14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has outed the usual response to the figures released by the NPD Group for software and hardware sales for September in North America. The company is obviously happy to talk about the impressive numbers posted by Halo 3: ODST, developed by Bungie, managing to sell more than 1.5 million copies even though it is not starring Master Chief, the main character of the series.
The Xbox 360 gaming console was also home for five of the top ten videogames in the chart, as opposed to the PlayStation 3, which only hosted three of them.
The Redmond-based company is saying that since Halo 3: ODST was released, more than five million unique players have signed in for the single player element or to enjoy the Halo 3 multiplayer component, with complete map packs, offered on the second disk in the game box. Players have raked up more than 116 million hours of play time.
Microsoft has also stated that the Xbox 360 version of Batman: Arkham Asylum, the Warner Bros. published and Rocksteady developed action adventure title, would have come in at number ten in the videogame charts if handheld releases were to be excluded. Still, it must be hard to see the PlayStation 3 version of the title selling better, at number eight in the chart. The software giant pointed out that third-party titles for the Xbox 360 generated 154 million dollars in sales, better than on the PS3 or the Wii.
Of course, Microsoft is less than happy to talk about the actual performance of the Xbox 360 in the NPD Group numbers. The PlayStation 3 managed to outsell it pretty heavily, proving that not only the price of the hardware matters but that a new version, like the new Slim for the PS3, has a big attraction power for gamers.