EA's Q3 revenues led by Xbox 360

Stemming from a recent SEC filing and financial report, EA's third quarter software revenues -- broken down by platform -- reveal that the Xbox 360 proved to be the most rewarding during the three months ending September 30th. A Gamasutra report ranks the revenue for the period, which saw the releases of Boogie, Madden '08 and Skate, as following:

• Xbox 360: $218 million (an increase of $52 million over the same period last year)

• PlayStation 2: $73 million (a drop of $196 million compared to the previous year)

• Wii: $59 million

• DS: $47 million (up by $33 million)

• PSP: $21 million (down by $43 million)

• PlayStation 3: $17 million

Does CEO John Riccitiello still think the publisher backed the "wrong horse" by initially focusing on the PS3 and Xbox 360? Judging by third quarter revenues, it seems said horse was actually two buffoons in a poorly constructed costume -- except the one controlling the front two legs could actually make out where he was going. Driven by superb Madden '08 sales in October, the Xbox 360 yielded roughly the same amount as every other platform combined. Wii software revenue shows promise for the system's third-party developers, quite unlike the PlayStation 3's $17 million. With lackluster hardware sales and unimpressive software revenues from one of the world's largest publishers laying quite the rocky road, it's no wonder Sony has to talk supporters out of jumping ship.

(Wait a minute. Did we just put a ship on the road? We've got to stop mixing our metaphors like that.)