Jeff is on the right track with his comments. The consoles are out there and now its just up to the consumers to choose.

I love my 360, but I doubt we'll see another market-leader in the mould of PS2 for quite some time. Wii could get there, perhaps, but 360? Nope.

I think out of the 3 current consoles (wii, 360, ps3) the 360 has a real chance of being this gens PS2. But that's pretty tough, The PS3 is the console that will get in its way, So we'll see.

I can't see the wii being this gens PS2. It just doesnt haven't that lastability.

Sony sold 120 million PS2 between 2000 and 2007. That's a rate of over 17 million consoles a year.

Microsoft has sold 17 million in two years, a rate of barely 9 million every 12 months (and whether that is to customers or to retail is still not clear).

I'm not sure who this guy is trying to kid or sell these machines too; but with all of the 360's hard hitters already out the door, and the PS3 starting to show its true power, only a fool would accept such claims.

Give me a break. Microsoft needs to aggressively move into the smaller markets in order to compare to the PS2. I'm situated in Switzerland and the XBOX 360 is being crushed by the Wii and the PS3 here. Both have surpassed the X360's installed base. There is absolutely no sign of life by any Microsoft representative around here. Nintendo and Sony on the other hand are very present. The battle is not only fought in large markets, and Microsoft does not know that.

Microsoft will surpass PS2's mark in due time. As soon as the price drops below 199 usd, 360's will sell like hot cakes! Nobody has online play like 360! No one! Once you play online, you are hooked! Software is what Microsoft does best! Even Sony puts Microsoft software on every computer that they sell!! Mark my word!! The world will become Xbox 360. And yeah we are going to borrow Blu-Ray from Sony and make a player to give consumer choice!

Hardware + services. That is the winning combo. Microsoft has struggled to keep the first part of that equation solid. I know that they are making some huge strides in locking that up...and something else to think about, only a few years ago, Microsoft had NO gaming system. I also believe they are knocking the services end of equation out of the ball park.

Steve-

Just to quickly mention, This guy isn't saying he is going to sell 120 million consoles? all he has said is that it will be this gens PS2. NONE of these consoles are going to hit 120 million. He never stated that.He want's to emulate there success, which was to have a console that lasted years upon years and sold consistently. I'm not quite sure where you are going with it?

He has every right to believe it can be the strongest of the bunch in the long run, and so can sony. I believe the wii will dramatically slow down.

I think it is hilarious how people seem to think it is just a race between Sony and Microsoft and that is where I think their biggest problem lies. Microsoft seems focused on the same audience Sony has been chasing where as Nintendo are broadening their appeal. You may scoff, but Nintendo is doing exactly the same thing Sony did when it first came to market, targeting the untargeted. It might not have the visual oomph of the other consoles but Nintendo's core audience are more concerned about playing Nintendo's key franchises and the wider, casual gamer, doesn't seem to know the difference.

yeh but do any serious gamers give a **** what market nintendo goes after?

It would be good if the wii had any decent 3rd party titles, i agree with steve, the wii is just a phase for ppl at the moment.

I do think that the Wii is a bit of a phase at the moment, well for the casual gamer at least but as soon as Nintendo see sales slowing down, they will react and who knows what they'll come up with?!

Everybody wrote them off before the Wii was launched and when the original DS came out with that dull screen, everyone thought it was over against the PSP.

But look what happened.........

Although that said, I doubt 360 and PS3 gamers will be who they will go after......

I agree with some of the points made in comment 8, none of these consoles will be this generations PS2, there was NO competition when the PS2 was around. It was all about timing, the Dreamcast died, the Cube was rubbish outside of Japan and the first XBOX came along far too late in the race to change anything.

With all three hardware manufacturer's in such strong positions, there wont be another 'PS2' for ages, well, not unless some serious price slashing takes place.

Microsoft did themselves no favours with the Red Ring of Death, without this they would be further ahead of Sony.
The big Microsoft advantage is that they can manufacture the 360 far cheaper than Sony can manufacture the PS3. The 360 has no hard drive (in base configeration) no expensive BluRay and no expensive Cell.
So expect Microsoft to use this advantage to engage in a price war. A Halo 3 bundle at $199 released at the same time as GTA IV would kill off the PS3.

" A Halo 3 bundle at $199 released at the same time as GTA IV would kill off the PS3"

Idiot... people will pay more for PS3 as its "cool" and the 360 dosent have the cool must have factor.

As someone who completely lost interest in games around the time of PS2/Xbox, Nintendo and the Wii have drawn me back in. I'm not interested in how graphically superior the machine is, but I know that I can rely on Nintendo to turn out some killer games. Nintendo should be credited for helping to open up gaming to a wider audience. For me, as someone not as immersed in the whole scene, Microsoft and the XBox equats with Work/Bill Gates/FPS/Ugly Design and Sony with strong third-party support whose exclusivity is waning and a console that doesn't know what it wants to be and is overpriced. With Nintendo I get the classics on the Virtual Console (which none of the other competitors can touch) and some excellent releases that utilise the Wii remote and the new technology. When I listen to people in passing it is the Nintendo Wii they're talking about, and they're talking about it as an exciting and fun activity, hell, even my dad knows what it is.

with hi def been the biggest growing market and the ps3 been the only one with a blu ray drive which owns the hi def market fitted as standard, dvd will start to lose market share making 360 and the wi obsolute quicker than we think

TOKYO, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Nintendo Co Ltd's (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research) Wii video game console outsold Sony Corp's (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) PlayStation 3 by 3-to-1 in Japan in January, thanks to Nintendo's launch of its "Wii Fit" home fitness game in December, a gaee magazine publisher said.

Nintendo sold 479,931 units of the Wii in the four weeks to Jan. 27, compared with 165,719 units of the PS3, Enterbrain said on Friday.

The Wii was the top-selling console in Japan for the second straight month, it said.

"This year, attention will shift to how hardware sold will propel the game market," Enterbrain said in a release.

The numbers were compiled prior to the Jan. 31 launch of Nintendo's "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" combat game featuring the Mario Brothers and other characters, which the publisher called "promising".

Sales of "Wii Fit," which features a pressure-sensing board that players c****e to simulate ski jumps or surfing, topped 1.21 million units in the nine weeks since its release.

That compares with initial sales of 908,000 units of Nintendo's previou**** "Wii Sports," which had initially helped propel sales of the Wii.

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) sold 27,044 units of its XBox 360 in January in Japan, Sony and Nintendo's home turf.

In response to post 16, the things is, I'll buy a blu ray player when I'm ready and probably a better model or cheaper than the PS3. If the Japanese market is anything to go by there is a reluctance to shift to HD. I, for one, am quite happy with my DVD player... That aside, I understand that Nintendo are playing to release a version of the Wii with these capabilities too. Although I'm not sure this is a good thing.

The Ps3 is alot more worth it then buying a bladdy xbox 360. as with the 360 to buy a damn network card its like 60 bucks, a bigger HDD cost like more then 100 bucks. it all adds up. while on the other hand, the ps3 has all that stuff built into the machine and cost cheaper then u think. at the moment the 360 is killing the war with alot of exclusive games, - this is why JEFF BELL saying that this is going to be another PS2. i believe he said that in a wrong time, how is he so sure while the ps3 has all its exclusives coming out this year, like when did the ps3 come out? and of 2006? while the 360 came out on 2005 and this year will be a smashing year for the ps3 with all its exclusives coming out. we still gotto wait and see in another 2 or 3 yrs then we'll notice who will be another PS2 ;) By the way, im not being a fanboy here, I own both of the consoles and they both are badass.

The 360 may not be cool, but neither is the PlayStation, the Wii is the cool one this time around, the 360 is the console with the games. Sony are in real trouble this time around and with regards what you get in the PS isn't about time. Dreamcast, N64, GC, Xbox all had 4 ports where as Sony robbed you blind forcing you to buy a multitap and extra for all the other peripherals. Dreamcast was better than the PlayStation 2 and the PS3 has had to rely on a lot of Sega games to see it through the first year.

And with regards to bluray the general public don't by PS3's to watch HD films they like to have standalone boxes that do it not a games machine. I think people are putting too much emphasis on the effect the PS3 will have on the format war when Joe public see's the prices of HDDVD players been half of the equivalent bluray it will have an effect

Anyway PS3 is no longer cool, meaning it aint gonna see sales like everyone thinks this time around.

Xbox 360 already IS this generations PS2... It certainly breaks down worse than the PS2 ever did, so it is already officially the most unreliable console ever built, and coupled with Microshaft's pathetic customer service, 360 is nothing but one big noisy headache! That kind of inconvenience simply is NOT worth saving 30-50 pounds over. Anyways, 360 will never reach even half of the PS2's sales, that is a guarantee. The only console that will come even close to that is the DS. A console that can be RELIED upon.

Wii is tracking PS2 sales more or less.

360 and PS3 are not.

But 360 and PS3 look to be doing better than Xbox and GC did last gen. Maybe the market really is growing.