lets not forget that japan's market is constantly shrinking to the point that even the U.K. has a larger video game industry than them.

probably in america it wont cause it just cant make up those extra 12 months of sales the 360 had over it, but ps3 taking over the 360 worldwide is gonna happen eventually. its inevitable. ps3 is just too strong in europe. 360 is gonna take such a beating this holiday season its gonna be a joy for ps3 fans to watch! lol. the only way i can see microsoft taking back the momentum is cutting the 360 to $100. lol people saying natal? come on guys! that aint gonna do shit for 360. the wii is the wii, no amount of motion controller for the ps3 or the 360 is gonna change that or change anything for ps3 or 360.

wishful thinking much?

price cut + natal + vague rebranding + stick a genie inside = WIN!   that's too much.

speculating on natal is the height of ignorance.  for all we know both natal and the wand could create huge waves...then again they both could do bupkus.

is there any reason why the slim + extremely strong software lineup will see a decline in sales?   sony is hot right now, and they are only going to be hotter.  if they manage to have a new resistance and killzone title in q4 of 2010, then that means you can pretty much call that year for sony too. 

Man, look at all the fanboys foaming at the mouth, going at each other.

You go guys! ;p

the big point will Microsoft do that...?

look at this way

Microsoft's first xbox sold lifetime around 25 million system's world wide in

4 year's

right now the new xbox360 has sold less than 33 million in 4 year's as of nov 2009 that's

a growth of the xbox brand of  not yet even 9 million systems.

ask your self if the entire install base of the prev. gen xbox was 25 million in 4 year's and right now the xbox360 install base of new 

gamer's added to the xbox brand has grown under 9 million in "4" year's 

one would hope that Microsoft would want to keep the xbox360 on the market as long as they can at this point price drop's are a way to spur sales, but at the same time if you go to low to fast you risk the brand to be de-valued.

Um, the original Xbox got 25 million in 5 years, not 4.  So to surpass it and be 8 million+ with a year to spare.... that means it's actually going to end with a MINIMUM of 16 million new gamers added to the Xbox brand over that 5 years.  Most impressive.

And how's come predicting the Xbox to get a price cut + Natal + rebranding/redesign is seen as wishful thinking?  This is so obviously what they will do!  It's been hinted at many times already and Kim said the launch of Natal would be like the launch of a whole new console.  Add on the that the massive list of stellar games the 360 is getting in 2010 that the PS3 is NOT getting, and you have some seriously strong line-up to keep sales up until the 2010 deathblow.

I guess I don't see how if Sony can do something its wishful thinking to ever imply someone else can do it?  Sure MS is not a "hardware" company, but they are a large company, much larger and wealthier than Sony and I'm sure they can afford to hire some people to get the design done right this time around.  I also don't get how the Sony line-up is any stronger than MS's?  Seems to me like while this is all entirely opinionated, both companies have titles that basically cancel each other out or apply to just their fanbases so it seems pretty equal to me.  Especially with lots of games yet to be announced for both.

you are comparing a gadget launch with a price cut?  are you serious?

any analyst will tell you that price cuts move units.  where is the data for gadget peripherals?  it is wishful thinking because what you people are describing is not a testing method of upping sales.  also, i love the vague "redesign" theme i keep hearing.  like what, is the 360 going to come in polka dots?

^That's why I said "price cut + natal + rebranding OR redesign" (the / means or). So not only would it be a peripheral launch, but ALSO a price cut and rebranding OR redesign. Plenty to boost sales again. It is NOT wishful thinking and it IS more than a likely possibility for many reasons of which you ignored in my post. As far as a redesign possibility, you know what we are talking about, no need for snide remarks. Did the PS3 become the PS3 Plaid (as in was the PS3's redesign to change its appearance to crisscrossing color patterns)? No, so why would an MS redesign be limited to something as silly as that?

you say it is plenty to boost sales. you haven't given any reason why this is going to happen.

i mocked the redesign comment because it was ridiculous. sony redesigned the system sure, but do you really think that is why people bought 500k the first week? it was the price.

the only thing that could clearly, unequivocally move units for microsoft is a price cut. i don't think there is that much room left to trim, but that remains to be seen.

i don't know what reasons i'm ignoring. i study sales data for fun, and i can tell you that natal will not make waves simply because it is experimental, innovative, or it does your taxes. i've been in the game for a LONG time, and i've seen many cool gadgets come and go. the bottom line is that people will not shell out the bucks to buy a toy that they don't know what they'll do with it.

you have to think about it this way, every new customer microsoft picks up is a could have been sony customer. is natal going to drive people to put down that slim box and pick up the 360? you are asking people to forego a guaranteed good deal for a prospective good deal. you think 50 bucks cheaper is going to buy that? i don't.

microsoft needs some solid apps for natal before it will be seen as viable in the public eye.

we all remember the powerglove, dude. it was the coolest thing that sucked balls, ever.