The Ol' PlayStation 3 Is Really Beginning To Flex Its Muscles Now.

While Kinect's success is constantly being rammed down our throats by the American press, we're just not seeing the same story in Britain. Has Kinect flopped? Absolutely not. It's doing fine. But there's no buzz around it like there seems to be in North America. If we had to guess, we'd say Move and Kinect numbers are roughly comparable in the UK.

Why is it important? Well, because Kinect is seen by many as the last tower of resistance with which Microsoft can hold their lead over PlayStation 3. Ever since launch, Sony's global PlayStation dominance has been clawing back on Microsoft's North American advantage, and it really does look like the defence line is about to give.

Speaking at their Q3 financials, Sony's just announced that they sold 6.3 million PS3s in the last quarter. The number is down by 0.2 million over last year. But it puts global PlayStation 3 sales at 47.9 million, just 2.1 million behind the XBOX 360 and closing. Unless something spectacular happens, we imagine PlayStation 3 will have overtaken the XBOX 360 this time next year.

PSP had a surprisingly strong quarter too, shifting 3.6 million units. Meanwhile the PlayStation 2 stayed consistent, moving 2.1 million units — the same as last year.

Software was the big success story for Sony though. 57.6 million PS3 games were shifted in the quarter, almost double that of last year. Amazingly PSP software grew too, while PS2 continues to drop off.

All in all, Sony's  Networked Products and Services division — which houses PlayStation among other businesses — extended Q3 profit from ¥19.5 billion to ¥45.7 billion year over year. All in all good news for Sony then.

There's more through here.