Analysts and media figures alike are getting closer and closer to having to eat that dirty crow from two to three years ago. It feels like it was only yesterday that the entire industry was ridiculing and mocking Sony for its high price point and inclusion of Blu-ray disc as a Trojan horse into the market place. However, in just a quick couple of years all of that mocking stopped and Sony is preparing to take over the only HD competitor it has in the industry — the Xbox 360.

Earlier, Sony officially reported that it has sold 38.1 million units world wide through June 30. This closes the gap with Microsoft to a minor 3.6 million consoles — something very few thought was possible when this generation started. If you take into account the entire year and change that Microsoft had to start, this console race isn’t exactly as close as Microsoft would like to have you believe.

If Sony continues on this sales trend and hits their projected and set goal of 15 million units sold this fiscal year, you should see the company slide into second place for market share sometime in the following fiscal year. All of this will occur despite Microsoft’s boost through the newly redesigned 360 models and the launch of Kinect this Fall.

Things are definitely going to get interesting on the fanboy front over the next year and a half.