Your point makes no relevance, when are Sony planning to hit that "mass market pricing"? 3 years from now?

I agree. A $199 PS3 and the whole "sales-game" (we play here) would look better. By the numbers.

But what's a number? It's just a number. Without context, worthless. A shell game for us "fanboys" (and girls). For 3rd party publishers that might matter - and yet, 360 SW sales are not leaps an bounds ahead of PS3 (not even in the USA, let alone the other markets).

M$ is on it's toes, no doubt about it. They are very successful with their strategy in the US. They make their money elsewhere, though. Primarily with XBL, I would guess. You basically "rent" a console for $50 a year. That was a smart move. They could give the console away and would still make money.

And yet, the new model and better price (value ratio) sure contributed to pure sales numbers - which I still think have a high percentage of re-buys (see SW numbers do not correlate to the HW increment).

Halo Reach was another smart move.

Both are wearing off. M$ is gambling with the timing. They outlined this all the way from the slim launch into the holiday season, hoping, the wear off, will not be substantial until Kinect launches. And so far they've done a fantastic job with that. But just look - while still in pole position - which console is loosing the most since weeks. Yet again the 360.

The PS3 fails to capitalize on that drop. Yet, they did want Sony most likely wanted. They won over Wii customers. The PS3 is now constantly above Wii sales.

Kinect will once again have an impact on M$ numbers. I doubt they will be sustainable, though ($150 is too much. To high to cut into Wii territory. $350 incl console ? Not good enough.

While this will give another Halo like boost for Microsoft, it will once again wear off until spring 2011. Guess this explains the GeOW3 delay. Same thing again, another high profile title, timed extremely well, to push numbers.

All this matters little. Sony makes more money publishing games than M$ does (unless they have a high roller like Halo or GeOW). M$ makes money with Live.

Sony is more concerned with their bottom line on per unit sales (and HW margin, I guess), while M$ can care less about it.

High sell through matters if you sell with high margins. Not so much, if you don't. What matters is creating a stable install base for your core business, that is SW sales in licensing. Sony is IMO a bit conservative, but OTHO operates stable. While M$ obviously has the cash reserve to play the riskier game.

Nintendo ? Not sure. They might have put their bets on the new 3DS, and possibly have a Wii-HD up their sleeves, waiting for the right moment to play that card (but certainly after the 3DS). They might sit it out and hope the PS3 won't pull ahead (or not too much) before they drop that one.

All in all, pretty predictable scenario, IMO.

Basically, super popular. Everybody plays it, everybody likes it, and Halo.
Remember back in the day when people called gaming "Nintendo?" It didn`t even matter what system you would game on, may people just said "hey lets play Nintendo" Well, that`s how it`s like in America a lot of the time. People here call gaming "Xbox." The 360 has shoved it`s face into the semi-hardcore gamer market (COD, Halo, Gears players, etc.) and it`s all people can see. Xbox is just simply much much MUCH more popular in America, and don`t try to deny it. That`s why Sony needs a breakthrough in my opinion.

Yeah it's popular because of the head start, but that's it. It's same games as last gen with the added gears. Honestly it would a better investment to own a PS3/PC.

The thing is the only games that really sell are Gears and Halo. Other games just can't cut it on the 360.

Cultural phenomenon would go to the Wii hands down. The popularity of 360 in America really is based on a couple of games, whereas the Wii, and PS2 are based on many games. It's just really sad when we label a system popular for flash and no substance, in America anyway.

Because games like Fable, Forza, and Mass Effect haven't sold well over 2 million copies each. Yup, you're right, only Gears and Halo sells.

agree completly
i am wondering though if it would actually slow the system down if they did a redesign in-game considering it has to switch,
either way i would love a shorten XMB, they need to get rid of stuff like the account management tab, video tab, and the setting that aren't accessable in-game (they can keep Blutooth paring and things that can be access without getting cannot be access error)
hell even the music one and have that only pop up when games support it

its just in-game xmb that i think needs a redesign, i can careless about ingame cross chat

true mate, but if kinect doesnt help 360 really well, it will be doomed the next year, until Gears come along