OP this is a very good write up because even though your going to get haters you explain why the ps3 is in third place without being fanboyish at all. The reason PS3 is in 3rd and falling farther back now is not only price. Brand recognition has taken a beating lately for them and thats the honest truth.

@Mrstickball

I disagree, its an UNDERPRICED SYSTEM for what you get, dont troll the console without knowing what you get.

Because I have a blu-ray player, a 360, a wireless adapter, XBOX LIVE, rechargeble batters all for what?? $500-600 dollars??

You get all of that I mentioned in a PS3 for $399.

Also nobody is going to pay 400 dollars for a video game console, but dont say the ps3 doesnt give you a bang for your buck.

Yep. Money talks. Bullsh!t walks. It's too expensive. It doesn't have the games or services to justify the steep price. And then instead of making it more robust, they killed BC w/ PS2 games. Brilliant. Now PS2 owners have even less reasons to buy it. Don't get me wrong, it has some great games. But, 360 owners can get a comparable (and in some cases better) gaming experience for less. It's elementary. I'm not a MS fan or a Sony fan, I go where the games go. Price and games speak louder than all the other BS.

I'm a PS3 owner and I love it. It really is a great machine. But I'm glad I didn't pay for it. If all you want to do is play games, it's not worth it. If u watch blu-rays, stream media, etc, then it's worth it.

Simply the price. Graphic capabilities between Wii and X360 with launch price 249-299€/$ and PS3 would be leading this generation.

You don't have what X360 or Wii owners have: Games. The Wii has those Blue Ocean games that everyone goes ga-ga for this generation. The X360 has everything the PS3 has at half the price and has a much bigger library, too.

It doesn't matter if the Playstation 3 has a built in satillite dish, and can speak to the dead. At $399.99 for a game system, it's too much. Most consumers look at 2 things: Games and Price. If the local Target, Walmart, or Gamestop has a selection for X360 or Wii games' that's twice as big...Guess which one they're going to get (especially at 33-50% lower prices for the hardware).

Sorry, Leo-J. I don't buy SDF excuses about it being underpriced. $400 for a video game system is too much. The X360 @ $400, Saturn, Neo Geo, and tons of other systems taught us that. Video game systems just isn't the kind of market that needs expensive hardware, regardless of features. That's what makes it overpriced - the fact that it's $399.99. Not the features. I couldn't even justify $399.99 for my Xbox 360 @ launch...Which is why I paid under $200 for it.

Mrstickball the PS3 has the games, it has a much better gaming library than the wii by far, people go gaga for it for watever reason, but based of metacritic the PS3 has nearly 100 games rated 80 or higher, while the wii has just nearly 40.

People are not buying the PS3 because of its PRICE, but the console is NOT OVERPRICED FOR WHAT YOU GET, and thats your argument, which is incorrect. You get far more value with the PS3 than you do from a wii at there current price points.

Price is the major reason but the technology they chose to use also shares a large amount of the blame. The Blu-Ray drive delayed the console for a year while the system's architecture has lead to delays in games. The fact that we still don't have Final Fantasy 13 and a full version of Gran Turismo 5 says a lot.  It also doesn't help that they chose not to secure some key third party exclusives when it was still viable for them to do so.

I'm going with Mr. Stickball on this one, and Leo J at the same time. I do honestly think that for $400 you get alot of bang for your buck with the ps3. At the same time though $400 is still too much for a home console period and the numbers speak for themself. Sony should have cut some of their features in order to release a more reasonably priced system

Leo-J -

I understand the logic of the Metacritic advantage between the Wii and PS3 (it's there), but when reaching out to Blue Ocean gamers, it throws away that kind of advantage.

Quiz: What's the best selling movie in theatres of all time? I'll give you a hint: It's not in the top-100 critically reviewed (or even user reviewed) movies of all time. Neither is Wii Fit or Mario Kart Wii, by the way, if we're using Metacritic numbers.

Wii has, to us, crap games. But to casual, new consumers, all they care about is the playability of a title. And heck, if Mario & Sonic, or Carnival games gives them that, then who am I to judge? I may disagree, along with most core gamers, but hey - at least they think it's fun, and are buying games! You know it's a wierd world for Sony gamers when Mario & Sonic can beat out Metal Gear Solid 4 by almost 2:1.

Titanic which won 11 oscars....