Six Million Xbox 360s Worldwide

Microsoft announced on Thursday that total worldwide sales of the Xbox 360 system have cleared six million units since its launch last year.

Following Wednesday's announcement that the Xbox 360 is Austrailia's fastest selling console, and news earlier this month that Japanese sales of the console have improved with anticipation over Mistwalker's upcoming Blue Dragon, the six million sales mark represents a significant headstart against the Sony Playstation 3 which is to be released in November.

According to Reuters, Microsoft has also announced that its entertainment and devices division that includes the Xbox business trimmed its first-quarter loss to $96 million from $173 million a year earlier. Microsoft's Kevin Turner said in an interview earlier this month that the company is commited to its games division for the long-haul and expects to continue operating at a loss for the forseeable future.

The press release from Microsoft, which included the relative good news for its games division, indicated that the company as a whole enjoyed first quarter revenue of $10.81 billion for the period ended September 30, 2006, an 11% increase over the same quarter of the prior year.