Nintendo has done a fantastic job dominating the videogame landscape for the current generation. The Nintendo Wii, and Nintendo DS entertainment systems respectively outsold competing consoles and handhelds. Both which have gone on to deliver new and exciting ways to enjoy videogames. New innovative ideas that were soon picked up by competing brands. Nintendo successfully delivered fully realized and supported motion control functions correctly.

Nintendo has successfully pushed for motion control functions, and futuristic dual screen action that has become standard in the gaming spectrum. Giving the Nintendo Elite supporter complete battlefield control in all forms of gaming and entertainment. The Nintendo business model this generation performed heads and shoulders above competing brands. Opening the flood gates to millions of non gamers around the world to give our beloved hobby a spin.

Last generation was dominated by rival forces. This generation when it comes down to numbers, profit, and all around success. Nintendo is the brand that rose to the occasion, and came out in the number one position in worldwide standings. Also delivering some of the highest rated awarding exclusive gaming experiences in the history of videogames.

Nintendo has ended this generation with an almost unstoppable momentum. Already delivering amazing results with the Nintendo 3DS entertainment system. And soon later this year with the next generation Nintendo Wii U entertainment system. Which introduces a new way to experience Elite Nintendo gaming with the Nintendo Wii U entertainment system tablet control functions. Available later this year wherever videogames are sold.

Have a blessed day and happy gaming.

Rated E For Everyone

internet war soon to come . . .

Anyway, 360 was my personal favorite console this generation.

The 360, despite not having the largest list of first-party or console exclusives, had the most games that I cared about - Alan Wake (personal favorite first-party game this generation), Metro 2033, Witcher 2, the Halo series, Forza, Divinity 2: The Dragon Knights Saga, etc.

I prefer xbox live, despite having to pay for it, if only for the fact that it's more aesthetically pleasing and is better suited for chatting with friends online.

Developers seemed to favor the 360 as their main development platform (should be pc, truthfully), resulting in a good number of titles that simply performed better on that machine. Obviously this isn't the case for all releases. It was the exact opposite for a number of titles as well. I am just speaking in general.

So, to me - the only person that matters - the 360 was my console this generation. And that's why.

Nintendo won, they managed to introduce a whole new market to gaming.

Can't really top that.

Obviously it's Tiger Electronics....

The satisfied user. Me.

If you go by sales then Nintendo won. But I couldn't care less about sales. PS3 won in my opinion just by the sheer amount of awesome exclusives it has had which I have played and loved.

Nobody won yet, cause the war is not over until all 3 discontinue production,
on another note wii got the most sales doesn't matter, ps3 got the best games that what counts and that a win.

I guess the war is over. No more reason to say mines better. Just play what you like too and shut up...

I think Microsoft won this generation, going from afterthought to changing the way the average persons approach what they want out of a console. They managed to push their agenda and force Sony and Nintendo to adapt and respond to their gameplan.

It's clear that MS views the games as a necessary part of the Xbox entertainment experience, but its only an aspect of it. Kind of like how smartphones still make phone calls even though that "feature" feels like an afterthought. If the rumors and speculation about the next Xbox being subsidized by cable companies as a cable box are true, we'll be witnessing the evolution (or devolution, depending on your POV) of game consoles. Sure they want to sell millions of copies of Halo, but in the end, they'd rather see you buying music and movies and TV shows and turning the Xbox name into something that is synonymous with an iTunes, Google Play or Amazon marketplace.

Nintendo made their money, and came in and went out in a blur, but its hard to say they didn't have a hell of a ride, selling the most consoles, thanks due most in part to being the cheaper option, but still providing some unique experiences along the way.

Sony entered feeling a little bulletproof, but got humbled. But that was good for gamers, as we got one of the strongest lineups of first party exclusives ever. I think so long as Sony keeps their missteps this generation in mind heading into the next era, they can rebuild their reputation amongst the mainstream, while still managing to be the "kinder, more gentle" Sony we have seen the past 3-4 years.

PS3

i liked and hated things about all consoles this gen. in terms of bang for your buck, ps3 by far won.

ps3 good; exclusives, chargeable controllers, free multi player, blu ray, changeable hard drive, browser

bad: lacked wireless N speeds, no party chat

xbox 360 good: wirless n speeds, party chat, jtag

bad: lacked exclusives, no chargeable controllers included, no free multi player, no blu ray, no changeable hard drive other than ms, no browser, no wifi without paying for the adapter at first

lol all i had to do was switch the lists around and put no. i own a 360 but only because its jtaged and i can put pc mods on it, i agree xbox is better but only if you have a jtag. a regular ps3 vs a regular 360? lmao ps3 all the way

Who won? They all lost. Each had minor successes amidst many failures. I honestly couldn't pick a winner.

the wii won easy why?

95 mill units sold plus they have sold each wii for a profit from day 1 360 and ps3 was sold for a lose when the wii first came out it was 250$ and still it was sold for a profit

personally i got a wii in 2006 throwup on it gave it to my mom and got a ps3 and havnt looked back i have a 360s and my brothers geting that cuz its useless to me at this point but thats me

edit: alil fyi this isnt sony vs microsoft its PlayStation vs xbox look it up the playstation makes money the xbox loses money......................... ....

props to Microsoft for pulling out a stunner this generation.

There is absolutely no question as to who won. When it comes to quality exclusive content, online interactivity, reliability, and brand recognition PlayStation®3 is the undisputed champ this generation.

What we have witnessed is the first three-peat in gaming history. Since the mid 90's Sony Computer Entertainment have dominated the industry by providing the consumers the richest content that has never been duplicated.

This generation, Sony Computer Entertainment pulled off the impossible by going from 3rd place to first place since the PlayStation®3's inception in 2006. As it stands today, PS3 has usurped the Nintendo Wii and made a laughingstock of Xbox 360 by leading the market in total worldwide console sales year by year. Even in the present moment, PlayStation®3 kills the competition on a worldwide basis.

This means that the brand name of PlayStation is as strong as it's ever been. During the rough economic times, consumers have found the price friendly structure, ergonomic design and the complete package that Sony provides to be the ultimate interactive device for all gamers of all ages.

Dark Sniper knows he placed all of his eggs in one basket for a reason. Those eggs have hatched into an unstoppable force in quality software for the gamers. With upcoming titles such as Beyond, The Last of Us, PlayStation All Stars:Battle Royale and many others, PlayStation Nation is set for another decade of dominance as it was and should be.

Now is a great time to be a part of the PlayStation ecosystem. With their organic environment that blends the line between reality and virtual reality, there is no reason why you shouldn't own a PlayStation®3 Home Entertainment Terminal.

$niper
youtube.com/therealdarksniper
Twitter:@therealdsniper

I have to go with Nintendo. They were not the king the last 2-gen and did not have the deepest pocket. They had the smallest margin of error to make and they did it with a splash with the Wii.

Who would have thought the WiiMote (which confused a lot of people when it was unveiled) would be the driving force that would let the least tech heavy console to lead this generation.

Of course its not going out with a bang but when people look back at the history of this generation. The number of console unit sold will be the main thing that the majority will probably notice and not who won which battle.

Nintendo but they're in a bad position now, they sacrificed long term core gamers for short term casual gains. Those casuals are probably playing Android and iOS games now while the core just don't care that much about Nintendo.

PS3 hands down for many reasons

PS3 had the most features, games, and best graphics. It gets my vote.

The Playstation name isn't unbeatable like it once was. The ps1 and ps2 completely dominated the market. You can combine the Xbox and Gamecube TWICE and still don't get close to the domination of ps2.

The PlayStation name and Sony for that matter *was* KING!

And now the present...

Nintendo and Microsoft have both tripled their market share and have been wildly successful in their gaming division. Sony on the other hand, have been stuck in last place this entire gen and have not seen the same financial success as the ps2.

The ps2 used to dominate certain genre's but now they're behind the 360 and multiplats. Forza was critically acclaimed and took the crown for best auto sim game from GT. Halo is still a top dog in the FPS genre and fighting multiplats like COD and BF for top spot. Sony on the other hand tried with Resistance and failed. Their top dog Killzone's multiplayer is so low in numbers that they are offering it for free.

All this talk about the bluray having all this extra storage? Well where is it than? Where are the exclusives that use it to the fullest? Tell me a game that is bigger than Skyrim or GTA4 and a Sony exclusive? Is it Twisted Metal? Socom? Infamous 2? Starhawk? Playstation All Stars? How about the Uncharted trilogy? A great trilogy but a game that is extremely linear and short.

Sony and it's fan for the most part have been all talk and no action.

Sony as a whole just isn't the powerhouse they used to be. Their tv's are stuck somewhere in the middle behind Panasonic and Samsung. Tablets? Cell Phones? Mp3 players? They're all in the bottom on the list. Move and Vita are arguably a flop while Kinect and the DS rack up the $$$.

I own a ps3 for the few awesome exclusive it has, but the fact is it's not the same powerhouse as it used to be.... the numbers don't lie.

Funny the made up "war" isn't over yet (I guess). So far the Xbox and PlayStation are semi even in sales so technically a tie between those two, right now at least. But the Wii won overall, Its simple cheap concept sold almost 100 million units. But then again that doesn't really matter since nobody talks about it let it alone plays the console anymore.

So its a tie between Xbox and PlayStation at the moment.

EDIT: For whatever reason that's unknown to me, I will get disagrees so please tell me why. I know people disagree out of practice but I want a full logical explanation at least do me that favor.

People here missed the thesis of this article (first paragraph) and read the last paragraph and ran with it.

"After six years of fierce competition it is clear that there were no losers in this battle. Each of the platform holders essentially had disparate levels of success, making for a healthy industry. I do however have a winner in mind, but first I will list some of the pros and cons of each."

The pros of the Xbox 360 exceed the pros of the other consoles due to its contribution to gaming, and entertainment. Nothing in the thesis is focusing on time frame or sales volume to decide the winner.

Nintendo won.

1. Introduced motion controls to gaming which became so popular that Sony and microsoft decided to launch motion controls. MOve was in development, but stayed on the sidelines until it was safe to come out.

2.Sales. Obviously the most important as it is the whole purpose behind the gaming industry, and the only thing on a devs mind no matter how much they sugar coat their words.

3. proved to the industry that a powerful console is a double edged sword. one edge creates a fantastic game, and the other edge is pricey dev costs, and needing to sell millions to break even. expectations are also set unnaturally high with more powerful hardware.

4.Nintendo DS. redid the handheld market completely with two screens, and touch screen. Sold over 150 million units.

Ps3/360 have achievements as well, but hardly shaped the current gaming market to the level that Nintendo did.

It is pretty clear gamers won and console war dumbasses lost by wasting their own time and others by bitching and moaning too much to spend any time enjoying the games.

BTW I believe its strictly opinionated. Sales are even when it comes to the Xbox and PlayStation. Xbox has a 3 or 4 mill lead? Yeah that's nothing, 10 mill is a conversation.

Sales: Even
popularity: depends on where you live, US Xbox, Europe is split, some places its PlaySatation others is Xbox, Japan Yeah Xbox nearly doesn't exist, PlayStation.

Games: Very debatable, MS was very consistent with a flow of exclusive games up until last year, 2011 the only year MS games have vanished while PlayStation was breeding exclusives like rabbits. But was also successful previous years with there games.

Online: Its short and sweet, PSN has free online as well as discounted games and free games its perfect for everyone, even you don't buy PSN+, free is a very, very, attactive word and is great for what it is. Xbl is a tailored online experience That's specifically centered around ONLINE GAMING. So it depends on what you want your experience to be.

Overall they're both strong consoles. The "winner" depends on what you like and you want. So the winner here is... The "Opinion" and your personal experience. Theres no "My opinion over yours." Thats foolish and stupid if you say other wise.

Well if you go strictly on sales, its obvious the Wii won. I own all three of the current consoles, so there are no exclusives for me.

I think the winner is the gamer's who looked past fanboy BS and found a way to enjoy gaming on multiple consoles.

Their is no such war. Idiots have brainwashed (fans boy/girl)gamers into thinking their is a war. Respect what console people want to play and let them be. After all with out differences we all enjoy one thing, Games.
Each has its strengths & weaknesses.
Here is an example of an strength
PS3 has excellent first party games & graphics
Xbox 360 has excellent online (im talking about playing) & gameplay.
Wii has wide varity of games that casual and core gamers enjoy.

(JMO)Am going to have to chose the Xbox brand just on the sheer fact that they ventured into an industry that was originally dominate by PC, then by the rival imports . but they came in & turned everything upside down. all this while still moving forward & continually turning the industry on it head.

The Nintendo wii won by a land slide with 90 million units sold. That's right 360 and ps3 fanboys the wii is real and is actually counted.

Nintendo wins for a crazy successful console that made us all forget about thegame cube.

Sony wins for beating the odds of launching one the most expensive consoles in generations and seeing its momentum still rising.

MS wins for being the relative new kid and surviving RROD which should have honestly killed any console hopes of the 360 and actually thriving afterwards.

Bottom line this generation was a win for all.

The PS3 Nazis will vote you down on here if you say X360 or Wii instead of PS3.
PS3 Nazis are literally married to their PS3.

the runaway winner!

Gears 1 to 3.
Halo 3, Halo 3:ODST and Halo Reach have outsold most PS3 exclusive games.

Game sales really count and make profits. High reviewed games do not always result in high sales. The Orange Box and Bioshock: both rated highly bombed in regards to sales.

Nintendo quadrupled GameCube sales with the Wii.
Microsoft tripled Xbox sales with the 360.
Sony halved PS2 sales with the PS3.

It's pretty clear who the winners and loser of this gen are. There's no way you can twist these cold, hard facts.

If we're talking about sales which I don't care about then Nintendo owned everybody.
If we're talking games specifically consoles then Playstation owned big time due to the wide variety of exclusive games and IPs.

Why is everyone talking like sales are the only thing that matter. Maybe in the past sales accurately displayed which console was the best but not anymore. This gen a LOT of casuals got into the market. So sale numbers don't mean anything. If we were going by sales then I guess Wii fit was the best game this generation right? /s.

Nintendo is Nintendo, and they always do things their way. I'm fine with that, I like Nintendo and want them to do well. But it cannot be denied that Nintendo got a ton of support from casuals.

Microsoft got away with murder this gen. Again, I contribute this to the PS3's terrible launch AND casuals. Why do I say casuals? Because in my experience over the last 7 years, anyone i've met who preferred the 360 didn't know jack about gaming. They literally only played the games that were trendy at the time. Half the time while trying to debate with them (because THEY said 360 was the best) I had to explain the different between a multiplat and an exclusive. *facepalm* Microsoft gets off on popularity, not quality. "Oh it's popular? It must be the best" <- terrible mentality that led to not only Microsoft making so much profit but also games like COD being as successful as they are.

Sony is my favorite by far. They had an absolutely terrible launch, but they turned things around quite remarkably. They have a large number of diverse, quality exclusives available and their online is free. PSN+ if you choose to pay, (note I said "choose" not "have to") Offers FAR more incentives than the paying for Live. Even now this late in the gen they are bringing in more Ip's. Microsoft looks to be focusing heavily on kinect and shifting toward an even more casual based mentality. Sony is the only one with real gaming enthusiasts in mind.

Not knocking 360 fans, as i'm sure a lot of 360 fans are intelligent and very knowledgeable about gaming.But seriously. Most of the 360 fanbase are only "fans" because it's popular atm. A majority of them don't know anything about gaming.

u cant look at it as who "won" based on ur personal preferences like the arthur did u have to look at it from a nongamer point of view witch lacks bias

ive ran into alot of xbots myself that really just play call of duty and r anything but "core"

PS3 is the definite game-console winner. They simply had the best quality and most progressive/historic games in every age category.

A good thing is that there has been no casualty in this generation. No Jaguar, no Saturn, no Dreamcast.

Only relatively speaking to the sales from the last generation, the PS3 has been a casualty. The console may have reached a good amount of exclusives but if you don't like shooters that rules out a lot of them and it has not created as distinctive a line up of third party exclusives as the PS2 did. The PS4 should be easier to program than the PS2 and PS3 though so Uncharted 4 should ideally be a launch game aim for Sony to make sure that people buy the console whilst it is still at a high price point.

Nintendo's sales have ballooned since the days of the Gamecube but their profits have dipped. Some might say that this a fair reflection that the Gamecube had a larger number of really great games but it's not an expected outcome to lose money when the Wii is far more well known to the general public than the Gamecube was.

Microsoft have successfully built upon the Xbox in a solid way, creating a console that, gameswise, is essentially like a hyrbid of the PS3 and Wii, only with HD graphics throughout. Despite not having a series quite like Uncharted , and the RROD problem, I call the Xbox360 as the winner of this generation because its name is synonmous with gaming to many people due to the breadth of its gaming line-up. The console has got a balance between seriousness and fun and doesn't fall back on using 'cinematic' games as a sometimes smoke and mirror device to be taken seriously as much the PS3 does.

It's no surprise for me if in the future Microsoft remains the best on the market completely destroying competition. It's very hard to happen but it can throw concurrence really low.

this gen isn't over yet. only thing we know for sure is last gens winner didn't win, and last gens loser surprised everyone.

Console Wars: Who Cares?

Sales winner: Nintendo

Games winner: Sony (Still releasing core exclusives near the end of the cycle)

Online winner: MS

Postedup u need to be quiet! I can tell u r a Sony fan to death! First of everything u said about the ps3 in your comment is a fail!!! The vita is a fail, the move was a fail, their online is a fail, their first party games is a fail(they don't sell) everything from Sony has been a fail! I'm sorry but the xbox is the system of choice amongst the masses and developers, gaming as a whole. Where the ps3 fails the xbox excels. I even put the wii in front of the ps3. Men lie women lie numbers don't simple. Stop trying to save Sony. Thaw y they're in last place and the 720 will do to the ps4 like when it comes out like the xbox is doing the ps3 now lol Sony had their run. The only good system they had that wasn't a failure was the psp which is one of my fav systems.

As far as this article go's I agree with the xbox being on top, but reality wise, the wii won this gen. Until either ms or Sony can pass that 100 million mark made by nintendo then they'll have the right to say they won this gen. Until then.

MGS4
Demon's Souls (best new ip this gen)
Uncharted 1-3
God of War 3
Killzone 1-3
InFamous 1-2
Resistance 1-3
Heavy Rain
Little Big Planet 1,2
GT5
Motorstorms
Yakuzas
Heavenly Sword
Journey
Twisted Metal
Warhawk,Starhawk

Upcoming:
The Last Guardian (yes it will come out)
The Last of Us
God of War: Ascension
Beyond: Two Souls
Sly 4
Playstation allstars battle royal
FF vs 13
Agent

To each his own but i know which console is my winner

I don't see how someone can be a winner of an imaginary war. But still even if you must declare a winner the current gen isn't even over yet since neither Sony or Microsoft has released any real info about their next gen console so technically the "war" is still going on.

Anyways does anyone else remember a time when there wasn't anything like a "console war" going on and the only thing that really mattered wasn't which console had the games that you wanted and so you would play your games and other people would play that games that they liked and everybody would be happy and that the only time people would fight would be over how good a game was. Maybe it's just me but back then it felt like gamers were a whole lot smarter and were actually capable of talking about games without bringing their fanboyism into it.

No one, round 3 coming soon :P

Before I start. I own all three systems.

In terms of numbers and innovation. The Wii won with the most sales and creating motion controls for better or worse. The Wii started out strong and even became a phenomenon at one point, but after a while the public got tired and too many lazy and bad third party games turned the Wii into a door stopper. Wii's were collecting dust in closets across America.

The PS3 started out bad with a ridiculous launch price. Coming off the success of the PS2 and being king of the hill. Sony's arrogance got the best of them and they paid for it. They learned from it though and got back on their feet and made a huge comeback, but piracy hurt them along the way and in the end they had to settle for third place.

Now what system really defined this console generation? The Xbox 360 by a mile. Xbox Live and online multiplayer was where it was at this generation. Like it or not this generation was driven by online FPS games. The Halos, Gears, Call of Duty, Battlefield etc. The best place with the largest community to play those games was on the 360. So in the end I think the 360 won this generation.

why not wait till the console cycle is over before you declare a winner? if your gonna call it now than you have to say nintendo wii won. but all 3 are still out there to be purchased
sony is gaining in sales and a lot of people say they have the most momentum right now and surely in the next year it will only get better. the ps1 and ps2 had tons of success at the end of the life cycle ps2 still sales to this day. so the ps3 will most likely have the longest life cycle and may end up selling more that the others. because history shows us that nintendo and xbox will give up on their old consoles when the new ones come out. hell nintendo has already stopped supporting the wii and wiiu is not even out

Just saying that both PS3 and 360 graphics have been compared (Many times by many people) and 360 wins but by not much.

Don't want to disappoint you Sonydrones, but google is your friend.