Not necessarily. PlayStation 3 (PS3) sales in the USA declined in November, according to figures released by the NPD Group: Sony sold 378,000 consoles last month compared with 466,000 in November last year. In contrast, sales of Microsoft's Xbox 360 went up to 836,000 from 770,000. Nintendo outsold both by a wide margin - just over 2m Wiis sold, up from 1.35m a year earlier. The figures must concern Sony, though there are variations in market share around the world. Nintendo seems to be winning everywhere, but the PS3 is way ahead of the 360 in Japan, and also easily outsells Microsoft in countries such as Spain, Portugal and Italy, according to Ed Barton, games analyst at UK-based Screen Digest.

Sony's big problem is price, especially in the present economic climate. In the USA, the PS3 costs $399, compared with $199 for the cheapest 360, the hard-drive-less Arcade. In the UK, the 360 Arcade is £129.99 and has gone for as little as £99.99 at retailers such as Zavvi, while a PS3 costs from £280. The PS3's unique selling point, the Blu-ray drive for high-definition (HD) films, looks less compelling now that cheaper standalone players have emerged, and customers are reluctant to shell out for suitably large HD screens that they need to enjoy the full benefit. Microsoft cut 360 prices aggressively in September, but Sony did not follow its lead, telling analysts that it is putting profitability ahead of market share.

The 360's lead in North America will be difficult to overcome, but Barton thinks 2009 will be much better for Sony worldwide: he argues that Microsoft's deep price cuts for the 360 will be hard to repeat, that Sony has strong PS3-exclusive games in preparation, and that the PS3's strength as an HD source will help it in the long term. He is predicting a 60% increase in the PS3's worldwide sales next year, to 16m, more than double his projected Xbox sales of just under 8m units. Few would be surprised if Sony dropped PS3 prices next year, and there is scope for a cheaper version of the console.

The PS3 will probably always be more expensive than the 360, but it is worth looking beyond the headline price. The 360 you really want is not the low-end Arcade edition, but the Premium, which has a hard drive. If you then add the cost of a wireless network adapter and a rechargeable battery for the controller - both of which are standard in the PS3 - the price difference reduces.

Bottom line: the console wars are not over yet. What is certain, though, is that Sony has lost the dominance of the market. It is also remarkable that Microsoft has been forced to undercut the Wii (around £180), yet still sells fewer units despite superior graphic capabilities. Microsoft has always argued that software matters more than hardware; ironically, it is Nintendo that demonstrates the truth of that point.

So, what you are trying to imply is that PS3 isn't losing, their just dead last due to a higher price?

your insight superhunk is incredibly, I dont think such deep words could be properly expressed in such an articlulate way.

He kind of does a discervice to his analysis when he points out at the end that the price difference isn't that much when you look at the higher end 360 sku's.

Anyways, were it not for this years sales data, this article could have been written a month in to the PS3's release.

I like how the article is all about the PS3 is struggling because of the price and will kick 360's but next year when a price cut.

Yet the analyst also states that 360 buyers get the more expensive one and wireless and recharge remote and due to that is the same price. Hmm so the PS3 is the same price then or what? So then why is it loosing

If we consider the Ps3's Price tag and compare it to its competitors then I think we can see that the ps3 is still doing Ok. I don't think Nintendo Nor M$ would be able to accomplish Ps3 sales on their console at Ps3's price point.

I believe PS3 is struggling in console sales due to having to stay with its high price for a long time. Sony can not afford to cut the price of PS3 in the near future due to making losses in all of its business divisions as a result of the worldwide economic crisis.
X360 and Wii are outselling the PS3 due to being cheaper in price. The gap will widen between X360 and PS3 in the short term (12 months). But when a PS3 price cut is introduced second half of next year it may turn things around providing X360 stays at the same price on all three of its SKU's.
The Wii will dominate both PS3 and X360 for the entire generation due to its popularity and no Wii price cut for the next two years.

This Gen has taught All three companies something Sony learned even loyal fan turn away at a $600 price tag. Microsoft learned to take time and produce reliable hardware, and for Nintendo finally deciding to go HD to capture more marketshare and not loose third party support.  I think next gen will be the real test for all three companies.

I think the analyst is a Sony fanboy.

While I don't doubt that the PS3 still has a lot of fight left in it and a price cut would do wonders, but for it to outsell the 360 2:1 next year is just a pipe dream. Especially when 360 would still be (seemingly) significantly cheaper,

hmm that's news to me.  I don't recall a single game that Nintendo has lost from its gamecube library, they have only gained third parties.  Heck only thing that woudl have changed if HD, is that we woudl see some late HD ports with hacked on waggle. 

I'm glad that the Wii isn't HD, then we won't have that, but companies have to make a game ground up for Wii instead of just porting a waggle version.  And yes I know they did that for PS2 games for a while, but it dying down now to non existant besides games no one cares about.