^The PS2 sold around 30 million WW priced at $300 and that was 2000-mid 2002, adjusted for inflation $300 in 2001 would be like paying $350 today. People want the Wii and they think the price is right for the value they see in it, but Mass Market price is considered to be $200 because previous generations show the larger amount of consoles were sold when they hit that price and lower. So it'd be logical to think the Wii's best year is yet to come. The 360 is already at $200, so it's been selling at the ideal price on which (healthy) consoles sell the most units in their lifetime.

Are you sure? Development costs are down every year. All new models are with the new video chip and moderboard. All this means that new model takes less to make.

@The

The flaws in your logic.

The 360 only has the least desirable model below $200. So the 360 product line hasnt really hit the mass market price yet. For gift givers around Christmas the ratio changes and this really helps the 360. Once we see a 350 model at $200 with HDD then the 360 is truly at mass market price.

FF13 wont make the impact you think it will. For one Japans really big sales happen in January. Secondly do you believe that the the people in Japan that have already puchased a PS3 wont be FF13 purchasers. I think it is likely that a good deal of the FF crowd in Japan also happens to be PS3 early adopters. Previous FF have sold about 2 million copies in Japan over thier lifetime. So maybe 1/3 of the people who purchase FF pickup a PS3 at the same time. This wont dent the 360 lead and infact will easily be erased by the bigger US and Others holiday sales in 2009.

To much based on assumptions.

That and success is not defined in the way you put it.

Every console they sell potentially makes alot more money for them. Even if they make less from the actual sale.

That end part really really bugged me. You said people are not waiting for a price cut. I work in a game store and i dont know of how many people r waiting for the price to go down on a 360 before they buy it. Alot more people come in asking for the 360 then the ps3 and wii.

@The people who said "After halo 3 comes out 360 will stop selling" well did halo 3 stop selling after it came out? Ask the 

5+ million NEW Halo 3 owners that quesiton.

Time to update that chart! Isn't the Xbox 360 now 8.73 million ahead as of todays adjustments

This thread is, honestly, just not very constructive.

The 360 underachieving is an OPINION, not fact. Why?

Because its completely dependent on ones EXPECTATIONS. Those that expected Sony to dominate this gen with the PS3 would view the PS3 as underachieving. Those that think that whatever system is the cheapest should dominate would think the 360 is underachieving. Those that think that, based on brand recognition, Microsoft is doing extremely well would say that the 360 is overachieving. Those that look at P&L statements would say that Sony and the PS3 are definitely underachieving this gen compared to the others.

The truth is that the Wii is the hot mainstream system this gen. It is dominating sales and thus the leftovers are split between the 360 and PS3, no matter what their price is. PLUS we're sitting in the middle of a recession as well.

I really can't see how this thread has gone on as long as it has (and no, I came in too late to read ALL of it but I read a decent chunk), but ultimately it IS an opinion piece, not fact.

This graph alone shows the 360 price cut last september is what saved the console. Any PS3 price cut now would have at least the same impact and put back things to normal with the PS3 back on top.

This seems silly. Do they HAVE to make as much money this year to make it successful? Given that the economy collapsed during the fourth quarter of last year (which would only be saved because of the holiday season), is it really a surprise that the 360 has fallen in sales this year?

You're also looking directly at something without giving it any context. For these arguments to be valid, you need to evaluate how each other console has performed during the same period.

Why is the PS3 on top (for the HD twins) normal?