Kinect sells 2.5 million in 25 days

Hot on the heels of Nintendo's announcement that it had sold 1.5 million units of hardware over the Black Friday/Thanksgiving weekend, Microsoft has struck back with some sales numbers of its own. Today, the software giant said that its Kinect motion-sensing system has sold 2.5 million units worldwide in its first 25 days on the market. The peripheral's milestone comes in the wake of a reported $500 million marketing campaign to promote the device.

Microsoft said the Kinect was on track to sell 5 million by year's end, in line with the company's previously announced target. The system went on sale in North America on November 4, with its European rollout occurring November 10 and its Japanese release following on November 20.

Currently, the Kinect system is offered as a stand-alone unit for $150, a hefty premium over the device's $56 estimated cost in parts. Two bundles are also available: a $300 4GB Xbox 360 package and a $400 250GB Xbox 360 loadout. All bundles also include Kinect Adventures, just one of the 17 games that were released in November.