That’s right, folks. Yet another US-based business analyst has chucked his hat into the ring, this time predicting that the Xbox 360 will be the next-gen consoles market leader. Sigh. You know, what we’d really like to do is get all these guys together in a room, lock the door, shout ‘FIGHT’ through the letterbox and retire to a safe distance...

The controversial soothsayer in this instance is one Bill Kreher of A.G. Edwards financial consultants. In a recent interview with Next Generation Bill has even taken the brave/foolish step to quantify Microsoft’s dominance of the American market, stating that the Xbox 360’s “first mover advantage” will see the console attain a 38% share by 2009. Well, if the Xbox 360 really does have, as Bill reckons, a five million headstart over the PS3 in the USA he’s probably not a mile off! In the meantime the Wii will have a 34% slice of the pie, leaving just 28% for the PS3. Ouch!

Indeed, Kreher is rather critical of Sony’s whole launch strategy on the well-discussed basis of the PS3’s lofty pricepoint (hey, he wants to try buying one at UK prices!) and its roster of games. “There’s just not enough compelling software,” he says of the latter. Hmmm, that’s got to be a question of personal taste hasn’t it? Nevertheless it’s true to say that the bulk of what’s available for the PS3 is also available on other consoles, so maybe what he’s trying to say is that there’s a lack of uniqueness in the PS3’s software line-up. Excepting Motorstorm and, okay, Resistance: Fall of Man (play it through and you’ll see why we’re so sniffy) he’s probably got a point here too. But it’s still very early days, isn’t it?

So there you go – another analyst makes a grand, presumably expensive pronouncement about matters we’re all aware of. We’ve been saying for a long time now that such predictions are all-too easily made, so here’s ours – Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft will fight tooth and nail for market leadership but will soon realise the error of their ways and join forces to implement a single-platform gaming technology that’s available in everyday items such as microwave ovens, toilet roll holders, lampshades, comfy slippers and such, all of which beam gaming software directly into your cerebral cortex without the need for anything so clunky as that old-fashioned console/joypad/telly combo. Well it could happen!