Microsoft has sold more than 30m Xbox 360s, the company announced last night.

That's more than the number of PlayStation 3s Sony has shipped to date, but less than the number of Nintendo Wiis out in folks' homes: around 22m and 50m, respectively. Bear in mind that Microsoft had year's sales lead on both of these consoles.

Microsoft has always insisted its totals don't include replacement machines sent out after Red Ring of Death console malfunctions.

That problem does appear to be behind the company. Figures from market watcher NPD cited by Microsoft showed Xbox 360 hardware sales so far in 2009 were up 28 per cent on the same period in 2008, the company said. ®

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