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Queries for Microsoft's gaming console have exceeded those for Nintendo's hard to find competitor, the Wii. Though the Wii has dominated the Xbox 360 and Sony's Playstation 3 since Nintendo launched its new console in November 2006, Microsoft's product has finally exceeded the Wii's interest with the searching audience.

That may be due to a combination of issues, said Bill Tancer of Hitwise. His assessment of the Xbox 360's newfound appeal may be driven by several factors:

So what is driving the increase in searches for Xbox 360? It appears to be a combination of hype for new games, rumours of a price drop and no doubt some queries about the recent problems.

Such interest could be good news for Microsoft, which would welcome it. Microsoft had to incur a billion-dollar charge to fix defective Xbox 360s.

"We often find that Internet searches are a leading indicator and can be predictive of future sales growth," said Tancer. Any company likes to find positive sales indicators heading into the holiday season.

People have been especially interested in a potential Xbox 360 price drop. Tancer said the top phrase searched for along with 'price drop' over the past four weeks has been the Xbox 360. "There were 70% more US searches for “xbox 360 price drop” than for “ps3 price drop," he wrote.