PS3 (kind of) officially delayed

[Paco]

Perhaps, but MS does have to remember that the DC and the Saturn both launched early themselves, and it didn't do much good. They'll have to do something to make people want the thing.

As it is, the shortage of the thing nationwide is caused by Microsoft's own errors in contruction, not a massive need for the thing. Sure they did well during Christmas, but so did the N64 during the first Christmas after it was launched (it too was a "must have").

Nintendo once stated they had every intention of beating Sony to launch, but the question is if they can actually realize that intention.

The HUGE difference is that Sega (financially ruined) was behind the Saturn and DC, and Microsoft (makes more money in year than Nintendo + Sony + Sega) is behind the 360.

Other signficant differences:

dvd equipped PS2 vs. the non dvd Dreamcast. DVD's had been around since 1997 and already established as the new media format. DVD was a significant upgrade with scene selection, interactivity, and no rewind. Blu-Ray isn't even out yet, there aren't going to be that many movies available at first, to see the difference you need a HDTV which the majority of people don't...

Sega's shaky 3rd party support vs. Microsoft's growing roster of 3rd party developers and games.

Consumer confidence. How many systems did Sega release and abandon? Sega CD, Sega 32X, Sega Saturn, Sega Nomad, Sega Game Gear...developers and consumers had every reason to cautiously buy into a Sega product, or not consider it at all given their past. If you look around for news reports, Microsoft has been on a wave of momentum since the Xbox launched. I assume it's still going as it shifted from the Xbox to the [sold out] 360.