It's official: Australia and New Zealand are now last in line to receive the Xbox 360, Microsoft announced today. It's strange, too, since Microsoft's market share for current-gen consoles is largest in those countries at about 40 percent. As it stands, the Xbox 360 is slated to launch in Australia and New Zealand on March 23, three weeks later than the original March 2 launch date. Microsoft said the delay is due to "short-term manufacturing issues due to component shortages stemming from challenges in ramping supply." Production issues have hampered Microsoft's ambitious world-wide launch from day one, thanks mostly to the 1,700 individual components that make up this complex machine. Manufacturing issues have played a part in sales figures; only 1.5 million consoles were sold in 2005, well below Microsoft's original forecast. After working out these short-term kinks, Microsoft will hopefully be able to get its manufacturing back on track for the Aussies and Kiwis.