I don't think MS is afraid. I really do think they have a plan in place that they are comfortable with. And I don't think it's a case of Sony "You'll be happy to get a 2nd job to afford it. kind of arrogance.
I think they're planning on beating Sony on price and mass appeal. (Think 4GB price point and subscription plan with the $99 box, etc.) I still think the danger of them losing the dominance of the English-speaking prime markets of North America and UK are almost nil at this point. And frankly, they can make a profitable generation on just those markets like they did this time. (In fact, I'd be tempted to not put much of any resources into Japan this time around and strengthen Western appeal as much as possible.)
Whether this is all true is speculation of course, but I'm willing to wait and see what E3 brings on both sides before I pick winners and losers in the hype game. Even the "Always On" fiasco. We know zero details for sure, we don;t what the positives would be (which there must be or they wouldn't attempt it.) And I for one wouldn;t bet against them at this point.
People thought they were crazy when they bet on broadband for the original Xbox Live/Xbox and they ended up being right. We thought they were crazy when they were paying for Gold versus opening everything for free, and from a business decision, they were right. We thought they were dead in the water with RROD, and they rebounded stronger than ever. We thought they were dead with "only" a handful of exclusives, that sold great and helped them grow. They thought they were crazy on Kinect, and while core gamers weren't impressed, as a business decision, they were right (at least so far - especially if they can keep broadening its usage to Windows and beyond gaming.)
The death of the Xbox brand has been greatly exaggerated at this point.
Can't we all just get along and play our games in peace?
