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The MSN article offers no concrete sales numbers for the past week's North American next-gen console battle, only stating that "retailers and analysts across North America confirm that the hottest selling gaming console this past weekend was the Xbox 360."

Despite high demand both Sony and Nintendo failed to supply enough consoles to satisfy hungry gamers, leaving MS to bask in the glory of being the only system in the shops - oh, and that game Gears of War probably had something to do with the bumped-up 360 sales as well.

The console is looking to do even better numbers in Europe, where Sony's delay of the PS3 to March 2007 makes the 360 the only high-end next-gen console in shops this Christmas.
"Retailers had a great four-day run and pretty much everything is gone. Sony dropped the ball and Nintendo didn't do that much better," MSN quotes one Canadian retailer as saying. "They over-promised and under delivered in terms of the quantity of Wii systems that were available. Sony on the other hand warned everyone that supplies would be severely limited. Microsoft was the big winner. They had lots of systems and they had them priced right with game bundles that gamers were interested in."

Sony and Nintendo are yet to release official sales numbers for their launch weeks, although both consoles are widely reported to be sold out across North America.

So the Xbox 360 looks to be the big winner this Christmas, but while the Microsoft-owned MSN might be ready to claim the next-gen console war over, we think we'll wait for PlayStation 3 and Wii to be readily available in stores before we hoist the green MS flag.