The figures for the sales in the gaming console industry have arrived and Microsoft can start worrying about how its console is doing. Only 219,000 Xbox 360 gaming consoles were sold last month, compared to more than 400,000 PlayStation 3s and almost 667,000 units of rival Nintendo’s Wii console.

While Wii has constantly outsold the other two products ever since its release in late 2006, it was Microsoft to occupy the second position until the beginning of 2008. Since then, with a few exceptions, Sony’s PS3, which started to gain ground in front of its competition since the company cut its price, has outsold the Xbox 360, leaving Microsoft to think what it could do about it.

At the E3 conference Microsoft made some announcements that hint at the company’s new strategy to boost the sales of its product. The addition of another 60 GB model that will replace the 20 GB one, together with the HD video content distribution deal with Netflix, show that Microsoft will start focusing on turning its console into a device that people who are not into video games can use as well.

On the other hand, Sony lost no time to show how it plans to counteract Microsoft’s strategy. The company also announced that it will discontinue its 40 GB PS3 model and slash $100 off the price of its 80 GB model. Besides that, the company still promotes the PS3 by saying that purchasing its console is the most convenient way to get a Blu-ray device.