Sony's done something right, as PlayStation 3 hardware sales figures are up a whopping 76% increase over the previous year. During the holiday retail season over 3.8 million PS3s were sold worldwide. Sony notes that the newly redesigned slimmer PS3 coupled with "compelling software titles" lead to this success.

The PS3 platform experienced a 76% increase in hardware sales compared to the same period in the previous year, marking the highest record sales for PS3 hardware for a holiday period.

With the release of the new slimmer and lighter PS3 system combined with an exciting line-up of compelling software titles, as well as with the expansion of new content and services on PlayStation Network, with more than 38 million registered accounts worldwide, the PS3 platform continues to surpass its momentum every year and remains on track to further accelerate the growth of its worldwide installed base into 2010.

For the year ahead, Sony cites the likes of the new Motion Controller (Gem, anyone?) along with Gran Turismo 5, God of War 3, MAG and Heavy Rain as more reasons to be excited about the machine.

Kratos prepares to flex his pecs in 2010.

Bryn says: That ain't bad at all. I'm still using my trusty old breezeblock-styled PlayStation 3 nearly every day, but granted, that's for Blu-ray, movies and iPlayer more than games. And after watching Avatar at the cinema in 3D the other day, I'm really excited about the prospect of 3D stereoscopic games and movies coming to the machine soon.