Microsoft touts Xbox sales but laments online woes

Microsoft Corp sold 4.3 million Xbox 360 video game consoles in the last three months of last year, helped by hit titles such as Halo 3 and Mass Effect, according to company data.

But the software giant said it was disappointed with problems that plagued its online gaming service for days, and offered a free downloadable game to more than eight million worldwide users of the network.

A total of 17.7 million Xbox 360s had been sold worldwide since it first went on sale in late 2005, Microsoft said. Earlier sales data from the software giant showed 13.4 million consoles sold by end-September.

"Holiday 2007 was a blockbuster season for the gaming industry," the company said, adding the Xbox 360 kept its lead over rivals in terms of total dollars spent on hardware and software.

Microsoft competes against Nintendo Co Ltd's wildly popular Wii and Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 consoles for dominance in a global video game industry thought to be worth around $40 billion in revenue in 2007.

Nintendo and Sony have not released holiday sales figures for their machines, but by end-September, about 13.2 million Wiis and 5.6 million PS3s had been sold globally.

Microsoft has counted on its Xbox Live online service to set its console apart from rivals. The service lets users download hundreds of games, as well as television shows and movie rentals.

But gaming websites and forums have been filled in recent days with complaints from users frustrated by not being able to sign on to the service or play online.