Microsoft's Neil Thompson

I think the numbers speak for themselves, so it did - and what it managed to do is reposition us from what was obviously a great gaming console, into the conversation with consumers around why we're a great entertainment platform as well.

Really, we just want to amplify that discussion over this next period. I think consumers get it, and the proof is in the eating with all of these things - and if more and more consumers move onto Live, and more and more services are enabled through Live, word of mouth is an imperative element of that.

I think people are voting with their feet at the moment, and we're seeing fantastic adoption of our services, and the console itself. It's about being able to tell consumers our story, and with technology today and the rate of speed and innovation in services, it's quite a job sometimes to keep up with what we're providing.

But that's what the peak activity is designed to do, and in a lot of ways, through the traditional media work we're doing, it's imperative for consumers to figure out what they want from Xbox.

Yeah, I think when you look to the whole industry you look at the content and services that have come in, it's a fantastic time to be a consumer of digital entertainment. Whether you're a gamer or someone that wants to use consoles for a more social experience, be it music or other things, it's just going to be an amazing Christmas, with amazing products.

With the 360 in particular, we're feeling really, really confident about what our value proposition is. We've done quite a few retailer conferences over the last few weeks, and we've just had an amazing reaction to the variety of services we're offering - as well as the tremendous games that people are going to see on our platform.

And specifically, in a lot of ways, how Live is expanding the reach and interest of those games - and making them last longer in terms of people's enjoyment of them.

I think so, yes, but it's an ongoing process - we're not stopping here, we've got amazing plans for the future and we always said... I think I probably said it you at the time, Phil, when we launched Xbox 360... the evolution of consoles in the future is all going to be around software and services, and I think people are now understanding what we meant by that.

It wasn't about changing form-factors or plastic, etc - that has its role now and again, but fundamentally software and services are at the heart of giving consumers what they want in a digital world. I think that's what we're delivering on at the moment, and we'll continue to innovate and deliver even more exciting experiences in the future.

Natal is a good example of how we're thinking about how we bring new innovation to the platform whenever we choose to bring it. That sort of technology, aligned with services unique to the UK - such as Sky - those are the sorts of investments we're keen to continue with.