they don't scratch easily even when rubbed with steelwool, Blu-Ray discs are also relatively smudge resistant!

We have all these anti-Sony goons saying of how much Sony is going to fail, while even at higher price point and more competition the PS3 has sold more, albeit only slightly more, than the similar period of the 360 launch in North America. I'd say it's a pretty good start for the PS3 given all the launch issues. I don't think there's any question it's going to stay in third place for the first few years. Maybe it'll stay third place forever, though I seriously doubt it. Sony's systems have legs, as can be seen with how the PS2 is still performing. A year from now the 360 and Wii could be dead even world wide. Two years from now the Wii will probably be in the lead. Five years from now it'll probably be the PS3 in the top spot. Of course Microsoft and Nintendo win due to the market share they've gained, but I've yet to be persuaded that either had the power to win over Sony in a long drawn out console battle.

Look, its time for Sony to move. People predicting PS3 to come in 2nd or 3rd aren't just not giving it a fair shake, or "anti-Sony goons." They have to put up sales. They need a major advantage in the amount of software announced, or else they need higher week-to-week or month-to-month sales than the other systems. They had the first, and have been losing it in 2007. In weekly/monthly sales, they are losing to Wii in Japan, and to Wii and 360 in NA. If someone points out just how bad of shape Sony are in, they get called fanboys or whatever, but its the God-honest truth. Having a better launch than 360 is all good and well, but developers look to where the install base is, and who's install base is growing the fastest. Thats 360 and Wii. Consumers look to cost:value relationship based on price. Based on January sales in NA, thats 360 and Wii also. Sure, Sony has games coming up later in 2007 and in 2008. Of course. So do 360 and Wii. That's the one thing every system has: a bunch of upcoming killer apps. Being "good considering the price and lack of games" isn't good enough anymore. They need to be "good compared to Wii and 360." Once they've completed their launch in Europe, there's nothing to look forward to to catch them up half a million or a million units in one shot. They just have less units out there, and no massive advantage in upcoming software. There's nothing magic about Sony that means they'll get support or sales later on anyways. This is not the path PS1 or PS2 took. Its the total opposite. PS1 and PS2 never fought a long drawn-out console battle. They took at early lead, then blew it wide open just as the competition launched, and for the next 4-5 years the only thing they fought was history. Now they've got competitors with price advantages, quickly growing support, bigger install bases, and faster to develop for platforms. It. Ain't. Pretty. It would be biased for anyone to say Sony is doing fine, this is normal for them, or that they should catch up this year if nothing major changes. Being unbiased does not mean purposefully avoiding the facts to make it appear that all three consoles are doing equally well. They aren't.

Although I don't like the PS3, I can pretend to and come up with many reasons why it's better just for the sake of it.