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Well, to put it bluntly, Halo 3 did something I was doubtful it could do: It had a huge effect on Xbox 360 Sales. AKA: Wow! For the first time since I started keeping track of these numbers, the Xbox 360 was the number one - selling console according to NPD. Numbers below:

Xbox 360: 527,800 Units
Wii: 501,000 Units
PS2: 215,000 Units
PS3: 119,400 Units

So even for being in second place, the Wii had a hell of a month, increasing their numbers from Sept. by almost 100K units. However, that's nothing like the month the Xbox 360 had. Personally, I think the entire Xbox team, and everyone associated with it at Microsoft should be kissing the asses of the Halo 3 team until they're soda-cracker white. That's pretty astounding that one game could do that.

Percentage of change from August:

Xbox 360: Up almost 91% Daaaaaaaaamn
Wii: Up close to 24%
PS2: Up by 6%
PS3: Down by around 9%

So really, the only loser here was the PS3. However, even taking the PS3's drop into account, there doesn't appear to be any cannibalization to account for the increased sales of the other three consoles. The 360's increase is far out of line compared to the PS3's decrease for there to be a direct correlation there, and there's no way you can say the 360 sales hurt the Wii at all. (Who in their right minds cries about a 24% increase even though Wii availability is still constrained?) It was just a hell of a month for everyone but Sony.

Now the real trick will be the next few months leading into the holiday buying season. Was the Xbox 360's increase strictly due to a...er....Halo effect, (dude, how could I AVOID that pun), or is this a sign of renewed sales strength over the long term for the 360?

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Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PS3, Sony PS2, NPD Game Console Sales

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