360 production ramped up...again

Don't be surprised to see Xbox 360s becoming a common sight on shelves. As consoles get further along in their life cycle, manufacturing the machines gets easier. The Xbox 360, once so hard to find that some gamers were paying two or three times the market price, is now approaching its fifth month in retail, and finally regularly finding its way into the hands of consumers. A recent visit by GameSpot staffers to a San Francisco Best Buy found both the core and premium versions of the console in ample supply.

Soon Xbox 360 stocks will be even more plentiful. Winstron, one of Taiwan's largest electronics manufacturers, today announced that it is expanding production of the console, with the goal of making 1 million Xbox 360s per month by the end of this year. Overall, Winstron is looking to produce 30 million Xbox 360s and laptop computers by 2007.

Console availability could be a large factor in the upcoming next-gen console wars. The PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Revolution are scheduled to be released later this year, and Microsoft, which believes the PS3 could also run into supply problems, wants to make sure its console is available for the all-important holiday season.