In advance of next week's E3 gaming conference, Microsoft on Friday released some new Xbox 360 stats, and it appears that buyers are still snapping up the popular gaming console.
Since November 2005, Microsoft has sold 55 million Xbox 360s, and "sales are accelerating," Larry Hyrb, the director of programming for Xbox Live, said in a blog post.
With Microsoft touting its Xbox 360 successes, it's increasingly unlikely that we'll see Redmond unveil a new Xbox at E3. Fans might want one, but the company doesn't really need one to help boost numbers at this point. During its last earnings report, Microsoft reported a strong increase in profits and healthy growth in revenue, driven in large part by Kinect for Xbox 360 and strong sales of Xbox and Xbox Live.
According to Hyrb, Xbox 360 maintains its lead in the U.S. as the top selling console in 2011 in 10 of the past eleven months. Xbox 360 also saw a 29 percent year-over-year increase in sales during the first four months of 2011, which Hyrb said was triple the growth of the PlayStation 3. In April, Sony announced that PS3 sales reached 50 million units sold worldwide.
Reports of a next-generation Xbox 360 first surfaced earlier this year after Microsoft posted a job listing for a "graphics hardware architect" to oversee "next generation console architectures from conception through implementation." But few were confident that the revamped Xbox would make its debut at E3.
Microsoft is still holding a press event at E3, which will be streamed live online and aired on Spike TV at 12:30pm Eastern on Monday. The company will also appear at an E3 keynote at 5:30pm Eastern the same day. Hyrb provided few details about what Microsoft might unveil, but PCMag will be there to cover whatever Microsoft has up its sleeve.
For hardware, however, all eyes will be on Nintendo, which is expected to unveil a new version of its Wii console. PCMag will be live-blogging the company's press conference, which begins at noon on Tuesday, so check back for all the news.
Until then, see PCMag's What to Expect at E3 2011.