Don't know about "casuals", but MS is trying to be the living room/entertainment king, period. I hate agreeing with a troll like Pachter, but the Wii U was at least 1 yr late, for what it's all about (specs, gamepad, etc). I'll thoroughly enjoy my U, so its fine for me personally, but they dropped the ball on specs once again, so it will, once again, be a secondary nintendo exclusive console.
Nintendo right now is too comfortably fat off of Wii & handheld success... Sony is trying to survive, could be the most powerful & appealing to hardcore...but MS is aiming for the throne, and I think they have the momentum. It'll be interesting to see how big Win 8 & surface will be a part of the 720 experience. i think Microsoft needs them tied together, to flourish against the mobile market.
