It comes down to the whole 2 regions vs. 3. Because the 360 is next to nothing in japan. However with the massive japanese swing towards handhelds, things could get interesting..

Alright tell me if this is good enoughfor you....

1. PS3 is keeping up at the same sales rate as the 360 did when it launched and the PS3 doesnt really have any big games. While the 360 had game like Gears of War, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Perfect Dark Zero, and many others great titles while the PS3 got ports and some minor titles. Until now atleast.

2. PS3 is selling more in both Europe and Japan the only place it has left is America.

3. Next Year PS3 has a huge line-up of First and Third Party which beats out 360 in terms of sales.

4. Final Fantasy!! When it comes out sales will skyrocket all over the world no doubt. Look at what FFVII did for the PS1. Look what FFX did for the PS2. Look what FFVII: Crisis Core did for the PSP (It could've been the new model though). Do you see what happened when each of these games came out for each of the consoles? The sales went up and they stayed up for a while. Also note that FFVII wasnt a brand new game so it obviously wouldnt sell as well (since most FF sequals dont compaired to new ones).

Plus remember all of those exclusives you got while the 360 was the only next gen console out? Well lots of those are gone like Lost Planet, Dead Rising, Saints Row, and many others.

Dont get me wrong I love all of the consoles and even the 360 (I want GEARS OF WAR!!!!) I just dont see the 360 ever beating the PS3.

Its preordained by God.

there seems to be a lot made of the ps3 keeping pace with the 360s first year, but i have to say since the ps3 went through several models and price cuts to those models it is not really the same thing. As for major games, gears=resistance, both had elder scrolls, and perfect dark is worth warhawk at best.

The key difference between the two systems first year library has been key third party new ip's, and ports. PS3 has to get the ports coming to it working better and out more quickly

for japan to truely matter (in the 2 vs 3 battle) the ps3 needs to perform better there,

Europa is up for grabs MS should do a price cut or bundle there to keep the ps3 in 3rd, though with a 33% drop in second week of the PS3 price drop it might not be necisary

However this christmas is critical, neither system can withstand costly mistakes, for the 360 it would be best to keep sales at double the ps3's world wide, sony should consider the holiday a victory if they can get within 10% of 360's sales for holliday totals. 

ah so the white smoke appeared above the vadicante

You probally think im stupid but I think before this year is done the PS3 will beat the 360 in worldwide weekly totals atleast once. All the PS3 needs to do is sell more in America and with the price cuts I think it may be this week or next.

Roadkillsers you made alot of good points but final fantasy is but 1 game, 2 if you include the spinoff. People keep saying that mgs and ff will save the ps3, but from the things are going they are almost bound to show up on the 360.

Case in point, square enix themselves said that the white engine runs on both ps3 and 360, the fact that ff7 was ported to pc, and the fact that the ps3 will at best be 2 million units behind 360(my prediction) by the time ff comes is almost crazy not to a think a port will eventually happen.

Also mgs 4 has always been talked about as being a timed exclusive by some people, I would like to think sony paid off konami for this game but unless they didnt/dont, i garuntee u will see solid snake rockin da xbox eventually.

For those that actually lose sleep about mgs 4 exclustivity i read some reassuring words from a sony employee, it was when they sold part of theyre company, i forget the exact quote but it was something along the lines of "we're putting the money towards new games and other crap for the playstation brand'' I think the money they made was like 850 million, If put towards new games i would assume they paid off konami with a chunk of that money, hell sony should just buy konami, or least make it 2nd party.

just because a console (the wii) wins the total number of units sold does not mean they 'win'. there are tons of factors, but the one that matters to the companies is the bottom line and the positioning they have put themselves in for future generations of gaming. i think we could all say that the newcomer (microsoft) has done extremely well this gen in only it 2nd console. Back to the bottom line... wii isn't selling the software that the 360 is, so who is 'winning' right now?

Europe is not up for grabs, 360 after price cut and Halo got smashed in sales once PS3 got a cut. Ps3 will destroy the 360 in Europe once it gets a killer aaa game, and that could be as soon as Uncharted in a few weeks.

Before the cuts and Halo, the 360 at half price and some killer games was selling the same as PS3. Think about it for a bit.

360 had a chance with the early release, but they blew it with hardware shortages and awful hardware quality.

Ripper made an exellent point, the wii is selling hardware like crazy but also has lowest attach ratio for game sold, i believe that was the conclusion from most gaming websites. Honestly with the games the wii has been putting out i cant blame anyone not wanting to buy software. I think if third party games bomb on the wii then it will be considered a hell idk a fad? I hate to say that cause all the nintdrones will shit a brick but if software doesnt sell then that will be the case.

Honestly I want the playstation to be 2nd, if not 1st, extremly unlikely in both events but i want it to happen.

Because 360 has no worldly appeal. If it doesn't appeal to 50-55% of the market and doesn't dominate in that 50% is does appeal to then its quite obvious that it's not going to come in first and if it comes in second it would be close. That's why.