Two to three times as many Xbox 360 machines will be sent to retailers beginning this week, Microsoft said today in a statement. The increased shipments will help Microsoft overcome its own shortages so that the company can win customers who decide not to wait for the PlayStation 3.

Tokyo-based Sony said last week the console won't be in stores until early November, putting it a year behind Microsoft's Xbox 360.

"They will take share," said Van Baker, an analyst at Stamford, Connecticut-based Gartner Inc. "As long as Sony is able to deliver on the promise they made, then we should still have a pretty serious race on our hands."

Microsoft's failure to make enough Xbox 360 consoles caused the company to miss its sales forecast for the quarter ended in December. Microsoft was unable to get some parts for the machine, preventing it from meeting holiday demand in the U.S. About 1.5 million Xbox machines were shipped in the quarter, compared with analyst estimates as high as 1.8 million.

Source: Bloomberg.com