Mindy Mount, the awesomely named chief financial officer for Microsoft's entertainment division, is certainly very keen for the Xbox 360 to have a longer lifespan than its predecessor, which, as you may remember, Microsoft dropped like a steaming hot potato immediately after the Xbox 360 launch in late 2005.

PlayStation 2 meanwhile continues to sell, with a new model on the way in 2008 – the console’s eighth year on the market.

Mindy Mount pays a rare homage to Sony this week, telling a BMO Capital Markets conference on interactive entertainment:

"Look at the PS2; they've gone long-time and seem to have pretty good legs on what they are doing…If we were able to do that, as a CFO I think that's great, because every year you draw it out you increase profitability."

The videogame industry is on track to hit $40 billion this year, according to Mount, who increasingly sees little gain to be made in making the leap to yet another ‘next generation’, noting:

"At this point from the technological perspective, there are some real advances ... that make it worth having a next-generation console… Right now there aren't that many things on the horizon that you think, wow, that's going to be a game-changer."

^{Source: Reuters}