UK Xbox boss on 360 launch
He's very, very excited.
At midnight last night, the Xbox 360 finally went on sale in Europe and a new era of videogaming was born - to the sound of Van Halen.
That's right, at the Xbox 360 launch party in London, Microsoft marked the birth of its next-gen baby with a ten second countdown, champagne for all and some spanky fireworks - while the words "Well can't you see me standing here, I've got my back against the record machine, I ain't the worst that you've seen, I think you know what I mean" rang out over the crowd. 'Jump' as in 'Jump In', the Xbox 360 tagline, do you see?
But while we at Eurogamer were busy getting down to the sound of the best band in the world to be formed by and named after two brothers from Holland, reporters from our sister site, GamesIndustry.biz, were over at GAME doing some actual work - namely interviewing UK Xbox boss Neil Thompson.
"It's a very very exciting time," Thompson told GI.biz - adding that he reckons he's not the only one who's happy that the Xbox 360 is finally here.
"I think people who've got it will be raving about the gaming experience they've had. I think people will probably be getting online when they get home - and I think when they get online they'll start playing with folks in America and other folks around Europe, and getting really excited about PGR and Perfect Dark and Call of Duty, and all of the titles that are going to be really exciting."
Thompson reaffirmed Microsoft's commitment to getting Xbox 360s into the shops to meet customer demand, stating: "We're really going to focus all our efforts on getting as much stock in as possible, because the demand is proving to be phenomenal.
"Every week we're going to be shipping units in. We're doing all we can to get as many planes and ships through as fast as we can - so that's my guarantee to people, that that's the effort we're putting into it."
So if you've tried and failed to get an Xbox 360 today, don't worry - there are more on the way, and they'll be a lot cheaper than those eBay ones.
You can read the full interview over at GamesIndustry.biz.