Sony has been riding the momentum train ever since last Fall when the Slim PS3 was released onto the market with a reduced price of $299. Everything from the great Kevin Butler commercials to the stellar software line up of titles such as Uncharted 2 and God of War 3 has only further proven that Sony is here to stay. So it should come as no surprise that the PS3's market share has been increasing steadily as it closes in on Microsoft's console share.

A recent report by Strategy Analytics has shown that PS3 global market share has increased to 31% in the first quarter of 2010. The latest report from the research firm also foresees that the PS3's global shares this year will reach 14 million with Nintendo at 17.5 million and the Xbox 360 at 10.5 million.

"Our analysis shows that while Wii sales fell relative to Q109, its share in fact remained constant relative to Q409. The main movement in Q1 2010 was the growing share for Sony’s PS3, at the expense of Microsoft’s Xbox 360," noted David Mercer, Principal Analyst at Strategy Analytics. "The PS3 continues to benefit from the price cut last September. This should help the PS3 maintain growth momentum throughout 2010."

Though Mercer notes that Natal may help Microsoft's share when it releases later this year, "The introduction of the Natal technology should also help re-energize Microsoft’s Xbox 360 platform in the second half of the year."

The research firm claims that the global games market is facing "major uncertainties" for the rest of this year noting the "extent and pace of the Wii’s decline," and not knowing what kind of impact the upcoming release of the motion controls will have on consumers for both Sony and Microsoft. Strategy Analytics also believes that global video game console sales will fall by 9% by the end of this year.