The question asked is there a need for three consoles this generation? Everyone will say the Wii has found it's niche as a whimsical casual console for the non-gamers. The real battle is between the PS3 and the 360 for the role of main console in gamers homes. The Wii will have a few neat titles but the epic games people will want to play will be avoiding that glorified GameCube with waggle.

It comes down to who will get the better exclusives and original titles on their respective console. In the past the PlayStation was known for having the best exclusive games but now that seems to be fading. Many of those PS2 exclusives/timed exclusives(wait 6 months and you get a port) are now finding their way to the XBox 360 like Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, Ace Combat, Virtua Fighter and Grand Theft Auto. Plus the 360 seems to have all the big console exclusive new IPs like Gears of War, Dead Raising, Lost Planet, Bioshock, Mass Effect and Blue Dragon. The best games coming from Western and Japaneses developers is coming to the 360.

With the horrible sales numbers of the PS3 so far in all regions, will anyone stay in Sony's camp? Sony has a very strong first part lineup that will keep many of it's loyalist happy. The price however will keep the casual gamers away since most popular games like Madden and GTA will be coming to the 360 which will be a much more affordable console. Rumor has it Sony has already discontinued their cheaper $499 20 gig model in favor of their $599 60 gig model. This $200 price difference between the Xbox 360 Pro and the PS3 will make it very hard to justify buying a PS3 for all except the most hard core PS3 fan boys.

In the end I for see the PS3 managing GameCube like sales numbers and would not be surprised if the PS3 is killed off early. The only saving grace the PS3 has is it's a cheap BluRay player. Only problem is optical disks is the format of the past for movies as more and more people start downloading movies. More and more games will become multi platform and the lead development will be done for the 360 instead of the PS3 negating it's hardware advantages. The Wii will most likely win this generation but the 360 will become the dominate 2nd gaining the most ground and leading the way for more realistic gaming.