In November, Xbox 360 & Wii succeed, PS3 struggles

A strong Black Friday helped November game sales increase 8 percent, which is the best November ever recorded, though overall 2010 sales still could be disappointing.

The Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii game consoles saw a resurgence in November, while the Sony PlayStation 3 saw a year-on-year sales drop.

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During the month, holiday shopping racked up a $2.99 billion tally -- $30 million better than Nov. 2008, the previous best Nov. on record -- with the Xbox 360 seeing a 68 percent year-on-year sales increase (to 1.374 million units).

The Wii saw a 1 percent year-on-year rise up to 1.27 Wii units in November. The PS3 sold only 530,000 units last month, which was a 25 percent sales drop compared to Nov. 2009.

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Nintendo's decision not to slash prices clearly hasn't hurt the company, and a price cut isn't likely any time soon.

The NPD Group compiled the statistics as Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony continue marketing their products towards consumers less interested in making big purchases.

The Kinect helped increase interest in the Xbox 360 through November, with the intentionally open USB connection and a few open source drivers and hacks made available by 3rd parties.

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Sony will need to figure out how to convince more shoppers to purchase a PS3 along with a Move, which didn't quite happen in November.

Even though there were a few select blockbuster game titles in 2010, consumers in a sluggish economy weren't anxious to spend money. The release of the Kinect and PS3 Move helped draw new attention towards the end of 2010, and console makers should continue to ride the PR wave into 2011.

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