Xbox boss tells Sony: 'Wish you were here'

Microsoft's European Xbox VP Chris Lewis has told MCV that the company was disappointed by Sony's "no-show" over Christmas – because it would have been the perfect time for 360 to prove its dominance.

Speaking as part of MCV's Christmas review, Lewis (pictured) asserted that, had PS3 been on the market, gamers would have been left in little doubt that 360 was the superior machine.

"The lowlight of our Christmas was the lack of anything from our main next-generation competition," Lewis told MCV. "We were looking forward to some friendly rivalry and the chance to prove that games look and play better on Xbox 360 - but Sony didn't show!"

Lewis also talked up Microsoft's relationship with UK retail and praised the performance of stores over the festive period.

"Our highlight of the season was definitely seeing and hearing the customer reaction to the great value retail offers we had in place thanks to some great teamwork with our retail and publisher partners," he added. "Customers really loved being able to get their hands on an Xbox 360 plus games like Gears of War and Pro Evolution Soccer 6 for a great price."

[Hey Zeus]

Just look at this c*nt, i haven't even heard of him b4!

[super bill]

tit for tat my friend.sony are shouting there mouth off for months.im glad microsoft are giving them the same back.its a shame you fanboys can,t take it then sony should get out of gaming all together.

[T-Virus]

Wow, some powerful stuff there "We were looking forward to some friendly rivalry and the chance to prove that games look and play better on Xbox 360 - but Sony didn't show!”

A bet that made a few fanboys cry?

[Syko]

But im a little disappointed as they sound a lil' like Sony. Microsoft needs to keep on, Keepin' on. Let your hardware do the talking and keep letting Sony shoot themselves in the foot,head and ass, As where this is what Sony truly shines at this Gen for some reason

[candystop]

If you kept up with other console other than Sony you would recognize his face from hosting X06! Sony talks alot of crap and now MS is going to start with the same nonsense! Anyways I could careless what these guys have to say because the games say it all!

[kingboy]

yea with your half cut price system.lets reduced the ps3 price and watch it kill it in no time

[kewlkat007]

The Xbox 360 is where it's at right now bro..just Go and enjoy your PS3.(if you imported)

[Juevani]

haha ms clowns is so funny ''we wish ps3 was here'' sony's responed should've been ''get ridd of the ps2 first than move to the next round, if ya can move'' PS2 is a killer and ps3 is monster ya cant handle that.

[Syko]

European education was better??!!^^^ Guess not.

[lil bush]

what sony needs to is get the games out so they dont have to hear comments like this microsft but here are the reasons they can talk a little 1:better games 2: a little better graphics, these are reasons microsoft is talking but the guy said that the 06 xmas is not comparable to the 05 xmas and the reason is cause they had little or no product and thats was what sony problem is so its honestly not fair to compare the two at this second so what sony needs to is to stop talking about there hardware and start talking about there software cause thats where a console war is won cause better games = better sales and im not a sony hater i only own a ps3 cause these where the reasons why i bought won cause they did this for tens years now and microsoft is doing the same thing thats sony was doing during that ten year spand and thats just getting the better games out there so people and not just regular people but loyal customers so thats what sony needs to do.

[zonetrooper5]

Juevani are you still playing your PS2?

Cos i'm playing the Next gen and i have done since 2006, guess what i have a 360 and i have played a Wii which is so fun and i will get it. Have fun playing on a last gen console and also have fun looking for a PS3 in March when it comes out in Europe.

[nambo]

With it's limited quantity and weak launch lineup, I think that MS would have been better off if Sony had launched the PS3 in Europe as planned. Then Europeans would have actually been able to see what the PS3 is about instead of hearing Sony's hype. I think they would be just as disappointed with the system as many Americans and Japanese are as I hear many are returning them. It's easier battling an actual opponent rather than a perception.

[Ravenator529]

Is this the next step in the marketing strategy for the 360?

They have been pretty good at letting the software and sales do the talking but now it seems they are in the "sh1t talking" stage.

If anything, M$ should be thanking Sony. Sony were the ones who put M$ in the position that they are in right now.

Constantly shooting themselves in the foot is what finally caught up to Sony and let their main competition take an early lead into the next gen of gaming.

So far Bill Gates, Peter Moore, and now this guy have all been outspoken about the competition in the last couple of days. Or I guess I should say just Sony because they seem to leave Nintendo alone.

I don't know how I really feel about this. I am a fan of the 360 but I liked it a lot more when M$ would release some sort of software/hardware update instead of just trash talk.

The 1080p update, HD-DVD player, and upscaling chip were all great ways to rebute Sony's claims of HD superiority.

I'd rather see that then the trash talk.

But I guess with 10 million units sold and the PS3 sitting on store shelves (without the hype) M$ feels they can talk a some "sh1t".

[THAMMER1]

I hope you do not say stuff like that on your records. Because if you do that CD would automatically become a Frisbee

[TheMART]

Indeed

"The 1080p update, HD-DVD player, and upscaling chip were all great ways to rebute Sony's claims of HD superiority."

The 1080p update could easily been thought off even before releasing the console, just to get the wind out of the PS3 sails... Think of it. Play the underdog first and then just before launch of the competition get their main salespoint shot down. Massive destruction there!

HD-DVD player, that's no BR in my view. And MS has the best cards there with HD Movies on download and IPTV they're one step ahead in the digital distribution mate. None of those things even touched by Sony.

Upscaling chip: PS3 has none. While 360 can do 1080p native or upscale sources that ain't are 1080p native. PS3 can't do it.

[rowdy 1]

These guys shouldn't be talking alot of smack. It always comes back to bite ya. They really should be humble about their position, but looks like big mouth american company has to talk smack. GUARANTEE. They will be eating there words.It always happens.

[THE TRUTH]

fact is the origional Xbox sold 12 million in it's first year without a worldwide launch!

Fact is Wii is beating the crap out of both Sony and MS with an amazing 4 million sold in the 6 weeks!

Fact is MS NEEDS to KEEP selling and not take both Sony and Nintendo so lightly! They are far from dominating!

Fact is MS has done nothing compared to what both Sony and Nintendo have done in the past! Stay on course and keep pushing because they would be fools to think this console war is anywhere near over!

Good start MS but you better keep raising the bar 1 AAA title a year is not going to cut it!

Fact is, This console war is JUST starting and I for 1 am extremely excited about the games coming in 2007! I hope all platforms have success because it only means better games for us gamers! Game on gamers

[gogators]

able to walk into most stores here in the US and pick up a PS3. They should be gone and lines forming everytime a store announces they will have stock. But it's not happening, I was able to walk into Ciruit City and buy mine. The system hasn't got the games, nor does the game library look any better for the next 8-10 months. Everything stellar is out on the XBOX already or will be available for both, except maybe F1 and Liar. Nonetheless the online functional capabilities of XBOX live doesn't look to be defeated. Sure you can find XBOX 360's everywhere. So what they still sell. A launch system shouldn't be available this soon, Sony's PS3 as a gaming system is in trouble. They look likely to win the next generation DVD disc format war, but I THINK it will cost them the game industry domination no matter what happens in Japan. Fox and Disney's CES announcement for Blue Ray support only broke my back. The PS3 is great hardware (still bad controller interface in my opion), but limited games and lacking online play capabilities still puts the XBOX 360 in the better position. Plus XBOX live just keeps adding more content, best 50$ a year you can spend.

[scriptkiddie]

why would someone pay $600 for a movie player that isn't even a standard yet, that you can't do anything else on but talk about the potential to play games. When you can spend $400 and have a great game machine.

[Dusk]

Yeah, that 'big mouth american' comment makes sense, considering Sony talks more smack than anyone. So, what, does that make them 'big mouth Japanese'? At least you give credence to the idea of 'worldwide ignorance'.

[lil bush]

im a sony fan but to say that sony is done, microsoft is done, nintendo is done, then the people who say that there in for some big problems cuase all pose a huge threat and not just now but 2-3 years from now but thing is for sure its going to be 1 great of gaming

[BIadestarX]

Microsoft is trying to make sony make a mistake. This kind of talks forces companies to make a move. Sony does this all the time. What microsoft is saying it's not a lie, they just want Sony to make a move. i.e. spend billions matching xbox live and prove that the PS3 can do better than the 360. If microsoft continue to wait while Sony keep telling people, "Wait... we will be better" the 360 will lose momentum. take europe for example, some people are waiting for the PS3 to come out before making a decision about which console they are going to buy.

[EnforcerOfTheTruth]

What a dumbass. Typical MS. While Sony says they are just better MS goes too low saying Sony has no talent, no DNA and now they wish Sony would have enough PS3's for Christmas haha do they also wish Sony would have anough AAA titles for Christmas? What an idiot lol

[FordGTGuy]

"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer"
- Michael Coreleone

Microsoft is just trying to get Sony to show all of their cards prematurely while Microsoft can make a strategy against them.

[AudioRage]

i didnt like this, its too sony for my liking. someone else stated up there that microsoft usually do the hardware do the talkin, eg 1080p, now that shot down a few fanboys. But things like this are jus petty, although i suppose everyone is lookin forward to this friendly competition. FRIENDLY JUEVANI, F-R-E-I-N-D-L-Y

[power of Green]

Nonsense PS3 doesn't match the 360 in multi media exclusives and flexabliity, price only runs skin deep with this one.

[DJ]

'cause Nintendo's catching up fast, and there's no telling how fast the PS3 will surpass the 360's total sales figures once the European launch commences and the slew of amazing titles start to hit shelves.

35% of PS3 owners have purchased at least one Blu-ray movie, vs. just the 0.4% of 360 owners who've purchased an HD-DVD movie. With PS3's superior video output through HDMI 1.3, and the inclusion of an optical port for uncompressed 7.1 audio, it's obvious that Playstation 3 is the best HD movie player on the market, as well as the most powerful console ever made.

For only $100 more than the Xbox 360, users can enjoy HD movies, full 1080p resolution, free online multiplayer (in comparison, Microsoft charges a ghastly $50 a year), full backwards compatibility with PS1 and PS2 titles, a swappable Hard Drive, Bluetooth wireless, Gigabit ethernet, and many other great features.

[Mr Murda]

What fanboy article did you copy/paste that nonsense from? I feel like the teacher that busts a student for plagiarism.

"MS Charges a ghastly $50 a year" for thier online service.

^^^ Come on. Get real. That's less than $5 a month...well worth the services received from XBL.

[DJ]

so I can say whatever the hell I want. =P You have to admit though, it's wierd that they would charge that much for a service that (outside of Halo 2) isn't all that great. Xbox Live needs to plagiarize that game's online system.

[TheMART]

Stop the Fony Fanboy lying:

"fact is the origional Xbox sold 12 million in it's first year without a worldwide launch!"

LIE

Worldwide
Dec 2001 - 1.5 million
Jun 2002 - 3.9 million
Dec 2002 - 8 million
Jun 2003 - 9.4 million
Dec 2003 - 13.7 million

They sold about 8 million. The 360 sold 10.4 million in the same period. The 360 is the console that sold the fastest in it's first year period.

"Fact is Wii is beating the crap out of both Sony and MS with an amazing 4 million sold in the 6 weeks!"

That's logical when parents with limited money to spend on presents for their kids and buy kiddy consoles for them. Not the ones with blood. Wii sales will decline soon, when grown up spending gamers keep spending on 360, parents don't give those presents all year through

"Fact is MS NEEDS to KEEP selling and not take both Sony and Nintendo so lightly! They are far from dominating!"

Huh? They do actually. The only one not selling is Sony/PS3 with only 800k sold

"Fact is MS has done nothing compared to what both Sony and Nintendo have done in the past!"

Read above

"Good start MS but you better keep raising the bar 1 AAA title a year is not going to cut it!"

I am not gonna list the games again. The PS3 is the only console out there with only one GOOD game on it right now. Even not AAA. Resistance is nice but that's it. And then look at the bad online service. As DJ says: wait till the march update. Yeah: 'This is waiting!!!'

"Fact is, This console war is JUST starting and I for 1 am extremely excited about the games coming in 2007! I hope all platforms have success because it only means better games for us gamers! Game on gamers"

You're right on that one. But fact is the 360 sold over 10 million. The PS3 didn't even reach one million yet.

The 360 has a 5.3 attach rate per unit on games. The PS3 has 1.5 attach rate

What platform do you think gameproducers want to make money on? Right. 360

[ruthless toothless]

about the past that Sony and Nintendo has. Who cares. Thats like saying that at one time DVD's struggled and VHS was still dominating the market. It is not about yesterday, it is about today. And, I must say that I was in a Target today where I saw 2 or 3 PS3's just sitting there collecting dust. No one wants them. Over priced, overhyped, and well you get the idea.

Microsoft and Nintendo are both doing well. Of course the PS2 is going to have great numbers it has been around for 6 years and had a year head start. The difference being that when Microsoft gets a years extra worth of development they actually make their games look better.

[scriptkiddie]

If only the PS3 could play games you would be all set.. Right now all you have is potential.

Do people really care about using their console as a movie player. I have never once used my console for a DVD player, I choose a higher quality stand alone, or in my case a 400 disk DVD changer. I guess to you sonybots blu-ray is really important to you because that's all the PS3 has going for it. no games to talk about only blu-ray, and all the potential for playing games.

I would love to watch HD movies and don't care who wins, but i choose to wait for a winner or a new standard that will be a winner because i do not want to spend a lot of money on betamax tapes.

When there is a winner, which ever that may be the players will be a lot cheaper then $600

[Optimus Prime]

you dumb douche. you are so blinded by sony to see that microsoft has the best online to offer. please just admit it, because they do. I think i might go broke because i have to pay a whole 5 dollars for the best online service on a console. oh no, it is a crisis. that is the way you make it sound. rather pay for the best online service than for play for free when sony is still learning how to use online capabilities.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Your whole comment sounds like you should be saying " give it to me Sony! Yeah, just like that Sony right there is where I like taken it" Or does Sony slip you a little check here and there?

[Genki]

The man just said that he's purchasing it, did he not? Do you really have to resort to flaming, for the simple fact the his views are a little bit different from yours? Ridiculous.

You know, it's funny. A lot of the same people that say the PS3 has all these extra features that is supposedly unnecessary, or that nobody to use them, are the ones who adamantly swear up and down that they would rather pay for Live's additional features.

Is it really so bad? Basic online service with free gaming vs fully featured premium online service. Sounds a bit like the console war now, doesnt it? A PS3 with a higher price tag and more features or a 360 with less features and a lower price tag. You're obviously content with the console with less features, and there is NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT, so explain to me why it's so bad that someone prefer a less-featured online experience, or would you rather continue to be a hypocrite?

Both systems and services have their respective advantages and disadvantage, and they can co-exist, this is a silly reason to get into a flame war(as if there's ever a legitimate reason...).

[Say's you]

A long shot what a lieing douche and plus not all games would look good on the 360 any way infact not all games will look good on the 360 period that system had pretty disappointing games like Gears of War is overly hyped about its gameplay and its chainsaw and samething with Chromehounds and Crackdown doesn't even look promising

infact every game would look good on the PS3 instead on the 360 this guy is just all talk and no action they didn't dominate crap what a lieing douche bag.

[gogators]

to XBOX live, they could double the price and it would still be worth every penny. How many more cross platform games will have online support dropped for the PS3 because there isn't an unified network to be used. All well doesn't matter only a person's loss not to jump in. Yeah the PS3 is great hardware,but so is the 360, and XBOX live will continue to provide the superior service for online gaming.

[FKN Unbelievable]

"'cause Nintendo's catching up fast, and there's no telling how fast the PS3 will surpass the 360's total sales figures once the European launch commences and the slew of amazing titles start to hit shelves. "
It better at 250$ a pop. When The 360 Price Drop we'll see who laughs. Matter of fact Nintendo ain't catching up sh1t the only that thing that will continue sell is DS's This Gimmicky Wii Sh1t will Die the Fuk out like PS3 Just a little long after the exclusive are down. Then Microsoft Will Buy Nintendo's @ss out of the Hole. Also Nintendo is the only system fanboy's will buy other than.
"For only $100 more than the Xbox 360, users can enjoy HD movies, full 1080p resolution, free online multiplayer (in comparison, Microsoft charges a ghastly $50 a year), full backwards compatibility with PS1 and PS2 titles, a swappable Hard Drive, Bluetooth wireless, Gigabit ethernet, and many other great features. "

DJ Forgot to add "That still can't Top that of which Xbox Live have to offer". Oh yeah Why do you need BlueTooth for? as if certain Sh1t on PS3 is system performance taxing already.

"so I can say whatever the hell I want. =P You have to admit though, it's wierd that they would charge that much for a service that (outside of Halo 2) isn't all that great. Xbox Live needs to plagiarize that game's online system. "

This Bum @ss Clown Talks all this Sh1t And Still can't Import One online? I mean after all Was'nt they all Region Free? If you were a Die-Hard Fan you would Go to great length to get one. Matter Of fact did'nt sony ban Imports? So much for sonee taking care of its lackies.

Back on topic he said Useless after Halo 2? Sh1t SOE been useless The Moment SoCom Came Out. That Dry Weak Sh1t. Get a Fuking Clue You @ss-Munch.

BTW I Love How Microsft is Forcing Sonees hand. We See Who has Bigger Nuts. Cause sonee still ain't Recover after that 1080p fiasco. They Only Damage scaled it by saying it not native 1080p. Thats Like Saying I just Brought a New Car and your friend say yeah but i had that same car first but mines got triangle shaped rearview mirrors (Whats the Fuking Diff they Both still see whats behind you.)