Well, of course he would say that. Speaking to MCV, Neil Thompson, regional director of the entertainment and devices division at Microsoft UK , offered up some sweet words for Nintendo's Wii -- though not without sticking some tacks in his bowl of commentary candy. "Nintendo are doing very well and they've done a great job at expanding the market in certain areas, " he said, "but there is a limit in terms of what you can do with Wii and there is a very definite limit on the expandability of that product."

The statement doesn't give a definite explanation of what "expandability" entails, though chastising the Wii for its comparatively limited technology isn't unheard of. Is there a "definite limit" to the experiences the Wii can provide? Could a world like that presented in BioShock be created on the Wii? Are the system's motion controls any more limiting than a traditional controller, or are they (and products like Wii Fit) critical in the expansion of the gaming audience?

"I think in this generation we've absolutely been the innovative force in terms of what a next generation console should look like and how people should think about it," added Thompson. "I don't think we were innovative enough with the first console, so we did learn a lot from that." He goes on to suggest that competitors critical of the Xbox 360's multiple SKU approach might have something to learn from Microsoft's "smart choices" there. "I think you've got to look at what consumers want and offering something unique – and I think Nintendo have done a very impressive job at doing that."