Source: MSNBC

Remember that Peter Moore guy who used to be all about the Xbox and then suddenly joined the dark side, otherwise known as EA? Can you remember the guy that replaced him? Yeah, don’t worry, nobody remembers who that guy is, because he’s been hiding under a rock ever since taking over as senior VP of Microsoft Interactive Entertainment.

His name: Don Mattrick. He’s come out of hiding and decided to add a little fuel to the console flame war with this little ditty:

“On a price-per-value basis, I think we win…relative to Sony and Nintendo. 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. “

Ooooh, he had a very respectable and great quote up until those last two words. Everything else he said, though, was spot on and I’ll tell you why, after the jump.

“[Xbox 360] is the best blend of performance, price, online and games” is probably one of the most intelligent things I’ve ever heard come out of an Xbox executive’s mouth. He pointed out exactly how Microsoft has been able to expand their target market while still taking care of the hardcore gamers (you hear that, Nintendo?).

One thing that Microsoft has done really well (that Sony hasn’t) is acknowledge the fact that there are a whole slew of casual gamers out there who are very curious to try out video games, but are turned off by fast-paced and violent games like Halo 3 and COD4.

This is why the introduction of the Xbox 360 Arcade version was genius. Despite Supaslick’s criticism, it’s the perfect fit for those people who are too adult for the Wii and too poor for a PS3. The best thing about it is that if these new-found gamers decide they want to explore the upper tier of hardcore gaming, then they already have the hardware to do it with. Genius.

Microsoft has also been dominating with their online service and games library, like Mattrick pointed out. I don’t think there’s anybody out there that can argue against the fact that Xbox 360 has the best online service and games selection (just compare the number of games with 80+ scores on Metacritic and you’ll see why there’s no argument). Plus, Xbox Live is so easy to use that even my mom was able to figure out how to play Uno online and even sent one of my friends a voice message and she hasn’t touched a console since the NES.

As for performance, well…we all know about the dismal hardware track record of the 360. At least Microsoft has taken several steps in the right direction of resolving that issue. My guess is that Mattrick was referring to how well the 360 performs when it’s not RRing, in other words, no shoddy ports *cough*PS3 & Wii*cough*

All in all, I consider Don Mattrick’s first foray into the crazy world of video game executive quotes a huge success and I can’t wait to see what he’ll say next.

Hopefully, he won’t get tatted up like his predecessor.

Btw, did anybody else notice how Mattrick looks like some crazy, lab-created offspring of Tom Cruise and Bill Gates?

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