The first sales figures in the U.K. this year for Kinect, reveal that Microsoft has sold 8 million units worldwide of its new motion-sensing peripheral for Xbox 360 since it launched less than two months ago.

The figure was announced by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at the keynote conference at CES in Las Vegas today, where he also confirmed that the company had broken its initial target of selling 5 million units in the first two months.

"Xbox 360, Xbox Live and Kinect have made 2010 the best in our history," Ballmer told the audience at CES, also revealing that the company has sold 50 million Xbox 360s since launch.

Ballmer also spoke about the new Avatar Kinect service, confirming that Xbox Live users will be able to chat to up to six other users with their avatars in a variety of themed environments. The Kinect camera will recognises your movements and will pick up your facial movements and translate them to your Xbox 360 avatar. A launch date for Avatar Kinect has yet to be confirmed.