Is the Xbox 360 on its last legs?

There’s an interesting conflict in opinions going on, in regards to how the Xbox 360 will fare in the market.

On one side is the claim from DFC Intelligence that the Xbox 360 was on the downside of its lifecycle.

As reported in gamesindustry.biz, the market research firm claimed that Kinect will have a negligible impact on Xbox 360 sales, and the next two years would see a gradual slowdown in sales for both it and the Nintendo Wii, while the PlayStation 3 will enjoy an increase on a worldwide basis.

On the other side of the coin is the claim from Microsoft that the Xbox 360 Slim, the vendor’s newer, sleeker version of the console, was seeing unprecedented demand.

As reported by industrygamers, Microsoft claimed: "Strong demand for the new Xbox 360 250GB combined with a $US50 price reduction in the U.S. on the Xbox 360 Arcade and Elite consoles, now $US149.99 and $US249.99 respectively, has resulted in a significant sales spike for Xbox 360 since the new console hit shelves on or around June 14."

Sony, too, claimed demand remains quite high for the PlayStation 3.

It’ll be interesting to see which side of the coin the market falls on, and more importantly, whether Microsoft can beat DFC Intelligence predictions and a lack of interest in Kinect pre-E3, and drum up interested in its motion-control solution.