Speaking to USA Today, Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer claimed that the Xbox 360 isn’t a gaming console, which he feels helps it stand apart from competing platforms.

“Xbox isn’t a gaming console,” Ballmer said. “Xbox is a family entertainment center. It’s a place to socialize. It’s a place to watch TV. We have Hulu coming. It’s the only system where you are the controller. Your voice, your gestures, your body.”

Ballmer also stated how Kinect has helped the Xbox 360 attain a mass appeal outside of the gaming market. “If you want to know where is the consumer heat, the things that people want to get their hands on, it’s Xbox and Xbox Kinect. I think about my own family. My wife used to say, ‘No, no, that’s the machine the boys use,’ and now she says, ‘Yeah, I want to go watch movies. Let’s go play the dance game,’” Ballmer said. “It opens up accessibility to family entertainment because with the Kinect, you control these systems with your body, with your voice. We’ve opened up the world of content in TV, movies. You just sit there and say ‘Xbox’ or ‘play movie.’”

This isn’t the first time an exec has attempted to separate their system from the competition by emphasizing its abilities outside of gaming. Leading up to the launch of the PS3, former Sony head Ken Kutaragi had the following to say:

“From the start, we intended to make not just a game machine for kids, but a computer for entertainment that adults throughout the world could enjoy. Other companies may talk of game machines, but we’ve always referred to ‘computer entertainment,’ even in our press materials. It’s entertainment and also a computer. That’s what’s important.”

Via USA Today, IGN