Lewis: 360 has "at least" five more years

European Xbox 360 bigwig Chris Lewis reckons his console has "at least" five more competitive years in it.

Talking to GamesIndustry.biz, he said Europe was "very central" to Microsoft's "global success" during that time. He's convinced that Kinect - nee Natal - will appeal greatly on the continent.

"Kinect for 360 is big for France, Italy, Germany and Spain, where there is a market for the casual gaming appetite that we can now address without the physical barrier of the controller," said Lewis.

"2010 will be a very big year for us. It is in many ways for us mid-lifecycle. What you've seen is with this new sleek design and Kinect for Xbox 360 we've got at least another five years of this generation where we continue to offer great experiences for people.

"We continue to attach more games than competitive platforms," he added, "and we have the healthiest ecosystem with 25 million people connected through Xbox Live. So we are uniquely placed to continue to do really, really well in this business and enjoy ongoing momentum."

Lewis went on to reveal that he doesn't believe 3D will be important until a year, year-and-a-half from now.

"You can't have the revolution without the army in terms of the installed base," he quipped. "Certainly for this Christmas the timing isn't yet right. Over time there will be a lot more interest as the price points get more realistic, we'll see families feeling better about having that kind of infrastructure in the home.

"I think we'll see in 12-18 months from now that will become more important. From our point of view we're very well placed and we'll listen to what our consumers want and we can enhance the experience accordingly."

He added that it was "too early" to talk about 3D this side of Christmas.

Head over to GamesIndustry.biz for the full interview with Chris Lewis.