By Ben Berkowitz

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O said on Tuesday it will start selling its Xbox video game console in six new world markets this year and reported that two more of its games passed the million-sales mark.

The company said in a statement, without providing details, it would bring the Xbox to South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, New Zealand and Mexico. The console is currently available in the United States, Japan, Western Europe and Australia.

The company also said two more Xbox titles, its own "Project Gotham Racing" and Tecmo Ltd.'s 9650.Q "Dead or Alive 3," have passed the million-unit sales mark, joining Microsoft's own "Halo."

Microsoft said sales have increased 131 percent in the United States since a $100 price cut in May,, beating the percentage gains achieved by competitors, Nintendo Co. Ltd. 7974.OS and Sony Corp. 6758.T , both of which also cut their hardware pricing in May.

Last week Microsoft said it had sold 3.9 million units of the Xbox worldwide through the end of June, along with 20 million units of software.

John O'Rourke, Microsoft's director of worldwide Xbox marketing, told Reuters the company is committed to bringing out new versions of both "Halo" and "Project Gotham" in the next year, and taking advantage of Xbox Live, the new online gaming service Microsoft plans to launch later this fall.

In fact, it was the imminent roll-out of that service that influenced Microsoft's choice of the new expansion countries, O'Rourke said.

"Many of these countries were chosen because they are hotbeds of online gaming," he said, citing the explosion of Internet cafes and gaming centers in South Korea as an example.

Microsoft said it would price the Xbox competitively in the new markets, avoiding problems it had in Europe when it rolled out the console at too expensive a price for gamers.

"We've learned a lot about the importance of good pricing and being competitive in the marketplace," he said. "We will have every intention of being competitive."