Re: Microsoft Surface

I've got a 'jasper' 360 which draws less power, runs cooler (and thus quieter) than older 360s and it's pretty quite. Certainly not noticeable while watching something or playing a game and barely noticeable when the room is quiet. I think jasper was the last hardware revision before the new 360 'slim' models came out and those run even quieter.

Yes the Wii raced out to a big lead but has since crashed (which is why I said that of the three Nintendo seemed the least focused on 5-10yrs down the road). Nintendo recently posted its first annual loss in 30yrs in part because of rapidly declining interest in the Wii. The apparent lesson learned is that although casual gamers out number hardcore gamers, hardcore gamers but more games (a lot more games). The Wii U is basically the Nintendo console that the core audience has been wanting for the past 5 years. I wonder if it's too little too late though as Wii U seems poised to merely catch up to the 360 and PS3 while the next gen of those consoles will be coming out in a couple of years.

Nintendo also needs to get on the online gaming and home media center bandwagons. The Gamecube and Wii both lagged way behind MS and Sony in this regard and it's another reason the Wii aged much faster than the PS3 and 360. Not to mention Nintendo needs to reevaluate its portable line as smart phones / tablets are posing a threat unlike Nintendo has seen before in this area. Core gamers will still pick a 3DS but casual gamers, who now have more of a choice than ever for portable gaming, will be abounding their handheld consoles in droves.

Getting back to MS.. yes the token system is annoying but I don't think they do it for the kids. I think they do it the same reason that the games at places like Dave and Buster's work on a token/credit system as well. They hope that by taking the dollar amount directly out of the equation that you'll be more likely to spend more money.

MS has been trying to leverage the 360 as a home theater and IPTV device for years and it seems like now the rest of the pieces (particularly online streaming) are falling into place for that to happen. Toss the Kincet in there to give you a controller free way to interact with the device and the oldest of the three consoles seems to sitting in the best position.

If any of the three really dropped the ball it has to be Sony. They went from hero to zero and very publicly commented on how they had a 10yr plan for the PS3. They bet heavily on Blu-ray (hoping to mirror the success that DVD playback had for the PS2) and had to take too big of a loss on hardware sales to reach a competitive price point. Even after they took out features to reduce manufacturing costs it was nearly enough to stop the cash hemorrhage.

I have, or have had, iOS, WebOS and Android devices and I'm looking forward to seeing what SmartGlass and Windows 8 has to offer. I hope SmartGlass works as advertised because I'd much rather own a 360 and use whatever mobile OS I want with it as opposed to getting locked in to all iOS, all Windows or all Android devices.