According to research firm, NPD Group, Sony have sold 490,700 consoles in the month of December. If we add to this the sales figures for the month of November then we can reveal that Sony have sold approximately 687,700 consoles since launch. Over the Christmas period Sony managed to achieve their shipment target of 1 million consoles to North America, but analysts claim that some of those consoles may have not reached the stores in time for the end of the year.

NPD said Microsoft Corp. sold 1.1 million of its competing Xbox 360 console in December, while Nintendo Co. sold 604,200 units of its new console, the Wii (which also suffered with shipment problems).

''Xbox 360 is now poised to really take advantage of its lead in this generation's race, provided they (and third-party supporters) keep bringing the games to market that keep consumers wanting to play on that system,'' said Analyst Anita Frasier

The PS3 is due for release in the UK in March.

Source : Associated Press