Looking through the charts, all consoles seem to follow a trend:  high initial Christmas sales, but from there on out there is an arc that peaks and then drops.

XB

GC

GBA

All follow this trend.  Older consoles seem to as well, though the data isn't as reliable.

PS2 is the only console I found that bucks the trend, as it recovers from the downward arc in 2005.

http://vgchartz.com/hwlaunch.php?cons1=GC&reg1=America&cons2=PS2&reg2=America&cons3=XB&reg3=America&weeks=400&weekly=1

But could it be that PS2 only recovered due to 360 shortages in '05, and Wii shortages in '06 and '07? Or perhaps from winning the console war?

With 20% fewer sales than last year, PS3 seems to be starting a downward arc - at least in the US. Do you think it will recover?

Nov. 2007 / Nov 2008 = Differential
Playstation 3: 466K / 378K = -88K

PS3 is in a upward trend!

VGChartz Hardware data for the period 02nd Dec 2006 to 29th Dec 2007:
Console PS3
Total 8,461,721

VGChartz Hardware data for the period 29th Dec 2007 to 06th Dec 2008:
Console PS3
Total 9,428,132

End of economical crysis + $50-100 price cut next year = ~12 million or the like to PS3 on 2009.

ps3 is up yoy, and will only improve, with the best games and best online now including home, ps3 future is looking good

People forget, nintendo was almost bankrupt. It was saved, SONY is too big of a conglomerate to just go away

This is just ridiculous: Nintendo has always been very healthy, their profits didn't change much between the early 80's and 2005... yes, EVEN in the GC area, they made huge profits, thanks to the GBA and Pokemon, and not thanks to the GC, ok... but anyway, Nintendo NEVER lost money, and NEVER risked any bankrupt, you're totally uninformed...

In fact, the ONLY change happened during these last three years: their profits have now more than doubled, nearly tripled...

Now, Nintendo's in the Top 5 japanese corporations, while Sony isn't even in the Top 10 anymore... and that's with games ONLY... you may have a perception of Sony being "bigger", but it's only a perception, not an economical truth...

Sony's revenues are huge, but what about their margins? Nintendo has only a few thousands employees, and are waaaaay more profitable... this is why Nintendo has always been considered as one of the safest investment in the worlwide economy... something that many people seem to "forget", indeed...

WTF??

Nintendo =/= Sega

 Considering the low xmas sales, this could mean PS3's peak came over the summer, and is now beginning the downward trend.

LOL. Nintendo was never almost bankrupt. It lost a ton of the home console marketshare, but it never had Sony's strategy of losing its ass on hardware and hoping to make it back on software. And it's always maintained a stranglehold on handhelds.

Nintendo has no, and has never had a (significant) corporate debt. Sony owes something like $30bn US (I think that was the figure). Sure they have a heap of assets as well though...

re: charts - I think PS2 in 2005 was due to two factors:
1/ It had a poor Xmas, as there was a "clearance" on the XBOX & GC. Was also the launch of the 360, which was limited.

2/ Following year it had a good Xmas, as it become obvious it had "won" that generation. Wii launched with very limited stock, and PS2 become the console of choice for many (PS3 not out in Europe yet, etc).

...

But I have no doubt PS3 will see significant growth next year compared to 2008 - there will be some big games, a price cut, and maybe even a PS3 slim (more likely to be following year). On the other hand, '09 could be the year for the Wii & 360 to really stamp their grip on this generation - making it hard for the PS3 to gain traction in the minds of consumers.

Once people start "thinking" the "PS3 has lost" - long term sales could be badly damaged, and MS might even go out on a limb to do extra damage to the PS3.

 Could we argue the low period sales is due the economical crysis going on?

As you can see here,  X360 started outselling PS3 weekly when the crysis begun. Mmm coincidence?