4 Things MS could do to really sell great this holiday, and take the wind out of Sony's sales.
1. Advertise Backwards Compatibilty. I think this one is a given for MS. Anyone who is in retail will tell you how big of a feature this actually is. It won't just boost software sales, but anyone on the fence about buying a console this holiday might make their final decision based on this alone. This is the type of feature will gain traction by word of mouth. Please don't tell me, "But it's only 100 games!" Do you really think casuals will care? In the end more games will be added so that argument doesn't hold much weight.
2. Bundle Rare Replay with all holiday consoles. This will give MS the advantage of saying, "Buy our console which already comes with 30 games in the box!" Let alone, 30 awesome classic games. Any parent who walks into the store looking for a new console for Timmy, would be hard to pass up 30 games already ready to go compared to maybe 1 or 2 by the competitor.
3. The Xbox elite controller. Don't tell me those 13 year olds crazy over Cod don't want a controller like this. All of them want any type of advantage they can possibly have, even if that means just 3 extra kills. They will beg their poor parents to buy them the Elite controller. Some might say, "But it's $150 why would you buy that?" Most controllers with similar features run for $200+, and you're getting an official controller by MS, not some 3rd party company.
4. Holiday lineup. MS has the upperhand in their offering this holiday. There is nothing Sony is offering that can go toe-to-toe with Tomb Raider, Forza 6, and Halo 5. All MS needs to do is push those three games heavily, along with of the things I've already mentioned and they're good to go. MS will already have the retailer support like Gamestop, Best buy, etc. simply because of backwards compatibility.
I'm not saying MS will win the holiday, but it will make it a hell of a lot more interesting if they do the following.