Microsoft will win the console war

Who are we kidding? Nintendo has already gone back to its "I'm really a toy" Famicom roots with the Wii. Games will be specialized on it, and they'll keep going with these innovations. But they'll be like Apple, an also-ran with great implementation and design.

People who criticize Sony for their short-term supply issues are missing the point. Sony continues to sell the PSP and PS2. The PS3 will continue to drop in price, ever so slowly, as Sony creates another gigantic beast. The idea is turning a luxury item into something within grasp. Quite brilliant, but they will fail. One problem? Aside from their arrogance, they have made crucial design mistakes in the PS3. Not including certain key elements of the lower-end model prevents users from simply upgrading later. Add it to the heaping pile of crappy press, and Sony is burning bridges faster than ever. Only continuing the PS2 gives them a toehold. The PSP doesn't necessarily mesh as an ecosystem with the PS3. Why not make UMD's a subset of Blu-ray and have them playable on your PS3?

But Microsoft made a brilliant decision cranking out the 360 a year early. Who cares this year about noisy fans, superhot power supplies, or backwards-compatibility? People love the Live aspects, and they love the games for the 360. Those lucky enough to know someone who has it set up know how cool it is to "extend" their Media Center stuff. The 360 really stands on its own as an entertainment center. The timing is genius, because Microsoft can now leverage a flurry of upcoming peripherals and Vista tweaks towards whatever shape the next Xbox takes. Make no mistake, the Zune could sport a touch-screen, the Xbox could be more portable, and both could extend a media/gaming ecosystem (via XNA and the multitude of platforms MS now supports, including, believe it or not, SPOT) beyond anything Sony, Apple, Nintendo, Nokia, etc. could imagine.