A record year for the gaming industry ... led by the PS2

PS2's numbers shouldn't be that much of a surprise. The PS2 had years to build up its user base, so seeing it "win" the software sales wars makes perfect sense. The Wii has sold the most consoles this past year, sure, but the software selection is sad to say the least. The new consoles need more time to build decent libraries.

Plus, let's face it, the PS2 consolde's hardware was excellent, and even rivals what the Wii can do today (not including the Wii's industry-changing Wiimote).

I would predict that by this time next year, as the Xbox360 continues to fall behind in Japan, we'll see the Wii in 1st, PS3 in a solid second, and XBox 360 in 3rd. By year three, as prices drop further, the PS3 will move to 1st, followed by the Wii.

It's a fluid marketplace. By the time a PS4 comes out, the Wii or PS3 software sales will likely still out-sell any PS4 games after the first year.

It's called market saturation.

Well, the PS2 is cheap and approachable. The games are generally no longer $40 and $50 and good games can be had for under $20. The PS3 and 360 are still very expensive machines. Not just in initial outlay, but in keeping up with the Joneses. At $50 or $60 for every new game, that sure adds up fast. Let's not forget, that $400 is a lot of money to a lot of people.

You're welcome, gaming industry. I think I'm responsible in large part for that good year. I haven't played games since I had a Commodore 64, and I haven't bought a console since the Atari 2600 (I guess technically my parents bought that). But last year I bought a Wii and a Nintendo DS and have been buying tons of games since then. Just in the last month I bought the Wii Fit (awesome, but pricey), Mario Kart (awesome), and I'm waiting with cash in hand for the Rock Band release for Wii (whenever that actually comes out...). Every Christmas and birthday gift my girlfriend gets is something for the Wii or DS (man, it's been an easy couple of years for gift selection...though it seems to be wearing out...I've been explicitly forbidden from giving anymore "gadget" gifts...maybe getting a new girlfriend would be easier).

The article (and the DFC Article it links to) only mentions "install base", not software sales (which I think would be the most informative metric if we wanted to see whether the industry was being "led" by the PS2).

In fact, the only mention of software sales was this: "From a pure revenue perspective, the biggest system for software sales in 2007 was the PC, if you include revenue generated from online services."

Of course the PS2 is going to have the largest install base of any system still on the market, since it's been out far longer than the others.