One of those being that to narrow down your opportunities is basically a recipe for disaster, yet conversely, spreading your options way too thing, can do the same thing. So there’s a need to find your path in amongst it all.

This comes from starting out with one “main goal” . . and then opening up on that as time passes, rather than opening several shop fronts, and hoping everyone comes into each one. If any of that makes sense.

Edit:

Much like this site. Many wanted me to include this, and that, and what about doing this, everyone else is. Truth is, We could, but, we could also loose those ppl who simply come because we do NOT include all the other stuff EVERYONE else does.

We now can slowly open up the store as it were to include more things, yet still stay focused on one main aspect, the 360 and its future iterations.

We’ll get into the history of the Xbox as a system, yet it’s something I wanted to do straight off, but it has to wait.

Casual gaming is the same for MS, it needed to se=establish XboxLive as the forerunner on the net in console gaming – which it has done.

It needed to come in strong and establish strong connections with developers with easy to use dev tools to win over both dev and publishers alike, which it has done.

It needed to build a steadly growing userbase, and then by doing so, have a strong and substantial and continually growing attachment rate, which it is. Now they can begin to open up the other doors, the ones that they know will bring in more users, different users. As statistics show that those users are NOW at a place where they will accept such games in their loungerooms. Whereas before, even say 3-4 years ago, that was NOT the case.

So coming in earlier would not have been a viable thing to do. Two great books I’d recommend to anyone are, Dean Takahashi’s ‘Opening The Xbox’, and the excellent ‘Xbox 360 Uncloaked’, (two books I highly recommend any of the team read btw – you can borrow them off me if you like, but not my signed copy from Dean . .okay) as these show the huge amount of forethought that went into both the xbox and the 360 well before even the 1st-gen xbox hiut the stands.

Nearly 20m hardcore 360 owners exist currently and happily buy an average of 8 oranges/system. If MS could add a similar 20m casual owners that buy 5apples/system that only means good things for all.

Of course I would personally welcome a more advanced approach to motion controls whereby a hardcore audience is given the option if they so desire to utilise such controls with hardcore titles.

So long as they don’t take Sony’s Sixaxis approach and force motion controls unto hardcore genres, but rather offer specific motion titles or different control options for hardcore titles, I only see it as a good thing to further expand the 360′s base and strengthen MS as a key gaming leader.

It’s very much my view that Sony and MS have essentially split the hardcore market and will continue to do so. Online hardcore gamers leaning to MS and Media focused hardcore gamers to Sony (BluRay). Meanwhile the Wii is outselling both systems combined not by a percentage but by several multiples! It has the casual market all to itself.

If Sony or MS wish to extend their core user base beyond the hardcore they need to adapt. To capture the casual market, whom for which at the moment motion controls are very much a necessity. And whilst Nintendo currently enjoys a monopoly the 360 in particular could potentially have a lot of success competing on the basis of a significant cost advantage over Sony and the ability to match the Wii in price and outshine it in terms of hardware.

However, unlike Oz, I believe that MS need to go beyond the functionality of the Wii. There has to be a point of difference to justify a higher entry price (or for Wii owners, an additional system). I not only hope the technology is different but that the remote doesn’t look anything like the one pictured! Casual consumers are unlikely to notice the differentiation from the Wii. And whilst I don’t believe the Newton will replace the joypad, I do believe it should enhance hardcore gaming experiences. If the motion controls were something like that famously seen in Minority Report and based on the dexterity of the fingers rather than the Wii’s reliance on limbs, we could see the nature of strategy, sports and military based games changed significantly with mouse like controls. If further integrated with voice control (MS rumoured “Lips” peripheral and EndWar’s technology) there could be a true evolution in gaming control and player immersion.

So whilst I encourage and welcome the motion controls, I expect significant advancements over the Wii and the ability to not only attract the casual market but to get the support of the console’s hardcore base. If it is merely a carbon copy of the Wii, MS will be publicly crucified at E3 and the future of the console will be resigned to a hardcore machine. I have faith that MS does not intend this to be the case and can’t wait for E3!

The Newton is aimed at games specifically targeted to family fun and casual gaming, not FPS, TP Adventure, RTS games or racing games etc. If MS want to appeal to more broader audience, they need to open it up to those ppl who see joypads as freakish things that nerds use in their bedrooms.

Most families are familiar with the longer remote style controllers in their “lounge rooms” which is where both MS and Sony want to end up. NOT IN BEDROOMS people.

Gamers need to come to grips with the fact that gaming is no longer a bedroom activity as it once was. it’s a mainstream activity, and being that, it can no longer be targeted as a bedroom hobby game activity.

Just look at MS’s site, does it scream family, or nerdy ‘kids’ in bedrooms with lights off playing games at 2 am in the morning.

No, it shows families sitting in loungerooms, all enjoying something TOGETHER . . . So get over it, you’ve lost your viginity finally, and gaming has become mainstream, and with it comes change. Live with it.

End rant