The Christmas season is really starting to pick up steam. The lights are out, the decor is hung and the console sales are getting frenzied (or as frenzied as they can be with the whole financial crisis thing). Already claiming an early lead in the European theater is Microsoft's Xbox 360.

Despite Sony releasing its strongest ever line up of PlayStation 3 titles, the Xbox's September price cuts appeared to be enough enough to lure away potential buyers. According to Microsoft, they're outselling the PS3 more than two to one in the UK alone since the price drop.

Other "swing states" that were previously Sony holdouts are also starting to jump on the Microsoft bandwagon. Chris Lewis from European Interactive Entertainment explained:

In Italy, we were double PS3’s sales last week. In France and Germany we are at or better than PS3 consistently now. We dominate in Russia and the Nordic countries and in Spain – a traditional Sony stronghold – we’re now outselling PS3. It bodes incredibly well for our Christmas prospects.

Of course, to temper the Microsoft spin machine, I should probably add that the PlayStation 3 is still significantly ahead of Xbox 360 sales in Europe overall and not just in the last few weeks. One has to wonder though, how long is Sony going to be able to stay on top with the kind of performance Microsoft's been showing lately?

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