Following their interview with SCEA chief executive Jack Tretton, the folks at MSNBC have now spoken with Don Mattrick, senior VP of Microsoft Interactive Entertainment, who replaced Peter Moore earlier this year.

We've all heard Sony talk about the "value proposition" the PS3 offers, but Mattrick believes Xbox 360 offers the best bang for the buck. "On a price-per-value basis, I think we win...relative to Sony and Nintendo," the Xbox boss said. "Of course, I'm biased, given the role that I'm in, but if I really think about it using my consumer instincts and the experience that I've had, this is the best blend of performance, price, online and games – by far."

Mattrick also refuted the notion that Microsoft's success is mostly attributable to the Halo franchise. The Xbox 360 business has seen a surge this holiday since the release of Halo 3 in late September. Mattrick believes it's the entire portfolio that's driving success. In fact, he claimed that Xbox 360 games are generally of much higher quality compared to PS3 or Wii games.

"I think we're getting to the point of critical mass in terms of the number of hits. I think we have the highest rated content ever to exist on a gaming system," he said. "If you look at our quality ratings, there [are] more 85-plus rated games on Xbox 360, by a long shot, when you compare it with PlayStation 3 and Wii."

He continued, "...I don't think we'd be enjoying the success we have if we just had Halo. We have Halo and an amazing lineup of content both from our first-party and our third-party lineup of partners. There's 50 great games on Xbox 360, and Halo's the pinnacle. I do agree with that. But what's causing the critical mass ... inside of our business is the fact that there's Halo and 49 other really high-rated games."

Regarding the 10-year lifecycle that Sony is approaching with its PS2 and is hoping to achieve with the PS3 as well, Mattrick said he believes Xbox 360 will be around a long time too (as opposed to the original Xbox). "I think it definitely has the potential to have a similar shelf life. When I think about Microsoft, I think about an organization that has spent eight years inside of this category. Getting the original Xbox to market was a challenge, the company did that and achieved the goals that it set out but really hadn't built the critical mass and muscle as it thought about the challenge of running an Xbox program and a 360 program at the same time," he said.

"So the company made a choice and said, 'OK, we're transitioning, we're now going to be building Xbox 360 and continuing to scale the organization.' We're at a point now where we're eight years in, and there's more resources, more third-party support, more retail support and more consumer support. And it's very probable that this will be a longer life cycle."