The best way to tell who's the Hoss & who's not is to check out how things go at the retailers.

How much shelf space is alloted to each platform/overall company & who gets the biggest displays & toppest billing.

Also you must check out the knockoff/copycat scene.

I watch Wal-Mart & even Dollar General heavily to see what's going on. When I saw some Wii-reminiscent knockoff at Dollar General this past Christmas I knew Wii was champ. Ulti-motion in Wal-Mart & Hannah Montana-based dedicated consoles with controllers very reminiscent of Wii. The display in my local Wal-Mart just had flipped the arrangement of the companies from front to back.

It used to be Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo.
3 shelves allocated to Sony toward front with PS3 with 1 1/2 shelves, PS2 with 1 3/4 shelves & PSP with about 1/4 shelves. There's space overlap due to fading PS2, current PS3, & nearly gameless PSP.

2 shelves allocated to Microsoft for XBox 360 in the middle but with 1 shelf on one side of the divide with the PlayStations & the other one on side of the Nintendos. So you got an aisle inbetween the center console.

Then 3 shelves allocated to Nintendo toward back with 2 1/4 shelves for Wii & 1 3/4 shelves for DS (& random unsold GBA games). The Nintendo side is bursting due to so many games for both systems that they put some Wii games in DS shelves at bottom also just stacking DS games on floor shelves where system usually goes. This doesn't count the other special promotion shelves they get throughout electronic area. 1 whole iPod-promotion like case for Wii Play/Mario Kart & DS Spectrobes & Nerf N Strike. Another bundle case with carrying pouch stylus set with games like UNO & Crossword puzzles. Wii also has its own demo area.

Now the sides have finally been flipped with Nintendo's bursting Wii/DS shelves toward front & Sony's PlayStation empire toward back. XBox 360 stays right where it is inbetween both.
Now it's Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony finally reflecting what's been going on in the market all these years.

By the way, video rental stores like Blockbuster & even more so your local ones can tell you what's happening too.

John Lucas

Hey, haven't seen a post from you in awhile john.

But that was in essence my point, I'm old enough to remember PS1 games being top billing in front of N64/SNES and it was one of those definitive moments that make you think. Beacause for years It was Always SNES, Game Boy, Genesis, Game Gear, then PS1 came in and was in front and you knew it was big (especially since those were the days before you could readily look up sales figures on a place like VGChartz).

Some domination is it?

Then by this logic... the PS2 dominates this gen as well. The game shelves here go as PS2>PS3>Wii>360.

 The answer is simple enough. While combining the two does give you a greater number, they are not in fact the same; joking "HD Twins" label aside, PS3 and 360 are separate products, and are figured as such. It doesn't matter than their combined whole exceeds the Wii, what matters is that neither one has an individual total which exceeds it. The "HD systems vs. Wii" dichotomy exists only in the minds of a select few consumers. To a store manager, each system is independent of each other one, and all that matters is which specific systems make them the most profit.

PS2 has an Install base of 130 Million and still enjoys some 3rd party support. As A retailer you can't ignore that, systems (especially ones with such legendary sales) don't disapper overnight, they gradually fade becuase profit is the key motivator and if games are still being sold the retailer is making a profit no matter how old the platform (NES consoles were sold in Japan until 2003 and games were made until 1995).

When the PlayStation upended shelf space from Nintendo platforms you KNEW the tide had shifted. It's all about bottom line with retailers. They have no allegiance to no one just the one who gives them sales & floor traffic.

Some may be stubborn for awhile but when it's too obvious you'll see the change. Honest truth is that when people want something bad enough it doesn't matter where you put the product. They'll seek it out. All these displays are for is making things easier for customers & also to direct traffic for loss prevention reasons. It's also with influence from the companies themselves. I also forgot it's used to add spotlight to stuff they want to move off shelves which may be stalling.

I knew when they put this giant Wii demo area right smack dab in the middle of the electronics area of Wal-Mart that Nintendo was about to flood the shelves with product. I said here we go, supply is about to finally get decent. They wouldn't tease the customers like that without putting product to attach to that demand. And sure enough they did. I also saw them put Wii Fit video display with Danskin Now in ladies apparel right toward front of store earlier in the year. I said Oh Oh. Nintendo is serious about it this year!

Electronics even has a DS with the Guitar Hero controller add-on right next to the famous Guitar Hero display. It's Guitar Hero but it's also DS!

Stuff like this is why I know Nintendo will have their greatest year yet. If Obama's economic plan works, wait to see how stuff flies off shelves when people are less worried about finances!

John Lucas

my Gamestop has PS2 games 1st shelf to the left and used gameboy advance games in a clear glass shelf to the right
PS2 /Gameboy Adv domination confirmed.

This just happened to my Walmart last week.
(>'.')>

Why would you care if the employees knew anything about games...

and really gamestop employees are worse.

They "know" about games... but only from their perspective... which unless you like what that guy likes.  It's not going to help you... and usually they just like bad games...

in my waltmart the wii section took over half of the xbox360 section,the PS3 is the smallest