Los Angeles - Citing early internal retail sales data, Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) says it has now sold 28 million Xbox 360 video game consoles worldwide compared to 20 million Sony (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3s, while for its part Sony says that PlayStation 3 sales were up 130% during the holiday shopping season, CNET News.com reported.

Microsoft's director of product management for Xbox 360, Aaron Greenberg, also told CNET that Xbox Live online game service subscribers grew from 14 million at the end of October to 17 million by the end of the year.

Sony believes its late-year boost will continue in 2009.

"Early internal data points to an increase of more than 130 percent of PS3 hardware sales for the holiday season -- since Black Friday -- and we're also seeing a growth of nearly 40 percent in total PS3 hardware sales for the calendar year. We remain confident this momentum will continue into the new year," Ian Jackson, VP of sales at Sony Computer Entertainment America, told News.com.

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