But it had Kinect this time last year, and the Slim was over 5 months old at this time. I agree with most of what you said, I don't see how it's not impressive to a 'gamers' POV though, or why it matters who it is, rather, judge the sales for what they are.

Not trying to be the buzz kill here but people keep mentioning that the 360 is doing incredible numbers, which it is, but they bring up reasons like "It is doing this without a price cut", "It is doing this without the Kinect launch and is only 19k down YoY", etc...

You need to put this into perspective and understand that while it does not have the buzz from the Kinect launch, it does however have exclusive advertising pretty much World Wide for the years BIGGEST release, custom MW3 console bundles, $100 giftcard promotions pretty much nation wide here in the US, with the $100 Gamestop deal being the week of MW3 and Skyrim launch. Pretty much Gamestop's way of saying "Here, buy an XBox and get the 2 hottest releases on the house".

So yes, the numbers are incredible with the onslaught of big time releases and insane deals, but while it didn't get a $50 cut like the PS3, it sure as hell had $50-$100 promotions for well over a month now.

So if anyone is going to attempt to undermine PS3 sales at all and use the relatively small YoY increase or being flat YoY as a negative needs to keep it real and do the same thing with the 360 sales considering it is like the only console getting huge deals left and right to help shift stock.


Not knocking any specific consoles, just being real here, so nobody get bent out of shape please, lol.

Would I be right in assuming that these MW3 deals cost MS a fair bit of money  and that a higher proportion than usual are sold to people who are already  360 owners ,and Sony spreads theirs out more and  tends to use theirs to promote their exclusives and gets benefit year round where as Ms spends up at the peak buying time to gain ground,  also being the start to the holiday season and MW3 being a blockbuster  is the real impact positive as it is , clouded.

Hardware is actually fairly bad across the board.

Thanks to Nintendo.

X360 is down 12% in November so far globally,

First week had Kinect launch, no surprised, Black Friday will put it up YoY by the end of the month.

after being up in Oct a bit, Nintendo hw is only flat against 2010 in Nov 2011 / Q4 2011 so far, even with a new system selling well,

Yup, Wii down 197k?

Sony hw is down against 2010 both in Nov and for Q4 2011 so far although PS3 is up 5% in Nov to date.

PSP is a dying system with Vita on the way, and PS3 is up

There really isn't much big software for the rest of the month either. Just Zumba 2, Assassin's Creed, Zelda, Marioland 3D, Halo-remake and a bunch of semi-big stuff.

Same as every other year then when we get no new releases after the week before Black Friday?

Bolded: I see an error in your reasoning.

Why don't you list EMEAA numbers for November last year while you're at it, and maybe Japan too?

Dont think the MW3 bundles cost MS much at all. Certainly more profitable than the 250GB Holiday Bundle.  On Newegg you can get 320GB HD for the same price as 250GB HD.  You add in an extra controller and game.  Combined those wont cost MS $100. 

Not trying to be the buzz kill here but people keep mentioning that the 360 is doing incredible numbers, which it is, but they bring up reasons like "It is doing this without a price cut", "It is doing this without the Kinect launch and is only 19k down YoY", etc...

You need to put this into perspective and understand that while it does not have the buzz from the Kinect launch, it does however have exclusive advertising pretty much World Wide for the years BIGGEST release, custom MW3 console bundles, $100 giftcard promotions pretty much nation wide here in the US, with the $100 Gamestop deal being the week of MW3 and Skyrim launch. Pretty much Gamestop's way of saying "Here, buy an XBox and get the 2 hottest releases on the house".

So yes, the numbers are incredible with the onslaught of big time releases and insane deals, but while it didn't get a $50 cut like the PS3, it sure as hell had $50-$100 promotions for well over a month now.

So if anyone is going to attempt to undermine PS3 sales at all and use the relatively small YoY increase or being flat YoY as a negative needs to keep it real and do the same thing with the 360 sales considering it is like the only console getting huge deals left and right to help shift stock.


Not knocking any specific consoles, just being real here, so nobody get bent out of shape please, lol.

Unless MS are marketing wizards (which they might be) then yes the MW3 deals would have cost them money.  Activision has no need to favour MS and would certainly have made them pay for the advertising favouritism while retailers/Activision would almost certainly have got MS to vendor fund bundles.

I suspect a fair number of the MW3 bundles went to existing 360 owners.  Not all but a decent amount.  This is normal for special editions which target existing fans.  Given Sony do this well in Japan I'm always amazed then seem somewhat flumoxed in West about doing the same thing.  But kudos to MS for good targeting of special edition bundles in West.

I think both spend all year round but I do feel there is a situation where Sony spends a bit more all year round and MS focuses more on certain time periods.  Given MS main install base is countries with big seasonal spikes in demand this makes sense whereas Sony at the moment has a more spread install base for PS3 geographically and tends to lean towards more regular advertising to maintain brand visibility.

Overall I think MS advertises better than Sony in the West,particularly in the US, although both do a good job overall I guess.