Europe, Middle East and Africa consumers push the button on 10 million Xboxes

"Xbox 360 continues to pull ahead of the competition when it comes to delivering on a complete home entertainment experience and we think that Xbox Live currently is about 12 to 18 months ahead of its main rival Playstation Network when it comes to offering service and content beyond traditional games,"

said Martin Olausson, Director of Digital Media Research at Strategy Analytics.

"By introducing innovative new services and content such as Natal, instant streaming of full 1080P HD video, and integrating social media features such as Twitter and Facebook, Xbox will likely attract a wider audience than its rivals and is in a great position to maximize sales in the next few years," he added.

2009 has been a pivotal year in Xbox's journey from its gaming origins to now changing the way people consume and share entertainment content, interact with each other online and continue to play great games. It's a change that people are embracing; there are more than 20 million Xbox LIVE active members worldwide and there have been over 1 billion downloads of gaming and entertainment content, with movie downloads doubling in the last year alone.

"Customers in the UAE have been known to be early adopters of technology and Xbox 360 has been in an unique position to deliver the connected entertainment experience to the discerning consumer. The vision for Xbox 360 and the reality for 10 million Xbox owners in EMEA is the reinventing of entertainment through, play, watch, connect and share," said Armagan Demir, Head of Microsoft Entertainment and Devices Division Middle East.

This reinvention of entertainment has already seen a shift in where the Xbox lives in the home, with the majority (60%) of Xbox's now becoming integrated into the family living room. It has also caused a shift in Xbox's customer base as now 35% of Xbox customers are women and 64% are over the age of 25 . The arrival of the much anticipated 'Project Natal' will create a new category of gaming and entertainment experiences through controller-free gaming that makes Xbox 360 more inclusive and relevant to an even wider audience.