The "they just support it" comment isn't 100% true. Ever since the Xbox MS has been money hatting heavily at both retail locations (I remember a solid year where everyone at gamestop wore ask me about the 360 placards around their necks among other things) and in media. That isn't to say that they are given HUGE deals (like getting 2.0 games rated as an 8) but they are given the benefit of the doubt more often then not because of the immense spending Microsoft does. Microsoft pays for a lot more of the attention it gets then most people seem to think. That is true not just in consoles but in almost everything else (Apple had a laptop release event and it was front page news and a national story a lot of places, when is the last time you saw fanfare over a Windows laptop rollout unless MS pays for it).
Some, like Apple, Nintendo and Sony get free press and recommendations, and some, like Microsoft, get paid press and recommendations.
Yes MS probably pays less for advertising in places like gamestop now since its more established in games (and the 360 sucks a little less then the orig xbox did) but the money hatting is still most definitely there in force.
Unfortunately all the money hatting in the world doesn't make the arcade anything more then a 3rd rate product. I mean I think the 360 in general is pretty badly made, but the Arcade is just a new low in quality. I would say the arcade is the sorriest package in the NES and later era, its just really bad in functionality and cheap construction. This fooling some parents into buying a bargain basement SKU that only looks like a good deal if you don't know how to read the fine print is just sad. The low end model should be the premium with reduced hard drive space and no included HDMI cord, that is low enough.
PSN ID: ChosenOne feel free to add me
