Xbox pulls ahead in UK hardware sales race

The recent upsurge in Cube sales has reached a plateau already according to this week's ChartTrack hardware report, which reveals almost no change in sales over the seven day period.

There was better news for Microsoft, however, which witnessed an improvement of over 65 per cent in Xbox sales over the same period - a figure which means the Xbox is now outselling Nintendo's machine by over two to one.

But Nintendo's unstoppable GBA sold a combined total of well over 20,000, despite its relatively high cost, while Nokia's N-Gage Game Deck continued to perform slugglishly in games retailers, selling marginally more than last week.

As usual, Sony's PS2 thrashed all comers, managing to register an 18 per cent improvement over last week, but is still outselling the Xbox by almost three to one, the GBA by over two to one and the Cube by a frankly humiliating six to one despite being £60 more expensive.

With a tempting £99 Mario Kart bundle on the horizon, there's still time for the Cube to recover, but Nintendo must feel like time is running out for its diminutive machine in the face of such consistent drubbings in the high street.

Although the system is still neck and neck with Xbox in terms of global installed base, it'll take a monumental effort for the Japanese giant to recover the lost ground on the Xbox here in the UK, with many consumers voting decisively with their end of month pay packets.

Additional reporting by Rob Fahey