Microsoft Triples Xbox 360 Output

Getting hold of a 360 should be much easier now that Microsoft's third manufacturing partner has come online.

You probably don't need reminding that the Xbox 360 has been hard to find in the months since its debut in North America last November, but Microsoft has come with the good news that the production problems are over. Starting this week, the company will have two to three times as many Xbox 360s flowing into stores.

"Today we have turned a major corner," said Microsoft's Peter Moore. "With more consoles on their way to retail, 80 games available by June, and new content and experiences coming to Xbox Live all the time, there has never been a better time to own an Xbox 360."

After dealing with frustrating hardware shortages since November, Microsoft decided to bring in a third production partner. Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer said last week that the company is "sort of" on track to hit its target of 4.5-5 million Xbox 360s sold by June.

The "new content" Moore mentioned will be available through the Xbox Live Marketplace and includes updates to Microsoft's in-house games. Project Gotham Racing 3 is getting new cars and achievements while Perfect Dark Zero owners will find new multiplayer maps. Kameo: Elements of Power will also be boosted through new cooperative gameplay modes and new costumes.

Microsoft also boasted that the Xbox Live Marketplace has hit 10 million downloads.

According to the company's figuring, this impressive feat was managed faster than Apple's iTunes service, though it's worth noting that a lot of Microsoft's content is free. More impressive, perhaps, is that around 85 per cent of connected Xbox 360s have downloaded content from the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games