WHAT???  You have to be kidding...  Winning means "How much profit did I make?"  You aren't thinking the way companies think.

 As long as Microsoft's pockets continue to be bottomless and the Japanese market refuses to readily accept the PS3, nothing will change.

However, Microsoft is edging closer and closer to the black.  If the financials are to be trusted, soon enough the 360 will be making a profit.  If Microsoft begins pulling a profit, they'll have firmly planted their claws into the industry and then it's time to worry (or celebrate depending on your views).

I wonder how seriously MS will take the market if and once Sony is out of it? They might just stick with it for shits or giggles or just not bother releasing another console to succeed their latest one (which ever it may be)

I think they would stick with it solely in the interest of continuing Xbox LIVE (which I'm sure they'll eventually rename to something with more mass-market appeal). Digital downloading is where it's at and MS sees that they need to get hardware underneath the consumer's television before they can deliver software there. Right now their only true target for sales is the computer -- I'm sure they want to diversify to be ahead of any shifts in consumer activity.

You got to remember, MS is not like any other company in the world.  Even with the first xbox, they actually didnt even plan for it to do well, they considered the first xbox essentially a "prototype",  then what they did is learn from their mistakes their and then move on to the next one.  They are not as much about profit,(because they think on the long run, that eventually they will) but crushing the competition (they have been well known for doing this in the software industry around the world.) Evidence of this is that in china and other asian countries, they recently started selling cheap ass copies of vista, like costing 50 bucks, for 2 reasons 1) To beat out on Open Source Software  and 2)  To get people used to the MS brand, because later on they are more likely to stick with it.

Hell, MS even contradicts themselves.  They hate and slam on piracy, but at the same time, encourage it, because they believe if someone were to get used toa pirated copy MS Office, later on they are more likely to buy a legitmate version rather then try out a whole new word processor and try and learn that.  Theyve been heard talking about this mentality.  

Main point is, MS is unlike any other company, and dont think like a typical company.   

In simple terms, "winning" could be seen as doing better this generation than last generation.

Nintendo has already "won".
Microsoft is on the verge of "winning".
Sony has (most probably) already "lost". But they were never going to the match the performance of the PS2 with the PS3 - marketshare was always going to be lost.

By the same definition in the handheld space:
Sony has "won" with the PSP.
Nintendo has (probably) "won" as well.

Why do I say this? It looks like the DS is going to be more successful than the GBA (if it isn't already) - even if they end up with a smaller marketshare in the end (due to increased competition).

Do you really think M$ would abandon an industry in which they would be making money in?

that's assuming they're making money in it, it would probably just be easier for them to try and pass it off to a company willing to share with them the spoils like Sega or Nintendo.

I love the word "cockblock" lol

Like everyone else said, if MS gets a good ammount of the gaming community its a success to them. For Nintendo they already won, by becoming rich, Sony is hard to see right now, if blue ray wins then it will either be a partial or complete sucess, but its hard to see if they will win. Also if they wanted to have more market share, they lost that most likely

Nintendo: Already won, or pretty much winning long as wii keeps selling
MS: Are starting to win if they want market share, at this rate, they could hit 30 mil, which is alot of consoles

Sony: Dark future, if Blue ray wins, its happy times at sony, if not i dont know...