I have to disagree with the original poster
Sony has a huge fan base and when kenny k says he will sell 5 mill units, with out any games for the system sadly he's right
plus sony has huge franchises: MGS, Final Fantasy, Gran turismo, to name a few, guaranteed million sellers when they drop.
couple that with the fact that while it may not be anyone around here, there will be people out there buying the system for the blu ray player
problem with your comparison is you are comparing PS3 with systems no one bought(or hardly anyone - DC fanboy)
PS3 will sell out launch day and for months after that. you will see them in rich football players houses on CRIBS and put into wack ass cars in pimp my ride. if it turns out to be garbage or not, it will still be a status symbol.
bottom line a lot of people will buy it and they will buy games for it
will it beat out the 360

thats a better question
Well here's the ticker. I remember seeing alot of Laser Disc players in rich homes and we all know what happened to the Laser Disc
. Sure, I agree that the wealthy will purchase whatever new electronics hit the market but will that alone make the device a great seller? NO!
For a game console to succeed in this market it will have to sell to the masses not only the wealthy. It will need to have a good supply of developers making killer titles for it. I have yet to see any title for the PS3 that will make me fork out $600 for it. MGS looks great but one game isn't worth that high price tag. Final Fantasy isn't for everyone. Grand Turismo will probably be great but yet another racer for a very expensive console, no thanks!
People this coming xmas will have 3 consoles to chose from and most people buying on xmas are on a budget. Here's what they'll have to chose from; $250 Nintendo Wii, $400 (or less by xmas) Xbox 360 Premium pack wich will probably be bundled with a game or an accessory, and a $500 - $600 PS3 and knowing Sony it wont come bundled with anything.
The choice seems pretty clear to me.