......And now Microsoft just needs E-centric and J-centric games.

MS has Mistwaker to woo Japan.
Will Lionhead, or another developer step up and produce some strong European content?

Actually, according to a link in the NPD september thread on this site Gears of War only sold 45k last month and Oblivion only sold 40k, so those titles really didn't seem to have gone up that much if any. Eternal Sonata was at 38k according to the same numbers, so no really big influence there either. Of course people might have multiple games that they want to play when buying a platform, but I don't mind giving Halo 3 credit where it is due. Cause even if they want more games, Halo 3 was the actual trigger for them to go to a shop and purchase the console. Based on August sales Xbox 360 would have probably sold in the 225-300k range if Halo 3 hadn't been released. (August was supported by Madden 08 and Bioshock as well as the pricecut, so I would expect the weekly sales to go down without Halo 3.) With no other really major released that would mean Halo 3 was responsible for an extra 200-300k XBox 360 sold. 

Wow, a subdued stickball and kn and what's more surprising I generally agree with both for a change.

Hey, when I get lumped in with Mr. Stick, I'm (as the Jeffersons would say) Movin' on Up!

Halo 3 sold exactly 0 systems, because everyone who wanted it already owned a 360. The increase in console sales is merely coincidental.

I think Gears of Gods and King_of_the_castle are on two completely opposite ends of the crazy meter...but both crazy nevertheless =P

Anyways, my answer to the topic would be that it sold less than I think MS was hoping for but it still did quite well. I am very interested to see how the current trend develops as we move into the holidays.

Or maybe it sold a negative number of systems?

Sqrl: I think you missed the sarcasm / dry humor. 

It was obvious that Halo 3 wont be a console seller like FFVII was for the PSone ... most H3 sales numbers are made by people whom allready bought a 360 :?

Bottom line is; even with the "Halo boost", which is by far the most anticipated title slated for 360, sales are far from good enough to reclaim first place or stay significantly ahead of PS3.
I wonder how the 360 will do next year, when their ultimate game year had such a small impact overall?
Then again, MP3 did little to improve Ninty sales as well (not that it's needed at the time...).

Mummel - but with VGC information out now, the X360, 3 weeks after Halo 3's launch, is still 35,000 units/wk ahead of Wii. That's a pretty major shift, considering at one point the Wii was beating it 2.5:1.

Sales are indeed far from good enough to reclaim #1, but at the same time, sales are FAR better than they ever have been too. The biggest question that can't be solved is October. If the X360 did indeed trend with -5% drops the whole 4 weeks, that'd still keep the X360 ahead of the Wii (unless the Wii starts trending ahead quite a bit). If that actually stays similar for awhile.....November and December could be very, very interesting.