The Xbox 360 sales were 20 percent faster than the original Xbox; 10 million units of Xbox 360 were sold in 30 months, but the original Xbox didn't achieve the same mark until month 36, articulated the recently released official NPD data.

Last week, Don Mattrick, Xbox vice president said, "History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle." Microsoft expects further rise in Xbox 360 sales.

Accepting the Xbox 360 maintains its 20% sales margin over its predecessor, taking into consideration steady global sales, the 360 will go on to sell 28.8 million worldwide units over a four-and-a-half-year life span.

According to NPD analysts, if current sales velocity and history are to be believed, the projected life-to-date sales of Xbox 360 would be a far cry from the 125 million-selling PlayStation 2, which "won" the last generation battle, and the Nintendo Wii, which has sold 24 million units worldwide in only 18 months, this after launching a full year later than Xbox 360.

Nintendo is expected to surpass both native Xbox 360 sales and the 10 million U.S. milestone within the next two months, given that the console sells approximately 500,000 units per month in the States alone. The PS3 version held a rank one behind the Xbox 360 version in a close head-to-head sales match.

Sony last week released the upcoming 2008 to early 2009 game lineup for the PS3, PSP, and PS2. Titles include Resistance 2, SOCOM Confrontation, LittleBigPlanet, Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2, and SIREN: Blood Curse.