Microsoft has topped the charts again.

By holiday's end, an astounding 17.7 million Xbox 360s were sold. Wii however, has surprisingly lagged into second with 13.2 million units and PS3 third with 5.6 million units. Strange that Microsoft is doing so well with the holiday crowd.  Xbox Live has taken a serious blow, impeding Christmas gamers to engage in trashtalk and buddy-buddy camaraderie. The Live blackout has disappointed an estimated 9 million gamers. People experienced account recovery problems, multiplayer shutouts and general disatisfaction. To this day, there are doubts in Live's stability. People still can't log on! Xbox Live Director Larry Hryb has already guaranteed compensation to affected users. "We'll definitely be doing something for our Gold members that weren't able to get online over the last week." Hmm...vague.

It's weird though, Microsoft Corporation couldn't accomodate millions of electro-hungry gamers, during the holidays, a time of year where people can be convinced to throw money at all things with shiny labels. Imagine the consequences of such an incident. But of course, with heavy hitters like Halo 3 and Mass Effect at the frontlines, Xbox can enjoy some security.  And isn't it fortuitous? Halo 3 has 8.1 million in sales, and Mass Effect had an ironic mass effect of 1.6 million. Be sure to look out for Too Human, an Xbox 360 exclusive which involves Midgards, Asgards, cyber robots and some Norse mythology. Prediction? Too Human becomes a fresh addition into overhyped RPG games, where welcomed chaos is blinded by inane story. Yep,  Xbox has some appealing titles. On my part however, I'd look out for the new Burnout Paradise. It seems that the game community has fallen into a global delirium. We've been mind-numbed, then excited, by the repetitive illegality of raw battle racing. Throw in a few demolition boxcars a winding race track and you've got a game. So seriously, what's new for Paradise? Not much! Save for one thing: a mugshot feature which snaps a photo of your opponent's face during collisions. But in the end it's the same sonic penetrating collisions which cause sinful quivers in one's tongue. Ahhh...absolute perfection. Out with 07, the holder of that confounding prime number and in with 2008.

Better games, more games, cheaper games.

Happy New Year.