MS: 60 percent of 360 owners online

Last September, Microsoft chief Xbox officer and senior vice president Robert "Robbie" Bach predicted that half of all Xbox 360 owners would go online, up drastically from the 10 percent of users who took the original Xbox online.

It seems Microsoft has met that mark and then some, as Xbox Live group marketing manager Aaron Greenberg recently confirmed for GameSpot that the publisher's latest console has seen 60 percent of its users take the system online.

"We were like, 'Well, it's the hardcore gamers, this is going to drop off over time,'" Greenberg said. "A lot of people gave us this feedback. And what we've actually seen is it went from 50 to 55, and now it's at 60. And so we're not just sustaining it, we're growing that."

Buoyed by the free Xbox Live Silver service, the 360's online attach rate has exceeded Microsoft's expectations so far, but Greenberg doesn't expect it to continue indefinitely. The Xbox Live Silver service does not allow online gameplay, but does let players post achievements and download demos.

"Logic says it will come down at some point," Greenberg noted, "but the fact that it's continuing to grow and we have the majority of our users connected online has really changed the gaming experience this generation."