Xbox Xcitement
Microsoft's Xbox 360 has stolen the Wii's crown to become the biggest selling games console in the US for the first time in around three years.
According to research from NPD Group, sales of Microsoft's console doubled, with 443,500 Xbox 360s flying off the shelves in July to become the US's favourite console since September 2007, when Microsoft released its eagerly anticipated Halo 3 game for the platform, Bloomberg reported.
Experts believe the Xbox 360 has surged in popularity due to its new slim format with wireless internet. Furthermore, the report said the demand for the Xbox console has boosted total hardware sales by 12 percent in July, the first full month the revamped console was on sale, which helped to make up for the 8 percent slump in software sales.
With consoles increasingly losing out to smartphones in gaming sales, Microsoft and Sony both hope to boost their appeal to casual gamers with their motion-sensor peripherals which hit the shops before Christmas.
Sales of Sony's PlayStation 3 reportedly gained 76 percent to 214,000 units sold in July, while its PSP handheld console sold just 84,000 units, almost a third less than its shifted in July last year. However, Sony is rumoured to be planning a gaming friendly Android phone to stay in on the portable gaming action.
Sales of the Nintendo Wii, which has been popular with casual gamers, have shown little change to a year ago, with consumers snapping up 253,000 consoles in July. However, Nintendo said the console reached a milestone this week, as it has sold a total of 30m units in the US within 45 months and heralded it as ‘the fastest-selling console in the history of the industry'.
However, the news was not so rosy for Nintendo's portable console as sales of the DS plunged by over a quarter compared with July last year, selling 398,000 this July. Nintendo will be hoping its 3DS will re-ignite interest when it launches next year.
In terms of games sale, the biggest title was NCAA Football 11 from Electronic Arts, which reportedly sold 368,000 copies for the Xbox and 298,000 copies for the PS3. The report also said PC games sales more than doubled in July.
