Somewhere Mario and Nintendo is laughing.  According to the 2008 annual report, Sony (maker of the apparently not so popular Playstation 3) lost over $3 billion dollars. 

Yes I typed billion there.  The reason behind is the price that many paid for the Playstation 3 (almost $600) was cheaper than the cost of producing it in the first place.  And even though the price has come down, that hasn't helped much.

According to a statement from Sony, "the large-scale investment required during the development and introductory period of a new gaming platform may not be fully recovered."

There's some truth to that, but it doesn't help with the investors. 

But apprently losing money is common in the business.  The way it goes that companies will lower the prices of the gaming systems to get people to buy them, and then buy all those games.  When you take into account some new games such as "Metal Gear Solid 4" and "Resistance 2," Sony may smile a little bit after this is all said and done. 

But Nintendo is smiling the biggest with the outrageous sales of the Wii system.  It has sold over five million systems in Japan alone.  So the Wii has easily more than the Playstation 3 and the XBox 360 (which is viewed as a bigger success than the PS3).