Microsoft has announced that its Xbox 360 games console has reached ten million unit sales in the US.

The company figures reveal that the machine beat Nintendo's Wii and the Sony Playstation 3 in reaching the landmark sales figure.

When released in November 2005, the Xbox 360 was the first of the latest generation games consoles to be released in the US. The Wii and PS3 were launched a year later.

Don Mattrick, senior vice president of the entertainment and devices division at Microsoft, said that this year will be the largest in the history of the video game industry.

"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," explained Mr Mattrick.

The announcement follows the release of the latest version of Grand Theft Auto, which hit the stores on April 29th.

It was one of the biggest entertainment launches in history and Microsoft claims that in the first week of the games release, more than 2.3 million people played Grand Theft Auto 4 on Xbox LIVE.