Microsoft said on Wednesday its Xbox 360 game machine beat Nintendo's Wii and Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 to reach 10 million units in U.S. sales. "This year will be the largest in the history of the video game industry, with Xbox 360 leading the charge in the U.S. and abroad," said Don Mattrick, senior vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. "History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle. We are uniquely positioned to set a new benchmark for the industry."

The Xbox 360 was the first of this latest generation of game machines to launch in the United States when it was released in November 2005. The PS3 and Wii were launched in the United States a year later.

The Wii is closing in on the Xbox 360, with 8.8 million units sold as of the end of March, while Sony has totaled 4.1 million PS3 units sold, according to market research firm NPD.

Worldwide shipments of Sony's PlayStation 3 games console came in under target at 9.24 million units in the financial year to the end of March, and Sony's gaming business remained in the red, Sony said Wednesday.

Microsoft also said global membership of its Xbox Live online service reached 12 million members.