Hehehe, ok people, I see this is STILL going on.
The PS2 rules currently. Not because it's some superior product per-se, but because it was the only one out for awhile.
So for this generation, it will ALWAYS havemore units solde, XBox has taken second place in sales, and GameCube 3rd, but it's moot because neither of those two are ever going to be #1.
For it's first entry into the market this is VERY good for MS, trust me when I say this is NOT a failure for MS.
The REAL battle is going to be the NEXT generation of platforms.
Sony is almost certainly not going to continue on with the Playstation name next round because otherwise everything from it would lose 10% to nintendo, so they are losing a VERY popular name (that interestingly enough Nintendo COULD use if they so choose).
And if they all come out relatively close to each other Sony will have lost a BIG part of its edge. Nintendo will be in the same spot it's in now while MS will be gaining ground, if they continue on with their buyouts and exclusive titles this may bode very well for them. HOWEVER if they delay or run into problems and are forced to push back, it may very-well be another 2nd place ranking for awhile.
None of this is to say it matters much, XBox is not going to go away, just not gonna happen, the initial "loss" is over, their biggest portion on consoles are sold, now it's software licenses which are pure profit for the company, so it only gets better, same with Nintendo, though many will argue that Zelda will either make or break them.
So there is no important argument over consoles anymore, now it's a personal tone of what entices youmost about the platforms? The PS whose starting to see some age, and will inevtiably be replaced (most likely without support for older games like the PS2 had for PSOne games), or the GameCube which has good franchise backing (though if you are like me it matters little because Zelda, Metroid, and Star Fox are all, personally speaking, the worst games of the year from supposed blockbusters) but lacks some of the growth features like XBox which has ever growing software ties with LARGE allies, the Hard Drive (which is just starting to see interesting use from manufacturers besides "huge memory card") and XBox Live! making an impressive play, which has served to embolden many software companies to make online games.
Anyway, as always its a personal prefference, except now it's far enough along that none of these consoles will "fail" like the DC did, so it's no argument really....all you fanboys will have to wait for the next round of consoles.