Xbox 360 Motion controller & Mii Confirmed! M$ will Win the war eventually!

[omoneru]

This is pretty much expected.

To counteract the success of Wii and Wii fit, MS needed to introduce four things at least; A. interface innovation and 3rd-party support for it, B. more reliable and compact hardware, C. price cut, D. success in Japan. MS folks are not dumb enough to not see that.

MS needed to make interface more intuitive possibly by incorporating motion-sensing xmote and voice recognition. It's not like Nintendo didn't expect that MS would do it; MS or anybody can pay for the motion-sensing patent (Gyration et al.). MS has long researched and developed voice recognition technology in their labs. Mii clone certainly helps it become a family console.

These new interfaces and features need to come along with a new build of xbox360 so new expanded-audiences won't see them as optional peripherals. (Incidentally, core gamers may also like these interfaces if they are inexpensive and provide them with immersive experience eg. FPS with xmote).

A new build is required also because MS needed to make the box slim, quiet, and less threatening to soccer moms so that it can be placed in living room. Wii was, from the very start of its development, specifically designed not to threaten moms because N knew moms were the gatekeeper for their future success. With Jasper or maybe Valhalla, they will achieve this with increased hardware reliability.

Better hardware reliability is also one of the keys to succeed in the Japanese market. In addition, MS has been working hard to gain more support from J developers, and it has started to pay off. Also, by this time, they should have learned well from their massive failure in their previous PR strategy in Japan.

But given all these, in Japan, it's still going to be a difficult fight to counter the power of Nintendo brand. It will take some time. But if these strategies are done right, MS may be able to establish themselves in Japan by the time when they release next console xbox 720 or whatever it'll be called.

All of these elements suggest that in regions other than Japan MS may steal some share of expanded audience from Nintendo in mid-2009 or 2010. But then again, Wii fit is a monster, so to speak.

Anyway, more competition I believe is generally good for us comsumers.