360 can drop prices, as can Wii if it needs to

Even exclusives in Japan won't help it as Wii has bigger exclusives

Blu-ray players are chearper than PS3 now

lol. poor sony

@ wholikeswood. The question wasn't which Nintendo franchises are imminent. Leo j asked for Nintendo IPs. I didn't even mention metroid either!

About the only thing going for them still is brand equity. Comparing a PS3 to Xbox 360 there are still many people who will pick the former over the latter because its the name they know/trust and they will still continue to pay a premium when the former is the brand they wanted originally.

The problem they have is twofold:

1. They look like they are losing. The news, sales clerks, friends/family are revealing now that the PS3 is last place. This eats away at the brand equity because if a console is percieved to be losing there "must be something wrong with it".

2. They are losing the war on the ground. The best way to lose brand equity, or gain it is to win/lose market share. The chances you'll know someone with an Xbox 360 is much higher than someone with a PS3. Its eating away at the other advantages the PS3 has over the Xbox 360 and diminishing its value.

- When the Xbox 360 gains market share over the PS3, Xbox Live's value increases and PSNs decreases. It doesn't matter if PSN is free if all your friends are on Xbox Live.

-Word of mouth is a powerful ally to marketers. There are simply many more people with Xbox 360s now, especially in the United States but even in Europe the brand is winning acceptance as a viable alternative now that enough people own and advocate for the system to their friends/family.

I was talking about 2nd place, so no point mentioning the Wii's potential for pricecut. As for the 360, I don't think that a pricecut in 2009 would have close to the same effect it had this Christmas; I believe its current pricepoint has reached the mainstream consciousness and future pricecuts would give a boost but in adherence to the law of diminishing returns.

As for Japan, FFXIII and FFXIII Versus will provide a huge hardware boost for PS3s. I'm not saying it's much, but if both stay exclusive, then Sony will be able to make further sales over the 360 in the East with Microsoft unable to pull off anything that can counter. If Sony are narrowly surpassing Microsoft in America and Europe from late 2009 onwards, and getting a free ride against Microsoft in Japan in the wake of FF & GT launches, then the gap will close. As Zen and I are both saying though, it is an 'if'.

As for Blu-ray, I'm fully aware that standalone models are now cheaper. DVD standalone players soon became cheaper than the PS2, yet plenty of people still bought a PS2 then as a player because the marginal extra cost seemed worth it if a great console was coming in addition.

@ Peachbuggy: I know the issue of imminent sequels wasn't a part of the original question, but I was extending the debate by putting it in the context of the next year or so of releases. It's all well and good having a nice supply of bullets, but if you don't fire them then you won't make any kills.

Sony 1st party > Nintendo 1st party?

HHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I'm confused. You talk about the king, then you talk about the PS3.

Do you mean the PS2? The PS2 more properly fits the title of "beaten down king" but it doesn't have anything left in the tank.

The PS3, on the other hand, doesn't have much.  BD players are cheap now so the PS3 can't argue it's a better value than the 360.  And the 360 has free HD movies for netflix subscribers (like me).

The 'king' is a metaphor for Sony. And their current home system is the PS3.

People overestimate lower price for the PS3 in the future, 99$ GameCube did not start outselling PS2 and couldnt turn that generation around for Ninty.

The PS3 could still POSSIBLY catch up to the 360. The Wii? Not a chance in hell.