360 And Halo 3 Push Past the Wii's Sales

GameDaily has the NPD numbers for September, and they're impressive if only because for the first time in months Nintendo isn't dominating the top of every list. Total sales across the industry hit $1.36 billion (a 74% bump over last year), mostly fueled by Halo 3 sales. The game (across all skus) sold some 3.3 million units, while Xbox 360 platforms hit about 528,000 units sold last month. Ironically, the Wii had its second best month ever and the DS sold big numbers thanks to Phantom Hourglass. "Nintendo's Wii, despite not really having any significant new software releases, was close behind with 501K units sold. The DS handheld also did quite well, selling another 495.8K. Looking at Sony's platforms, the PS3 sold just 119.4K units, while the surging PSP sold 284.5K and the PS2 maintained healthy sales at 215K." The piece also offers up analysis from an NPD researcher, who feels Microsoft is likely to maintain some good momentum through the holidays.

Comments

Re:Microsoft will win next generation

[2nd Post!]

Sure, giving Microsoft a target gives them a goal, but it isn't like Microsoft has shown the ability to leap past a continually advancing target. There are plenty of examples where Microsoft is always behind the competition:
vs Google in search
vs Apple in MP3 players (now phones)
vs Nintendo in consoles...

If Xbox 420 is anything like the Zune 2 or the reboot of the Live services it will be:
A Wii, but black, slightly larger, and HD.

Meanwhile Nintendo will release, if the DS and Wii are any predictors of future design:
Download only games; add-on optical drive for backwards compatibility
HD (duh)
Lightweight wireless heads up see through monocles
Paired Wii-motes (one per hand) play, up to a total of 16 remotes (for 16 player games)
The ability to hook up 4 LCDs (1 per 4 people) or the ability to network 4 consoles together with a single game
Built in projector or projector add-on to reduce the necessity for 4 HD sets (perhaps limited to 720p)