We are all very aware that right now is not the best of economic situations. As families start to tighten their fiscal belts, you would think that purchasing a video game console would be furthest from their mind, right? Wrong!

The LA Times are reporting that Microsoft has now shipped over 28 million Xbox 360 consoles, further stretching out their sales lead over the PlayStation 3, despite the failing economic situation. Sony was at one point trailing Microsoft by over 5 million consoles, so how deep is their deficit now?

Microsoft said today that it had sold more than 28 million Xbox 360s since introducing the game console in November 2005. That compares with more than 20 million PlayStation 3 consoles sold by Sony since it debuted the device in November 2006, according to Microsoft executives.

"We're widening our lead against PlayStation 3," said Aaron Greenberg, director of product management for the Xbox, who noted that going into the fourth quarter, Microsoft's lead had been 5 million consoles. "This was the best year in the history of the Xbox, despite the tough economy." -- Los Angeles Times

Now Microsoft has a whopping 8 million console lead on Sony? I still wouldn't count them out yet. Sony has a history of their consoles have significant sales legs, long after they have launched.

Yesterdays announcement that GameStop was cutting off original Xbox support is a perfect example of this. The original Xbox launched over a year after the PlayStation 2, yet the PlayStation 2 is the console that is still going strong. If this is any indication of the future, this console war is FAR from over.

Plus lets not forget, the Wii is trouncing them both viciously anyway. So really, this is nothing more than a pissing match over the scattered remains of the Wii's market share.