Has the Xbox division been profitable over its lifetime? I realize that they are supposedly profitable now, but have their recent profits exceeded the previous losses yet?
The part of Microsoft that makes xbox along with the zine and PC games made a profit of 0.2 Billion this year and 0.5 Billion the year before.
No, you really can't.
Look at PS3 compared to PS2, GameCube versus nintendo 64, Saturn versus megadrive.
In fact it's practically an industry rule that you always fail after a successful generation of console! A betting man would reckon on the Xbox 3 being a flop.
Wii reached an audience no console ever reached, thanks to the titles and controllers. I'm betting Project Natal will take over a big slice of that market, unless Nintendo really steps it up.
Most xboxes are in teenage boys bedrooms not in living rooms.
The impressive part is how they've been able to convince some people that the xbox is a success.
Ofcourse you can attribute that to my age, and the fact that I don't know too many teenagers, but for the teens in my family, if they are gamers at all, what they have is a PC in their bedroom. Console-gaming is if not exclusively at least largely a social thing, and thus makes more sense to have in a room made for socializing.
While my argument isn't backed by solid data and mostly relies on my own experiences, you can't really claim yours is any better either.
As for as the Xbox 360 goes right now it is a massive success. It is one of the top three consoles in a market where there used to only be two. That's big achievement in itself.
Please, if you're going to compare numbers, be aware of what you're comparing. The Wii, Xbox360 and PS3 are only similar if you're an outsider and can't realize the apple to oranges comparison that's taking place.
The Wii's major feature is that it's a family entertainment system and not a gaming console. The reason it's sold so much is because, as many others have stated, it managed to breach into new market segments. Yet when I talk with any person that dedicates a significant portion of their time to playing games (ie a gamer) they never talk about the Wii, they talk about the Modern Warfare 2, PS3 and Xbox360.