Video Games

Monthly console sales numbers – like the weekly movie-box-office totals – used to be a relatively obscure statistic.

Not anymore.Sometime during the PS2/Xbox/GameCube era, the more devoted gamers began tracking these reports, using the numbers as ammunition in their "My console can beat up your console" tantrums with other players who had devoted their souls to competing hardware.

In the last year or so, the console makers themselves have woken up to the fact that these monthly report cards have become huge topics of debate in the gamer community, both for the fanboys and the more serious analysts of industry trends.

So now, Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft all issue press releases devoted to the monthly surveys, either attempting to spin any bit of encouraging data (Sony and Microsoft) or gloat over commanding leads over their competitors (Nintendo).

For months now, Nintendo's reign at the top of the rankings with the Wii and DS has been untouchable, with the real action the race for second place between Sony and Microsoft.

While Microsoft regularly beat the stuffing out of the PS3, the PS3 has leapfrogged the Xbox 360 in the last couple of months.

Of course, while Sony is declaring victory, Microsoft is scrambling to blame the slippage on a temporary shortage of Xbox 360 consoles.

In some ways, these numbers are irrelevant to most gamers.

The PS3 outsold the Xbox 360 by 26,200 units in February! Pass me the smelling salts!

But there are some important trends to be noted here.

For example, the fact that Microsoft was concerned enough about falling behind the PS3 to issue a pre-emptive press release suggests that this is really unnerving to Microsoft.

How does Microsoft overtake the PS3 again?

The quickest way to boost sales is a price cut, and a lot of people are expecting just that for the Xbox 360 in the next month or so, so prospective 360 buyers might want to wait a little longer.

Another interesting fact is that the ancient PS2 continues to sell so well, suggesting that, despite all the success of the Wii, the PlayStation 2 will probably go down as the most popular game console ever built.

The U.S. Army is bringing its Virtual Army Experience – based on the popular computer game America's Army – to Six Flags Over Texas from Sunday through March 22.

Participants will also be able to play America's Army against actual U.S. soldiers and meet Silver Star winner Sgt. Tommy Rieman.

For more information, go to vae.americasarmy.com/.

Victor Godinez covers technology for The Dallas Morning News. Read more of his video-game coverage at punchbutton.beloblog .com.

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