NPD: Breakthrough year for 360

Platform holder Microsoft has hailed what it describes as a breakthrough year” for Xbox 360 in North America through 2009.

$4.8bn was spent on Xbox 360 hardware throughout the year with $1.1bn spent coming from December’s sales. Software sales value for the year hit $2.7m.

Microsoft went on to claim that Xbox 360 will see blockbuster-exclusives” released nearly every month for the first half of this year, with Mass Effect kicking things off at the end of the month.

A holiday 2010 release date was also confirmed for Lionhead’s hugely-ambitious Fable III.