Microsoft has this afternoon responded to Australian chatter which suggests support for the is flagging in the face of the and PS3.

Australia's Channel News surveyed 10 retail chains, all of whom stated that support for the 360 is diminishing in the country.

"The 360 is dead," offered one Melbourne retailer. "We are stocking it because of our relationship with however all our energy and marketing is going into the and the Wii unless Microsoft come up with something new or additional marketing dollars. 3 was big on the Xbox but that was about it.

"They have tried discounting and value add offers and even that is not working. We are even thinking of dumping the console all together."

"Our retailers are excited about our current and upcoming offers, and we're looking forward to another bumper year," retort Microsoft through their local PR rep. "We are happy with where we are in the market right now. We're significantly ahead of where we planned to be this financial year, and selling well both on the software and side.

"We have a great line-up of games coming up. For core gamers we have titles like 2, 2, Too Human, Halo Wars etc, while or potential gamers will enjoy the likes of Banjo Kazooie, 4, and Dance Dance Revolution, as well as a number of other really exciting titles we haven't announced yet."

More on this as we get it.

By Luke Guttridge