Mattrick adamant he invented avatars

Microsoft boss Don Mattrick still believes he was the very first person to invent controllable 3D human avatars.

"I'm claiming to have invented avatars! I did 4D Sports Boxing! Do you know what 4D Boxing was? Hey, you should be writing this! That was me," Mattrick told Official Xbox Magazine.

"C'mon! It's human, it's in 3D, it has a face - it was genuinely the first time there was something human-shaped in 3D! Look it up!

"It was a starting point! Come on, we were the first guys to do it," he went on. "And hey, I worked at EA and helped pushed the concept with a few games you might have heard of - this one called The Sims - you ever hear of that? That had a few sort of 3D characters in it! Then a little one called Ultima Online, know that one?"

Of course, Mattrick has rattled-off claims like this before, having "put us right" on the issue at E3 after we suggested Microsoft may be copying another rather well known platform holder with the brand new Xbox Live avatars.

Furthermore, Mattrick is confident Microsoft has been the clear online winner in this generation.

"Microsoft started out with the idea of identity, Achievements and billing. It was funny, actually. There's one competitor, who I won't name, that I think we should send a card and a cake, because they're only just getting to where we were in 2002," said Mattrick. "We're the ones who really brought innovation to the online space."

The New Xbox Experience, of which the avatars are a part, is due to launch worldwide on 19th November.

Head over to our New Xbox Experience page to find out much more about the Xbox Live redesign.