It's just as clear as last year, so not clear at all!

They just stated they doubled last year's budget. But enough with trolling oversensitive Ballmer fans : just like last year, it's likely that it's meant from the start of the campaign to the end of fiscal year, although it's quite likely too that the biggest part must have been allocated for BF and Xmas, a smaller one for Easter and any other holiday or special events and gaming expos, and the smallest one for the dead periods.

Pot kettle black

You're mistaken, he's supporting the PS3 there which is winning.

What is the source of this?  If it is true isnt it even more incredible that that 360 division will likely make at least $1.5B this year in profit and PS3 will just make a small profit.

When Mircrosoft entered the console market they had a three console strategy.
Console one - establish a foothold in the market
Console two - establish the brand
Console three - challenge Sony for dominance
(this was what microsofts execs discussed in interviews at the end of the original xbox)

When the PS3 was launched people said it would take less than a year to destroy the 360s sale lead, each year has been "the year of the playstation" each year has failed to destroy the 360, even this year which to me is the weakest in terms of content for the 360 the PS3 (which has had Killzone 3, Uncharted 3, Resistance 3 etc) will only have sold around 300,000 units more.

Without a shadow of a doubt it is Microsoft who will be most pleased, who would have thought 5 years after the PS3 launched it would still be over 3 million consoles behind the 360 - when Sony do overtake the 360 (and I genuinly think Sony will pip the 360 to second spot behind the Wii) it will be as the next gen is launching and wont make the blindest bit of difference by that point.

It's just their PR (the first source I found is this one http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=136608&page=1 ), but like about last year's half billion, they kept it very vague, they just stated they doubled the marketing budget, they stressed Kinect's role, but they didn't specify the timespan for that budget, although it should be at latest until the end of this fiscal year.

XB360, besides XBL revenue, enjoys also a crazy tie ratio, not to mention proprietary HDDs and 1st party and authorized 3rd party peripherals, MS can afford a huge marketing budget. This doesn't deny that erasing that gap reduction cost MS quite a hefty sum. But just like Sony, also MS will benefit from keeping the brand name healthy and strong (in Sony case, making it healthy and strong again) as next gen approaches. It's an investment not just for the short term.

Yeah I'm sure the biggest amount goes to the Holiday season seeing as all three companies spend absurd amounts on advertising during the Holiday season.

Still waiting on those next week sales figures, it's already December 30.

PS3 lost the year?