The head of Sony Consumer Electronics Europe, David Reeves, has stated, at the PlayStation Day Europe event, that the PlayStation 3 has outsold the Microsoft Xbox 360 if one was to compare total numbers since the consoles launched on the European market. The PS3 from Sony just went over the 5 million sales mark.

Reeves declared "I am delighted to be able announce today that we have sold more PlayStation 3s throughout Europe than Xbox 360 - even though they launched sixteen months before PS3", before adding that "We are particularly proud of this as it has been achieved in a similar time frame as PlayStation 2 which retailed, if you remember, at a significantly lower price".

Other numbers mentioned are: 12 million PlayStation Portable handhelds sold in Europe; 48 million PS2 gaming consoles sold in Europe; 3.2 million accounts on Sony's PlayStation Network; 57 million items players downloaded from the PlayStation Store; 10.5 million PlayStation 3 systems sold in the entire world; 127 million PlayStation 2 consoles sold in the world; 34 million PSP units shipped worldwide.

The Sony boss was happy to point out that even if Microsoft slashed the price of the Xbox 360 its sales never went over those of the PS3. He was less happy though to admit to the fact that the Nintendo Wii is shipping many more units that the PS3. In fact, he never once seems to have mentioned the Nintendo console.

He praised the PS3 as being "the ultimate gaming system" and added that the combination of extraordinary games that are coming out in 2008 and unrivaled computing power from the gaming consoles will continue to push the PlayStation 3 to better sales.

The next important moment in the so-called "console war" is soon approaching, as the people from Microsoft start playing up the rise in Xbox sales as a result of the GTA IV launch. So far, the actual figures are limited, as it's only been a week since the launch, but expect more Microsoft bragging soon.