• December 18, 2007

2007 may be the year of the Nintendo Wii, but Sony's PlayStation 3 will make a comeback in 2008, predicts U.K.-based media research firm Screen Digest.

Sony's pipeline of exclusive content and shift away from console games to online and digital distribution will give the PlayStation a big boost in 2008, according to Piers Harding-Rolls, Screen Digest's senior games analyst.

"One of the market shifts to watch out for in 2008 will be the continued evolution of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 from games consoles to multi-media hubs," said Harding-Rolls in a year-end games forecast issued Monday.

That's next year. For now, the Wii remains the top searched-for product this holiday season, according to data released last week by Hitwise.

--Mark Walsh