Boasting its "biggest year in Xbox history," Microsoft today sent word that life-to-date unit sales of its Xbox 360 console are now up to 28 million worldwide, which the company says puts its lead over rival PlayStation 3 at more than eight million units. The company's leading Xbox Live service also saw plenty of growth last year, as membership swelled to 17 million and online spending increased by 84 percent. In fact, digital downloads and Xbox Live revenue in general grew to more than $1 billion since the 360 launched three years ago.
The 2008 Holiday period in particular was a highlight for Xbox Live, as it saw its "busiest week ever" between Christmas and New Year's Day. Microsoft said there were more than 1.5 million concurrent members online.
"For Xbox, 2008 will be remembered around the world as a pivotal growth year at retail and online — even in the face of tough economic conditions," said Don Mattrick, senior vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. "Worldwide, a record number of players flocked to our broadest games and entertainment lineup ever, while the New Xbox Experience thrilled millions of fans by making our console even more engaging. And yet, we've only provided a glimpse into the new world of interactive entertainment that we're imagining. The best of Xbox 360 is yet to come."






Reader Comments (19)
sorry x-box comes with battery contorllers what i meant was rechargeble out of the box controllers and that can be expensive wheter you use batteries or buy plug-and-play kits.
ok here it is: Faliure rate does matter wheter you have a warranty or not. If I spend money on a game system it shouldn't break ever and I shouldn't have to wait a week to get it back to play it and the X-Box's is way too high e****ally since the released the orignal ones with a known design flaw in it. I bought my Ps3 to use it, not wait a week for it to be fixed. I have had my Ps3 since launch and have burned through two controllers since then from use. Since i got my Ps3 at launch it costed me $630. A X-Box would cost $315. However that X-Box would not come with X-Box live, a harddrive, wireless internet, battery controllers, nor a hd movie player and it would not have an hdmi port. To meet what the ps3 is offering it would cost around $460 dollars if bought new from a store, ( $50 for cheapest X-Box live, $100 for harddrive, $50 for wireless card, $30 for plug-and-play kit and $200 for hd-dvd add-on ( which hd-dvd failed ), plus tax). so the X-Box isn't really cheaper if it is to meet the standards of a Ps3. As for game selection its true both 360 and Ps3 have great selection. But for someone to say halo is better than resistance is ridiculous because resistance is like a faster version of halo ( plus resistance 1 campaign is intense, e****ally the first time you go through it ) . Ps3 has plenty of exclusive games and just games in general. I own 25 Ps3 games. plus most of the big games like cod-5 that play better or run better on the 360 is most likely because the game is designed for 360 and then ported to ps3. Look at RE4, runs so much better on the gamecube than ps2 and it looks better too because it was designed for the gamecube not the ps2. The X-Box does sell better than the Ps3 but it also has had a one year head start, Plus the ps3 had horrible word of mouth due to its price when it launched plus the lack of games when launched. Its true only resistance was worth getting but that game kept you occupied till other games like motorstorm, ratchet & clank 5, warhawk ( kind of dumb now since everybody pretty much spawn camps with vehicles ), and MGS4 could comeout. Also if you bought a Wii, I hope you like nintendo franchises cause otherwise you kind of wasted your money. Home is not a big deal right now, trophies and acchievements are both dumb, 60 player matches on resistance 2 are dumb so I'm pretty sure M.A.G. won't be that great, I'm pretty sure blu-ray discs can hold up to 200 gigs ( but those discs I think aren't readily availble to the public yet ), ratchet & clank 6 should come out this fall, fps games are very overrated and are for the most part, very generic and are very similar to one another, gears is a carbon copy o*****ame called killswitch ( from the ps2 ) on a stronger platform so it can do more, besides uncharted is better than gears anyways. Killzone 2 and Uncharted 2 FTW. Infamous is going to be an excellent game, anyone with a Ps3 should get this game.
hahaha, they post these articles, just so these fanboys will go ape**** and make their daily hits soar. haha. everyone should just get over it at this point. both systems are good. i own them all, and it comes down to this. 360 has the exclusive games, online support, and all their games running 1080p. ps3 has blu-ray. honestly, both systems are great, you can't go wrong either way, so stop *****ing, get yourself off the computer and enjoy a walk outside for christ's sake. -i.
omg, im a ps3 owner, i had experienced Xbox expirence, sorry 4 spelling mistakes, anyway, i played gears and other games on my friends xbox and i did like it but IT DOES LAG. When someone comes with dial up connection it laggs the server that happens on all systems. I do agree with all the ps3 guys here. Ps3 has awesome graphics, oh i just found out that xbox cannot play platformer games, while the ps3 can, it can play blu-ray, 50 gig disc each (blu-ray). Mgs4 would have been on 5 discs if it wouldt be on blu ray. And with all you xbox people saying ps3 lags online. did you ever play online on the ps3? Resistance 2 can have up to 60 players per server. AND NO LAGG!!!. Unless some noob joins with AOL. Plus if you own the ps3 and u lagg, check if u have good connection, on the box and every single game it says brodband required. Next thing, ps3 is expensice, its because sony uses quality parts that dont break as fast as the xbox. AND reacently a book came out saying that Sony helped build the xbox by accident, so if it wasent for sony there would be no XBOX. Remote play is good. Games: All PS3 games are worth playing. all the exclusives. I have warhawk, little big planet, MGS4, they are all awsome games. And i own COD4 and GTA 4. Ok sony is strugguling with sales. But they are chasing microsoft in sales. If you remember Xbox 360 came out a day before ps3 was about to come out. But they delayed the ps3 till 4 or some months after. You xbox people had a early start. Free online service, its free we dont pay, we dont lagg, psn is sitll in development, they are talking about making it not free but its a small chance that it would happen, Plus all demos, normal themes, wallpapers, trailers, some add ons, are free, WE DO PAY with money not points. Plus when M.A.G comes out you all xbox fans would want to buy a ps3. 256 PLAYERS PER SERVER!!!! its going to be first person, fly planes, drive tanks, jeeps, parashute down from planes, lots of guns, big maps and all that stuff. I know you are thinking its going to lagg. Well i think it wount cuz if they made HOME that can hold 100 people per server with no lagg. and resistance 2 with 60 people per server, there will be no problem with lag. Im a fan of both but i perfer the ps3 becasue i own it and i had a ps2. The thing is if i got an xbox i would play it but if it broke i would fix it and sell it, if that happend to my ps3 i would fix it and keep it. Also Yes failure rates. Both systems have em. PS3 is from 0 to 4%, last time i checked xbox was 0 to around 19%. Console war, big one, altho wii is kinda outm but in terms of sales its ahead. PS3 FTW!!
wow. um ps3 owns. 360 breaks down all the time and while halo is fun and so is gears and fable 2, the ps3 offers so much more. take littlebigplanet, for example: its like the new mario, and if 360 owners were to play it, they would be like, wow, this is fun. its things like that, and the free online internet (for those who say it sucks are retarded, i play socom all the time with equal gameplay as halo or gears) also, there's this game called crash commando for the ps3. OMG ITS AMAZING so addicting. but yeah the online experiences are very equal for the two systems but the ps3, believe it or not, is starting to gain an edge. all i can say the 360 has is fable, cause in my opinion, resistance cancels out gears, and halo is halo and its getting kind of old, while the ps3 is always bringing out new innovative things. im not a fanboy, just my opinion. OHHH AND ONE MORE THING!!!! PEOPLE CHECK OUT MAG (MASSIVE ACTION GAME) ITS GOING TO BE PS3 EXCLUSIVE AND WOW DOES IT LOOK LIKE IT HAS SOME AMAZING POTENTIAL
by the way, that1khmerkid, thats called illegal and is not a good idea to be bragging about
i own both a PS3 and a 360 and i would have to say that i like the ps3 more. xbox live is only better at the moment justb/c more people have a 360. also, graphics kill on the ps3 and you dont have to buy a bunch of stuff to play online, its free. not to mention, the ps3 is a much better deal because you also get a free blu ray player thrown in. and, the ps3 has tons of great games coming out in 2009 God of War 3 Killzone 2 Socon 2 even rumors of a little big planet 2 and probably a new ratchet and clank game. And resistance and resistance 2 are two of the greatest games and kill gears of war 2 and halo 3 (which is basically just halo 2 which was basically halo). Ill take 60 player games over eight player any day. 360's a good system, but theres a reason why there coming out with a new one. ps3 owns
My personal thought is that the ps3 isn't too good i mean if you think about it there's very few games you have that are good. It's true you can go onto the internet which is cool and has Blu-ray (there's a lot of blu-ray movies out now). I am fond of the 360 though, it has a lot of good games on the other side the graphics are decent its like a tie with the ps3. the Xbox 360 doesn't cost as much as the ps3 which is pretty good including the great games it has. The ps3 you'll have to spend so much money on new games and such. Oh and no, you won't have to spend so much money if your willing to take the chance to mod your 360. Currently i know someone who buys his games burnt and they do work fine for a cheaper price about 20-30 bucks and the original price is $59.99. I have a Wii, it doesn't have much good games but I'm hoping games will come out. (the current ps3 can't be modded if your interested it has to be the very first ones that came out).
hey chris buddy u dont just get to send urs in cause its broken...its called a warranty bud and yes i have a ps3 and i have played xbox and both are pretty enjoyable....but the ps3 hd quality is way more fantastic then compared to xbox
and to the idiot who said the xbox has a 70% failure rate... what? 70%? did u just pull that out of your ass?