Lewis: Xbox 360 only halfway through its life-cycle

European Microsoft executive Chris Lewis has said that E3'a combination of a new slimmer, quieter Xbox 360 and Kinect will extend the machine's life-cycle by five years .

"I think 2010 will be a very big year for us," said Lewis, speaking to Gamesindustry in LA last week.

"It is, in many ways for us, mid-lifecycle. With this new, sleek design and Kinect for Xbox 360 we've got at least another five years of this generation, where we continue to offer great experiences for people.

"We continue to attach more games than competitive platforms and we have the healthiest ecosystem, with 25 million people connected through Xbox Live.

"We are uniquely placed to continue to do really, really well in this business and enjoy ongoing momentum."

As you'd expect from Microsoft, Lewis said that the company's sales targets were aggressive.

"I can't be explicit about the numbers but I can say our market share has grown," he said.

"Our business ambition for this financial year, which begins on July 1, is certainly bigger than last year and we constantly set ourselves ambitious targets.

"Don Mattrick is not shy about aggressive targets for Europe because he now knows we've got the right assets, now more than ever, to really appeal to our audience."

Kinect and the 360 Slim summed up Microsoft's new hardware for the foreseeable future at E3 this year, with Nintendo showing 3DS and Sony focusing on PlayStation Move.

You can read our round up of the E3 conferences here.