Microsoft believes a “record-breaking holiday” is on the cards thanks to the new $199 price tag for the Xbox 360 and the new Xbox Experience launching this fall.

The weekend retail results between the 5th and 7th of September show that console sales across all 360 models were up over 100% following the price drop and that the Xbox 360 Arcade sold six times more than the previous weekend.

NPD data shows that 195 000 Xbox 360’s were sold in the US in August, bringing lifetime sales of the 360 to 10.9 million in the US. Life-to-date spending on the 360 and games in the US now stands at $10.7 billion while the attach rate is 8.0 games per console.

According to Microsoft, the Xbox 360 “owns sports” because Madden NFL 09 for the 360 topped the software chart in August with over 1 million copies sold. It also touted sales figures for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09, the 360 version sold 56 000 copies in the first five days on sale, and NCAA Football 09, the 360 version sold 460 000 copies since launch, more than PS3 and Wii versions combined.

$94 million was spent on third-party games in August, with the 360 generating more money than other console: $4.1 billion or 58% of the market share. Microsoft believes that Gears of War 2, Fable II, Guitar Hero IV, Rock Band 2, Fallout 3 and Lips will all sell at least 1 million units each.

Check out the August NPD results here. You can also see how Nintendo and Sony responded.