Just saying it has great games or xbox live is so great doesn't explain why in america it does good but not in other countries, games get released in other countries and have xbox live also in other countries.

One point that was stated and is clear is that xbox (microsoft) is an american company and most games are targeted for western audiences. Same can be said for wii and ps3 in japan and why xbox does poor there.

Came out earlier so people bought it before Wii/PS3. Then they had their friends play it, they bought one, continued around like that.. now a bunch of people have a 360 in N.A so other friends want to get a system to play them online. Which they can't with another system (obv) so they have to get a 360. My guess is majority rules.

I don't think that happened in Europe since nearly everyone has a PS2 and had no reason to get a 360.

Interesting question. It's not just marketing, XboxLive, or the price tag, I think the Xbox brand and Halomania also tap into a disturbing layer of rah-rah imperial ideology.

People from outside the US may not realize just how unglued this society has become. We have a manufacturing base near death, the world's most bloated military ($800 billion/year), the world's trashiest media (which sold us the bogus Clash of Civilizations and War on Terror), the world's most corrupt political class (beholden to $3.5 billion of donations per electoral cycle), crumbling infrastructure (because all our money goes to war), a crumbling health care system (we're 42nd in the world in life expectancy, 36th in infant mortality), a crumbling basic educational system (have I mentioned the endless war thing?), and China/Japan/the EU are financing our vast current account deficit.

This isn't to bash America. I'm an American and deeply love my country, but my country is being slowly dragged under by its Empire, just like the Soviet Union before us.

I think buying an Xbox is weirdly comforting for certain American consumers. An unconscious wish-fulfillment that we're still number one. This was basically the subtext of Halo 3 - the Earth may be a heap of rubble, but the superior firepower of our cybernetic space marines will save the day.

I don't know why people assume Americans love Microsoft.  Most of the tech savy folks I know absolutely hate Microsoft.  If I had the choice of Sony getting my money or Microsoft, Sony would win every time.  The only way I'd ever consider buying an Xbox 360 is if it was well made (which it ain't) and if the Playstation was way overpriced or lacked content (which it is and does). 

I have an HD TV, but don't like the HD console choices.   I guess I'll wait until next gen to get some games with high resolution graphics.  

You could take that further and say that Europe is less apt to buy an American XBox because they are against America's foriegn policy. Maybe when Bush is out and we finally get a decent president the world will start to respect us more.

Even if you don't like Microsoft, the fact that buying a domestic product helps the economy and hence helps yourself is in the back of people's heads and thus is a partial reason why XBox is so popular in America.  The same can be said to every other country in the world, some to more extent than others however.

 
Same with me. of course, some of them are the kind of people who would play D&D, but still...

 so long as Hillary doesn't get in, I'm fine. I strongly disagree with her views.

The 360 came out a year earlier, so the hard-core gamers who are early adopters went that way.

The FPS games -- esp. Halo -- are favored by the core demo -- the male 15-34 who buy the Xbox. They also play Madden (American football game, which ran much better on the 360 than the PS3 this year).

The on-line service is very popular and works well with the types of games that 360 players like.

There is also more breadth to the 360 lineup, both because of it being out a year earlier and because XBLA offers casual games.

Sony's online, while free, is fledgling. Also, there really isn't anything currently available that does not have a substitue on the 360. (Substitute in the sense of the word as it is used in economics). MGS4 and GT5 could change that ... though some would argue that Forza is the 360's Gran Turismo. (I would add FF13, but that probably won't be out this year).

Another unique entry will be Little Big Planet. But will it work and will it appeal to PS3 buyers? And when will it come out? (Personally, like the 360's Pinata series, it would seem to me that such an effort would fare better with the Wii audience).

But to get back to the question -- head start and games -- the reasons many people have given.

The console makers are all international conglomerates with manufacturing in China. So it really does not matter if it is Microsoft or Sony or Nintendo. And to be honest, most people in the US probably have heard of Sony and maybe even Nintendo before they heard of Microsoft. (Sony has been making TV and electronics for decades. The NES came out in 1985. But no one in the mainstream really paid attention to Microsoft until Windows in the late 1980s. And yes, I am aware that the company had been around for almost a decade at that point). So I don't buy the "Buy American" arguement to any great extent.

Mike from Morgantown

 No chance.   Other then like 40 year old union workers and their familiys noone buys american because it's Amerian.

 Shouldn't you be asking why Europeans prefer the PS3 to 360?

 The 360 has been out a year longer, has a much better library and is cheaper. On the downside they break all the time, it doesn't have a BluRay player and it lacks the Sony brand Name. For America most people don't seem to realize how easily they break until after purchase, most people don't care about BluRay and Microsoft is just as good a brand name as Sony.