Nothing as big as Halo 3 but believes Gears 2 and Fable 2 will be huge.

xbox 3601 - MS believes 2008 line-up is stronger...

Speaking to Next-gen, the newly appointed corporate vp of strategy and business development for Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, Shane Kim, and Microsoft Game Studios vp, Phil Spencer, have expressed huge confidence in the Xbox 360's line-up both this year and further into the future.

"I feel very good about our line-up," said Spencer. "I think if you look at the inception of the 360 and our contributions at Microsoft Game Studios, this holiday looks to be in my mind another great holiday for us.

"...The line-up that we have both this holiday, and looking into the early concepts and prototypes to come, I think it lines up against any competitive line-up that I see out there."

Kim shares that opinion, but did admit the Xbox 360 doesn't have a game release on the scale of Halo 3 to bolster its 2008 line-up.

"I think the platform is just as strong, if not stronger [than last year]. That's hard to say, because we had incredible titles last year with BioShock, Halo 3, Mass Effect and Call of Duty 4. ... Especially when you look at Halo 3, which was a phenomenal industry event, it's easy to look back and go 'you can't possibly be as strong'.

"But if you look at the initial success of Grand Theft Auto IV on Xbox 360, that's been super, and we have exclusive [DLC] content coming too. Gears of War 2 is going to be huge, Fable 2 is going to be huge.

"So I don't know. I believe that we're going to have just as big of a year in terms of content on Xbox 360. Maybe we don't have a particular exclusive that's as big as Halo 3, but I do think that Gears 2 and Fable 2 will be really big hits."

They'll need to be big hits too, with Sony preparing to go head-to-head with the Xbox 360 thanks to high profile titles including LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2 and MotorStorm Pacific Rift. And let's not forget the momentum the console should get from the release of Metal Gear Solid 4.

Do you think the Xbox 360 line-up is strong enough to beat the PlayStation 3? Let us know in the comments section below.