7/10 as a gaming system 8/10 overall (home theater Netflix/TV apps included)
Pros: Splinter Cell Conviction, L4D, Alan Wake (all great looking games I will buy for PC). Metal Gear Rising (multiplatform)
Cons: Natal doesn't look good for the Core user. Some applications demonstrated look very poor and absurd. The skateboarding was the most interesting to me, but then why not just ride a skateboard in real life than pretending to jump around in your living room. It would get to tiring fast and I could see people breaking stuff. Tony Hawks new board at least looks better than imagining to skate. Still no reason for me to get a 360. MS may have dropped the ball on Natal, the concept is very unique to use your body as a controller but it needs a killer app like Wii Sports to capture people. I didn't see one. I guess time will tell if it takes off like the Wii. The voice control for starting movies and turning off the system is cool though. If it costs $150+ or half as much as the console that would be very bad.
Netflix improves to 1080p video. Is surround sound still stereo only? Is the video bit-rate still half of blu-ray? Some people aren't as critical of the difference. Still it's likely an improvement over what they have now so thats why I gave it an extra point above. And the virtual couch feature to watch the same stuff at the same time as your friends is neat too.
