With Phil Spencer recently appointed as the head of Xbox, Microsoft ventures further into the new generation under fresh leadership. Spencer took over for Marc Whitten, who departed Microsoft in mid-March after working at the Xbox division for 14 years.

Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony Worldwide Studios -- one of the most visible high-level video game executive in the entire industry -- praised the promotion of Spencer at dinner with veteran gaming journalist Dan Hsu . In a Tweet , Hsu quotes Yoshida as saying that the promotion of Spencer "proves Microsoft is smart. He's the most human guy there."In case anyone possibly senses sarcasm in the comment, Hsu notes that Yoshida was being "genuine."Before his promotion, Spencer was head of Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox's first party equivalent to Yoshida's Sony Worldwide Studios.

Colin Moriarty is IGN’s Senior Editor. You can follow him on Twitter.