Sony's Playstation 3 has outsold Microsoft's rival Xbox 360 for the first time since both systems have been released, according to new data surfacing late Thursday.

The Japanese game maker sold 296 units in January, eclipsing the Xbox 360 console which sold 230 thousand. Microsoft had said earlier today that it's numbers would be affected by shortages in supply experienced through out the month.

Our retailers are telling us that Xbox 360 is selling as fast as they can restock, but due to this high demand, Xbox 360 is experiencing temporary shortages, Microsoft said. We are working as quickly as we can to replenish inventory.

Nintendo's Wii maintained the crown, however, selling 274 thousand units through out the first month of this year.

Overall hardware numbers were down 25 percent to $377.8 million.

For the entire video game market -- both hardware and software -- accounted for $1.18 billion in December, down six percent from the year prior. NPD notes, however, that January 2007 was a five versus four week reported period, and properly adjusted sales were up an average 18 percent on a week-by-week basis.

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