"Xbox Isn't a Gaming Console" Says Microsoft

Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer has stated that the Xbox 360 isn't a gaming console – and that's what helps differentiate it from its competition.

In recent years Microsoft has been repositioning the Xbox 360 to appeal to a broader market than the core gamers that the console had traditionally wooed, and Ballmer's comments reiterated this movement.

One of the core partners in the development of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer joined the company in 1980 after being the first business manager hired by Bill Gates, and was named chief executive officer in 2000.

"Xbox isn't a gaming console," Ballmer told USA Today, "Xbox is a family entertainment center. It's a place to socialize. It's a place to watch TV. We have Hulu coming. It's the only system where you are the controller. Your voice, your gestures, your body."

Ballmer's comments echo those of ex-Sony Computer Entertainment head Ken Kutaragi at the dawn of the PlayStation 3. "From the start, we intended to make not just a game machine for kids, but a computer for entertainment that adults throughout the world could enjoy," Kutaragi said back in 2005. "Other companies may talk of game machines, but we've always referred to 'computer entertainment,' even in our press materials. It's entertainment and also a computer. That's what's important."

Ballmer also highlighted the success of Kinect in helping Microsoft broaden the Xbox 360's appeal. "My wife used to say, 'No, no, that's the machine the boys use," and now she says, "Yeah, I want to go watch movies. Let's go play the dance game,'" he said. "It opens up accessibility to family entertainment because with the Kinect, you control these systems with your body, with your voice. We've opened up the world of content in TV, movies."