i disagree i think that exclusivities are important but the price is more important in the end.

One problem with your argument is that 1) Wii sales have been selling at a pretty consistent pace (ie - selling out) both before and after those games are released (spikes at the time of release have more to do with increased shipments), and most of those series were available on the GameCube, and didn't stop that console from landing in third.

The other problem is that you can't really say the 360 and PS3 don't sell. The 360 has already sailed past XBox and GameCube sales, and, barring some freak turn of events, the PS3 will long before this year is out. The 360 also still has more platinum titles than the Wii.

With the PS3, the problem is not the games as much as the fact that it has no games that anyone wants to spend $500 to play.

Did we go back in time?

 Why would someone buy a console today to play two games that may not even come out this calendar year? It's not as if the PS3 is going to be hard to find later, or that we don't expect improved/value-added models to appear, or that we don't expect the price to drop before these games see daylight.

$400 PS3 + Game + Tax

$487.

Honestly, the reason why the Playstation and PS2 were so dominant was because they had virtually 100% of all the major third party games and they were also up against incompetent competetion. 

Back in the 90s/early 2000s they were the only "cool" game manufacturer, the only one that marketed well, they had a headstart with both the PS1 and PS2 over Nintendo, and they were easily able to pick apart their competitors. 

Now ... things aren't so simple. Nintendo actually gone from having the worst mindshare/marketing to having the most. Liv Tyler plays DS, Obama is bringing a Wii to the Whitehouse, parents love it, women love it, etc. it's on the Oscars, on the Colbert Report, everyone is talking about it.

Microsoft markets just as aggressively Sony does and to the exact same audience. They challenge Sony and make them work for every exclusive they can get and try to one up them on every feature (GTAIV downloadable content for instance). MS has arguably usurped Playstation as the "hardcore" console of choice in the West. 

Things change. The competetion -- give them credit are much, much, tougher than the N64s or Dreamcasts or Saturns of yester-year. As a result Sony's grip on third parties has also fallen apart without the user base, they are like a pitbull without any teeth anymore. 

Even if the PS3 was cheaper, it would still be in very tough versus Nintendo and Microsoft simply because those two companies have learned from their defeats. The PS3 and PSP are the first time Sony has faced competitors that really had their act together -- and lo and behold they're not so invincible. 

i think a price cut help.... wasnt the ps3 outselling the 360 without many games before pricecut?

yeah.. it's called price. you'd have to be pretty ignorant to ignore it.

The Wii was by far the cheapest console upon release, which in turn helped it gain steam/momentum and popularity.

bottom line is that it takes 3 things to sell a system.

1. Pricing

2. Marketing

3. Software lineup.

anyone that thinks only one of these are enough to be a top selling console needs a reality check.

Unfortunatly for Sony, they are JUST starting to get number 3 (and perhaps number 2) down.

Problem is Nintendo threw everyone a curve ball by changing the playing field. Competing against Nintendo, Sony might as well be a basketball player trying to play ice hockey. 

Sony is competing against Microsoft, but Microsoft is a pretty fierce contender. They match Sony almost feature for feature, pay companies for exclusives, using Sony's old tactics against them, and have been very successful in gaining support among the hardcore gaming and taking that away from Sony. 

Price is a factor, but it's only one. The GameCube was cheaper than the other two and it had some good games, surely that should have at least made it competitive?

It was easier for Sony back in the days when Nintendo and Sega would just make huge blunders and Sony could just swoop in and take marketshare unmolested. Times have changed.