Slorg is rather right, in a way.

X360 sales from April to July were pretty bad. 35,000/wk was an average cume for a few weeks, and well under 50k for awhile.

Fast forward to today, and the last time the X360 saw under 70,000k/wk was when just before the pricecut.

I think the X360 has seen such a solid boost for 3 reasons:

#1. Unreliability stigma has reduced itself (due to 3yr warranty, falcon, other h/w improvements).

#2. Price cut (meager, but meaningful)
#3. Major-title releases (best Madden, Bioshock, 2 JRPGs, Halo, Orange Box, ect).

Remember those of us that said once a price-drop happened, that sales would be very strong, as the major lull this year was due to price, not software or hardware? Well, we were right by quite a bit. One only has to look at what the PS3 pricedrop did: very little. We're 3 months into the PS3 pricedrop, and sales are still real bad.


So IMO, with the bundles, contuning strong exclusive lineup, and strong Multi-plat (not involving the Wii) lineup, the X360 can continue momentum. About the A, B and C catagories: the answer is "all the above". Some people wanted it before, during and after Halomainia. In addition, I do believe more and more non-Xbox purchasers are attaching to the X360 (a coworker of mine just bought a Xbox 360, Halo Edition. He's never owned an MS console before, and was a major Sony buyer). Obviously antecdotal, but nevertheless: major-brand IPs have fared very strong on the Xbox 360, showing it's the heir to the PS2, not the Wii.

Therefore, I think the X360 will see continued momentum through the rest of the year. Some are arguing that "the Xbox 360 is doing only medicore: just look! it barely outsold the Wii in the US/Can in September!" - forgetting the fact that no MS console has ever sold more than 500,000 units in any month at any given time outside of the Holidays - heck, September NPD beat out the X360's November 2006 NPD! That's huge!


So with all this, I beg to ask the question: how well can the X360 do when Grand Theft Auto hits (among the other major X360 IPs), and we're looking ANOTHER pricecut?

IMO, and this wil sound like fanboyism, but I do think that once GTAIV and another pricedrop hit, with more great software to follow, the X360>Wii trend in the US might become normal. Remember: even when VGC has over-tracked X360 sales in the US, it never strayed from the X360:Wii margins. They've usually been rather close. And if the X360 does infact lead the Wii in the US/Can in October, this will show where momentum is heading into Nov/Dec. Yes, the Wii has SMG, but if the X360 pulls a coup in Oct too, we're looking at a very close race in the US. And because of that, if the Wii does infact lack major software, save Kart and Brawl next year, it could lose out on sales to the X360 next year.

I have to congratulate Microsoft on one thing - doing a small price drop instead of going for the standard $100. I really thought they'd have to do a bigger cut, but now it's pretty much proven that it was enough. The difference will be visible in their financial report tomorrow.

Possibly.  I have Mario Galaxy reserved and I can't find a Wii to save my life!  If Nintendo doesn't make their Wii more available, who knows, they may lose in America.

I believe the 360 has turned the corner but I'm not sure what the numbers where the numbers will settle. Microsoft was smart to release Halo 3 in late September as opposed to late November. This will essentially extend there holiday spike. I know some people think they're expending their holiday sales right now but those people don't understand what those holiday sales come from. During the holidays is when the most casuals and non-gamers (parents, relatives) buy games & consoles. The 360 has positioned itself as a great console as well as a fit alternative to the other 2 consoles. On top of that they already have a stellar line-up. I commend them on a job well done so far. Let's see what their strategy is for 08'.