Microsoft have found their ever-blowing trumpet once again (and here I thought I hid it) to toot their own horn about the life of the Xbox 360 in Australia throughout 2008. According to their supplied information, the Xbox 360 enjoyed an 88% growth in Xbox Live usage in Australia in 2008 and that we Aussie gamers accrued 4.2 million downloads while spending 27 million hours on the service. Big noting themselves or not, those are impressive stats.

Other dot-point factors about Microsoft, you and 2008 include:

• 500,000 Xbox 360 consoles and 4 million Xbox 360 games sold at retail in Australia to date
• More than 50 per cent of Aussie Xbox 360 owners are connected to Xbox LIVE
• Australian Xbox LIVE membership increased by 88 per cent on 2007
• There are over 17 million members on Xbox LIVE worldwide
• Australians made 4.2 million downloads from Xbox LIVE in 2008
• Aussies spent over 27 million hours on Xbox LIVE in 2008
• Xbox 360 owners have an average of nearly 8 games for their console
• 63 per cent of the 500 games available for Xbox 360 are rated G or PG
• 46 per cent of Australian gamers are female**

Kimberley Francis, Xbox Marketing Director said, "We expect people to continue to stay at home more in tough times. People seem to be pulling back on some luxuries but spending more on goods that make the home a more enjoyable place. Australians really get the online component that sets the Xbox console apart and enables a richer, more connected experience."

There's still a lot of ground to cover this year, and with their revamped online service, Microsoft just may top 08's impressive figures. Of course, these figures are yet to be stood up to by Microsoft's competitors, so we'll stay tuned until the inevitable rebuttal from Sony and Nintendo.

**?

I also would love to know what the ** means, because I find that statistic highly intriguing!

I think it's code for "claim to be"

Probably just accounts with female avatars!

** not counting traps

I find this story subject pretty confusing, to me it says the 360 outsold its competitors in games and/or hardware in Australia. But there's nothing in the story that compares it to another console.

In fact there doesnt seem to be any comparison at all - the sole data point thats not 360 in 2008 is the bogus Xbox Live membership statistic.

A bunch of numbers by themselves doesnt tell anyone anything, and certainly doesnt make 2008 the year of the 360 - from the contextless information presented in this article, I could just as easily claim that the 360 is dead in Australia.

One thing i could tell from the above post: ps3 fanboi ^

Fanboys are f***ing stupid, regardless of what system it's for. Interesting stats, but I would like to see how it compares to Wii and PS3.

cmon steve what does the ** mean? can you link original source plz?

He's AFK for the rest of the day; I'll direct his attention here when he returns

I own a 360. My main point is this article seems too much like PR regurgitation.

Looks like the ** comes from this story

wow... thanks trog.

I own a 360. My main point is this article seems too much like PR regurgitation.

Killzone 2 has been a long time in the making, and best showcases why PlayStation 3 is the only console powerful enough to deliver a ground-breaking title of this nature.

http://www.videogaming247.com/2009/01/19/sony-says-ps3-only-console-powerful-enough-for-killzone-2-as-opm-uk-announces-first-official-review/

..??

Both M$ , Nintendo and PS all do that sort of tactic and do the whole "YEAR OF THE XXXX"

Maybe they should spend their time developing and in M$ case bugfixing "Everything" than talking s***

hyperslide is the biggest playstation fanboy EVER.

Wow... I'm working through that article now, and it seems like a really s*** research paper. I can't seem to find a definition of a "gamer" - just that "games" include online flash games, and "card" games (which women prefer). Am I reading this wrong?

The majority of installed game devices are consoles (43%), followed by PCs (39%) and handhelds (18%); however, point of sale data shows that handhelds dominated sales of new devices in 2007-2008. 90% of game households have PCs and these are used by most gamers.

Don't the first and last sentences contradict each other?!??!

Wow... I'm working through that article now, and it seems like a really s*** research paper. I can't seem to find a definition of a "gamer" - just that "games" include online flash games, and "card" games (which women prefer). Am I reading this wrong?

The majority of installed game devices are consoles (43%), followed by PCs (39%) and handhelds (18%); however, point of sale data shows that handhelds dominated sales of new devices in 2007-2008. 90% of game households have PCs and these are used by most gamers.

Don't the first and last sentences contradict each other?!??!

This depends entirely on their definition of 'installed game device' - they could well mean that gaming households have pcs for reasons other than gaming, but use it for gaming also? Regardless, anything like this researched purely for the media purposes is also going to be dodgy and not make sense to anyone with any knowledge about research. It's designed to be able to be interpreted however they want. /end rant.

I own a 360. My main point is this article seems too much like PR regurgitation.

Killzone 2 has been a long time in the making, and best showcases why PlayStation 3 is the only console powerful enough to deliver a ground-breaking title of this nature.

http://www.videogaming247.com/2009/01/19/sony-says-ps3-only-console-powerful-enough-for-killzone-2-as-opm-uk-announces-first-official-review/

..??

We already know you're a massive 360 fanboy, but proving that other companies also do it does not in any way rebut the point he is making about this article.

Wow... I'm working through that article now, and it seems like a really s*** research paper. I can't seem to find a definition of a "gamer" - just that "games" include online flash games, and "card" games (which women prefer). Am I reading this wrong?

Does it include pokies? Cause thats the only way it could possibly mean that 51% of over 65s are gamers.

test

Both M$ , Nintendo and PS all do that sort of tactic and do the whole "YEAR OF THE XXXX"

Sure, but that doesnt need we need to repeat it here on Ausgamers without analysing if there's merit to such statements.