and seriously, Gears 2 and Halo 3 are not really by first party.

they are third parties at most second party exclusives.

those studios bungie and epic aren't owned by microsoft though they do own the halo IP.

 Bungie was owned by Microsoft when they made Halo 3. Thus it is hard to call it anything but a first party game.

Kameo: Elements of Power
Blue Dragon
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (is still selling well enough)
Lips
N3: Ninety-Nine Nights
Shadowrun
You're in the Movies
Tenchu Z
Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom
VIva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
Viva Pinata: Party Animals
Fuzion Frenzy 2

Lair
Eye of Judgement
Folklore
Genji: Days of the Blade
MLB '09: The Show (will near a million lifetime, not including its ps2 and psp counterparts)
Formula 1: Championship Racing
The NBA Series

The above titles are those released by Sony and Microsoft on either platform that are at ~500k or lower.  Many of these titles have not made a profit, and may never will.  I only included titles released in at least two regions, and I did not include various spin-offs (like Scene It!, SingStar and Buzz! expansions).  I also did not include either Too Human, sitting at 508k, or Warhawk, which sits at 500k not including downloads.

My point is that yes, Microsoft has a few really big sellers, because when they choose to market something, they can market that something extremely well.   Halo 3 and FFVII are the two most heavily marketed video games ever.

But when you look at the other end of the spectrum, you'll see that Microsoft has quite a few duds on its hands, projects that probably forced them to lose a good bit of money.  Sony's titles, in comparison, generally sell moderately well across the board.  I don't see how that's a bad thing.  And once Gran Turismo 5 hits, the scale will be evened out a good bit.

This is probably why Microsoft has been downsizing their studios over the past couple of years.  They want to focus on the few really big IPs they have. Just look at FASA Studios, who were closed because of their only bomb, Shadowrun.

Of course, this theory still doesn't explain Ensemble's closure.

Ehm, Microsoft didn't make Gears or Gears 2, and Sony didn't make Heavenly Sword or LBP.  They published the games, but not made, so the list is more like my edit.

^ you can tak out R1/2 since insomniac made em... but sony at least owns the IPs

So your saying Sony needs saving and can't do it themselves? Didn't they outsell MS for 36 weeks in a row last year and have a punchers shot at doing it again. Also didn't MS get rid of all their studios?

I did not realize MS published KoF:CoD or Tenchu Z.  Weird.  Isn't there a Ninety-Nine Nights sequel in the works?  And I think a group of hobos created You're in the Movies so that couldn't have lost much money.

LOL

And yeah, a few of those have probably made or will make a profit, like Banjo, You're in the movies, Lips, MLB '09, and Eye of Judgement.

Though Banjo was only $40 from the start, so it might have awhile more to go.  It'll at least break 750k lifetime, I think, but they still won't be making as much off the top as they do on other titles.  Who knows how much the game cost to make.

threads not done?

Yes, because I never saw any X360 bundled with Halo 3...