Xbox Marks The Spot, But Wii Makes The Money

The Redmond, Wash.-based company also said it estimates a 25 percent increase over Xbox 360 Black Friday sales figures from 2007.

Although the numbers sound impressive, there's a story behind the story.

According to Forbes, Macquarie Securities analyst David Gibson estimates that each Wii provides $6 of operating profit for Nintendo. That seems like a paltry amount, but Microsoft just breaks even on each Xbox 360 unit sold, and Sony actually loses money on every PlayStation 3 sold, he said.

Microsoft is reveling in recent Xbox 360 sales, saying that it has climbed worldwide since a price cut in September, outselling the PlayStation 3 week-over-week across Europe. The company also said that console sales in Europe are up as much as 400 percent, with sales nearly double year-over-year and reaching 7 million consoles sold this generation.

Certain game titles have also spurred software sales, the company said, such as "Gears of War 2," "Fable II," and "Lips." In addition, Microsoft said that the Xbox 360 continues to have the highest game attach-rate of any console at 8.1 games per console.