I think the next Xbox will have to move into full 3D.  3D with what they are going to do with Kinect would be awesome! But, the standards aren't really there yet, HDMI 1.4 is a good step, but seems insufficient now that I have been spoiled by some really good tech.  Plus, monitors are already moving beyond 1080P and the new consoles will need even more amazing graphic power.

I know I'm kinda spoiled, but I don’t enjoy going from my 120Hz monitor, to 60 frames per second per eye.  It shows up and make artifacts and just isn't quite good enough for me yet.

Now, soon, hopefully they will be getting better at making 3D without glasses.  That would really be a boon - 3D TV with no glasses. :D

last year , PS3 slim was the reason that sony won the HD holiday battle for the first time . xbox 360 had nothing special to show , but this year its totaly the opposite , Xbox 360 will be the winner . but after a couple of months in 2011 , they will sell pretty close

I'm surprised the new 360 has been this well received.  This holiday won't be the Nintendo Show of previous years.  PS3 will still win a week or two and finish 2nd a few more.  Nov. with Kinect on the 2nd, GT5 on the 4th then AC:Brotherhood, Black Ops, LBP2, NFS, Crysis etc. will be crazy.  You'd think they could have found a better date for The Last Guardian than Nov. 1st.  A lot of good games are gonna get buried.

I still don't expect Reach to move much HW although the bundle looks hot.  GT5 is the first HD version of the franchise and that week should have been a sure win for Sony.  With Kinect who knows?  360 SW will be just fine.  The old 360's being traded in will be sold eventually and PS3 SW didn't spike immediately after the Siim launch. 

Its not an inverse of 2009. There's still going to be heavy competition from Sony and Nintendo, so I don't think its going to be total domination. 

Early adopters tend to be core users, which for platform refreshes tends to be people upgrading who already own a version of the platform.  It was the same for PS3 slim launch, go back and look at it's first four weeks of software sales... PS3 software didn't really start growing appreciably until the holidays and spring following slim's summer debut, I'm guessing it'll be the same for 360 S/software.

There are roughly 1.5 to 2 million first generation dying XBoxes out there (most of which have been refurbished at least once through the RRoD cycle). All these units are being replaced this and next year. It is really not surprising to see high sales on hardware without any change in software sales. My guess is roughtly 95% of all slim sales (above the baseline) are users replacing their first gen XBox.

Agreed, but it's worth pointing out PS3 slim had the exact same phenomenon upfront (huge hardware bump, negligible software change).  Regardless of RROD, I think this is just how it goes generally for platform refreshes, the early adopters tend to be the platform faithful.

I leave for a few weeks and now Xbox 360 is ruling the galaxy!