i dont think this number is great, i think MS really thought they would have sold much much more!!

They might have Halo 4 and Price Drop next Year but they wont beat this year, they will be down and we need a new Generation of Consoles, new Games, New things... serious something new its getting boring.

MS sold more than 3.4m consoles in two months just in US... SALES RECORD... the numbe is HUGE and AMAZING.

Edit - Wait... I just defended the X360??? I hope @Seece and @Kowen don't see that .

i would almost say NPD says the opposite.

1. 9% increase in software sales on the HD consoles suggest people are playing more than ever but..

2. December sales (for like the first time ever) didn't increase over november sales but in fact remained stagnant while a much larger than normal increase into november.  For the US this largely says that consumers are only willing to make a purchase when massive deals are present as they are on black friday.  This means consumers or being very budget savy and that new consoles (which are more expensive) will likely not go over well.

the key isn't the "poor" numbers in december but rather the "great" november numbers followed by a stagnant december.  it's actually very enlighting to the way american's shopping habits have changed since the good 'ole days of 4 years ago.

People are overreacting to the lower than expected numbers.

Ps3 and 360 still had great years irrespective. Even if the numbers are overtracked here.

Also theres no evidence to suggest that ps3 has been heavily overtracked, plus with the recent comments said by Kaz about how sony were on track to meet their forecast of 15 mil ps3's shipped, id say they are doing great.

Similar situation for 360, MS just stated that they are the highest selling console for 2011, and they are YOY up over 2010. How can this possible be a bad thing?

With regards to wii, Nintendo has already placed their focus on the 3ds and and the Wii u.

My point : this doesnt change anything, HD consoles are selling great.

I both agree and disagree ...

When you look at the kind of people who are the most likely to be early adopters, they have owned the systems they will buy this generation for multiple years and most of the games they will buy for these systems over the next few years will be sequels to games they have already played on these systems (possibly multiple times before). Whether they admit it or not, this generation has gotten pretty stale for them; and, while they're probably looking forward to their third Mass Effect game or fourth Modern Warfare game, they would rapidly get drawn into the new experience that might be possible in the next generation.

With that said, this may be one of the most gradual generation transitions in my lifetime because a large portion (possibly the majority) of games for the first few years will likely be released for both generations due to high development costs. Even though the differences between the games on each platform could be pretty dramatic the steady flow of games could keep the platforms viable for years after their successor is released.

hmmm i don't think so next gen will be in 2013 in my opinion,and the sales were not bad at all

Two of the three home consoles are up, both for the year and for the holiday period (Nov-Dec). The one console that's down is getting a successor this year.

I say all is good.