Are you a graphical enthusiast? Come have a listen......

[De85]

What Microsoft did, was bad for the market, and it's also responsible for bad ports on the PlayStation 3 and even bad graphics on Wii, by making developers too lazy to make their own engines for their own specific purposes by using their talents.

It's not just developers fault, costs have skyrocketted and a simple solution like this doesn't look too bad, but it's hurting the industry. When they acept this stagnated position, they leave room for the PlayStation 3 to catch up, and surpass, by the natural evolution that the previous mentioned "learning curve" brings.

This is a double edged sword, because if every dev had to make their own engine then costs would be even higher than they are now.  With that in mind what Microsoft did was good for the market, and is helping it stay afloat.