^^^ Right, but they only way it would have been $200 cheaper would for it to have been, well, a Sony XBOX 360. The late release, plus being exactly the same as the 360 in such a scenario wouldn't have necessarily been a winning scenario either.

You're arguing a case of comparing the the PS3 to the Wii while I'm trying to point out it's shortcomings compared to the 360, which is basically the Cubes position, but instead it's the more expensive option.

But anyways, this is a different topic for a different thread. I've done everything but discuss Microsoft going after Nintendo's current targets.

Yes, we all thought Sony was unbeatable... then Sony proceeded to inexpilicably throw away their stake in gaming with the PSP and PS3 through a series of baffling and idiotic decisions.

Unless you're actually suggesting that a company like Nintendo, having already made their own mistakes and learned from them will somehow inexplicably make all the same mistakes that Sony did (which were really unique to the type of multi-faceted conglomerate that Sony is).

Nintendo is not without fail, but as cautious and as intelligent as they've become, to expect them to make such a bumbling mistake as Sony did when they've already learned their own lesson in over-confidence is just silly.

Face it, Microsoft isn't competent enough to take market share without someone handing it to them like Sony did. Even then, looking at console sales by this point in the generation, its clear that Nintendo has taken more of Sony's market share than Microsoft has.

After four years the Xbox had sold 25 million units

After three years the 360 has sold 26 million units

That's really not that impressive, they're really only ahead of themselves by a year. And considering how popular the MS brand and the 360's game library is, that's actually kind of worrisome.

@ Squilliam

You just seem to confound and baffle anyone who tries to exercise their utmost in patience in trying to reason with you. Almost all of your arguments consist of stuborn backwards logic or arguing apples against oranges. Perhaps you should just take a break from all this.

I mean for god sake you can't even indulge in a simple discussion about a matter of past events that lead to todays outcome of the market without defaulting on 'Back to the Future' / 'Time Cop' / 'Butterfly Effect' arguments just to voice an exception to this rule.

Your argument that there is no telling how things could have turned out for Sony one way or another is just as asinine as saying there's no way we could say Obama wouldn't still be the President-Elect if he had somehow lost the popular vote by a landslide.

Some people seem to think that the Wii is enjoying the success it is because of Sony's mistakes.  I think that even if Sony had done everything right the Wii still would be in the number one position.  Because in the end the hardware and software decisions made by Nintendo opened up new demographics that will take the other console makers awhile to seriously compete in.

Even if Nintendo doesn't make any mistakes with their next console that's no guarantee they'll take top spot again.  The simple fact is that with the exception of core fans the majority seems willing to jump ship to other consoles if there's something they find more appealing about them.

As for your sales comparison between the 360 and the original Xbox keep in mind that Microsoft experienced disasterous publicity because of the RROD problem they had (and still experience because of the number of older consoles out there).  They also had to make inroads into different regions and are still working on the image problem the Xbox brand has in the eyes of many of just being a shooter box.

Ah so its the core fans you say? With the 360 selling little better than the original Xbox I don't see much of a conversion from the Sony brand and with the Wii driven largely by the never before tapped market of casuals I don't see anyone jumping ship so much as I see an odd absense of the core fans altogether this generation. Core fans are still holding onto their PS2s or still on the fence of which console to buy this generation, can you blame them. A loud hot piece of junk like the 360 which just RRODs and sells largely to frat boys and FPS gamers. An overpriced blu-ray player like the PS3 with a crappy controller and game library of virtually no interest to your typical gamer which might I add has sacrificed backwards compatibility. A lesser powered console like the Wii that seems to sell itself exclusively to non-gamers and struggles to build a game library worth noting.

The Wii's strong suit is not a demographic that is as fickle as your typical hardcore or core gamer, in fact, even inspite of the Wii's success they still have yet to truly capture the core or hardcore audience. You know as well as I do that the 360 has virtually failed in every regard to dramatically increase its stake in the market beyond that of its predicessor and has only shown as brightly as it has as a result of Sony's fall. Sure the same can be said of Nintendo and the Wii in regards to Sony's fall through the PS3, but the fact still stands that the Wii is the one with 45M units sold and the 360 with only 26M (barely puting them a year ahead of the original Xbox's progress).

Even if you can make the argument that Nintendo has also exploited Sony's fall for their own gain then evidence stands that Nintendo is the only one with the ability to utilize opportunity not MS.

No.

Nintendo's KISS/Blue Ocean philosophies are mutually exclusive to building a multifunction media center to control all your content. The Wii doesn't even play DVDs. No, Nintendo is no threat.

The next step in device integration for the next gen will almost certainly be HDTV/IPTV tuners and DVR capability, and probably some Slingbox-styled live streaming/TV-to-IP relay services too. These are services Microsoft and Sony will pursue. Nintendo simply won't, it's not their M.O. I think the proliferation of PVRs and Slingboxes and Apple TV-like appliances and so forth almost mandates MS address these threats with the next XBox, irregardless what Sony does.

But the thorn in Microsoft's side will always be Sony's aggressive content acquisitions. Sony owns Columbia pictures & BMG, among others, so that presents a huge challenge to Microsoft. Sony Pictures holds so many tv and film properties it borders on obscene. Controlling how we get our content doesn't do Microsoft much good when Sony's the one that's been out there buying up all the content.

The 'multifunction media center' is the Holy Grail of manufacturers, sure. The manufacturers all want to have it and dominate the living room entertainment experience.

They see the mirage of a new monopoly, tantalisingly just out of reach.

But the customers won't want one.

Who is going to buy a multifunctional box where the different bits go out of date at different rates? Not me.

A year after it is released somebody will invent something new - a pinkray widget maybe, and a year later someone will come up with an FVD drive or something - and my multifunction box will be sat there with all its lights on consuming all that power and I will wish I'd bought a Wii instead.

^^
IMVHO, indeed, for a console being a 'multifunction media center' is a sensible move only if given all the HW already necessary for its main functions, adding this only requires some SW or firmware additions and little inexpensive HW ones. So I'd see a media centre gaming console as a hub, not as an all-in-one device, that would have all the flaws you listed, and maybe even more we don't suspect now.
Anyhow, all current console have no optical writers and relatively small HDD, if any, so they by no means could be all-in-one devices.