Sony has announced that it has sold over 70 million PlayStation 3 (PS3) consoles since it launched six years ago: a milestone Xbox 360 reached last month after seven years.

The company announced the news in a statement, saying the sales of the PS3 hit that mark on 4 November.

Sony also said that it has sold more than 15 million units of its PlayStation Move controller and 595 million video game titles.

"The PS3 system has delivered high quality, award-winning entertainment experiences since its launch," said Sony in a statement.

PS3 has constantly evolved over the last six years with a more streamlined design, larger Hard Disk Drive capacity, and new features through software updates. In September 2012, Sony released the latest version of the console, which is 50 percent lighter than the original model.

It's almost neck-and-neck with its main rival, the Xbox 360, but the PS3 is considered a much better multimedia unit, boasting a Blu-Ray device and streaming capabilities lacking in Microsoft's console.

However, the Xbox 360 has sold more units over the last year, according to GeekWire.com, and Microsoft reported that its console had surpassed 70 million sales a month ago.

November 2012 also marks the 10-year anniversary of Xbox Live, which launched with the original Xbox device. In a press release Microsoft said the online community was "the first comprehensive, online game arena fully dedicated to fast-action broadband gaming experiences."

"Since then Xbox Live has evolved to become Microsoft's premier entertainment service for the TV, phone, PC and tablet. Initially available to US and Canadian Xbox players, the service is now available in 41 countries and territories around the world," Microsoft said.

The company says that more than 40 million people from around the world currently use Xbox Live.

This figure still pales in comparison to the PlayStation's online community which, according to Ted Regulsk, Manager of SCEA Developer Relations, now stands at 90 million users across Sony's three major platforms - PS3, PSP and PS Vita.

However, PlayStation Network's figures are based on the number of IDs created rather than the figure of active users.

The news from both companies comes as they prepare to launch the next generation consoles. Microsoft is reportedly planning to announce Xbox 720 next year, and the next PlayStation is expected to be announced in June.

Nintendo is set to release its next generation console, the Wii-U, on 18 November, in time for Christmas.

Its present console, the Wii, beats both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, hands down in sales figure, having sold more than 96 million units as of June.