In a hardware sales photo finish, it's a Sony Nintendo tie!

[wraggster]

It's a race that won't be finished until 2011, according to Chris Deering (former head of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe), but he's already calling it a tie between Sony and Nintendo. Keep in mind, this was after week ending numbers came out showing over 40,000 Wii units sold in Japan, with the PS3 a distant 9,500 units sold. So, clearly there's a lot to do in three years.

Deering arrived at these figures "by triangulating Screen Digest and IDG data. He also took into account factors such as the growth of hi-def and the grey gamer market, the emergence of new game engines and increasing ubiquity of wi-fi access" and we imagine he probably tried out runestones, tarot cards, and a ouija board just to be safe.

What's impressive are the sheer numbers alone. He predicts that by 2011 both Sony and Nintendo will have sold 230 million total machines each (Sony: PS3 + PS2 + PSP, and NIntendo: Wii + DS), and that the Xbox 360 will have reached a user base of 40 million. The only thing is, the 360 has already reached the 20 million mark, so he thinks it'll continue on that track for the next three years at exactly the same pace, due to the "set-top box hi-def phenomenon."

He also concludes that the number of potential gamers will reach 2.5 billion due to the amounts of consoles, computers, and mobile phones sold, to which we say... isn't everyone a potential gamer?

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/08/11/in...-nintendo-tie/

[gutbub]

Is it just me, or does this guy try too hard make Sony not lose?
It's the console war, not the company war. So it's Wii vs PS3 vs 360. Not Ps2+PS3+PSP vs Wii+DS vs 360. PS2 was last gen war. DS and PSP are the handheld war, which is another story.

[bah]

I don't think triangulation means what the author thinks it means.

[trugamer]

^^ I think I'm with you on that. My only question is, what does the author think it means?

[sappo]

Sony always pays these guys to say they've still not failed with the PS3.

But they have. Get over it, Sony :P

[bah]

Failed?

I don't own either a 360 nor PS3, but if I were to buy a nice big HD TV then I'd probably go for the PS3 simply because its about the price of a standalone blu-ray player.
I do own a fat PSP and a fat and a lite DS if that means anything.

PS3 is a bit more powerful, but its a bitch to program for. There's not really a huge amount between them in gaming terms bar the online service on the 360 being much better (and costing money) and whatever exclusive games each has.

[Brainy142]

lol ps2 was last gen idiot