If I was MS:

- Get the price of the Arcade to $199 ASAP and ride out this generation, building on the market of the original Xbox.
- Get the NextBox out in 2010.
- Launch the unit at $299 with ONE MODEL. Do not take a significant loss on hardware.
- Breakaway controller. Make it look like a traditional controller that splits in two and works like a Wiimote/Nunchuck. Best of both worlds.
- Buy SEGA or another respected Japanese company and rebrand the unit for Japan. Either that or license the unit to Toshiba, Panasonic, etc.

If I was Sony:

- Scrap the PSP. Either plan for a replacement unit that comes in at $149 or scrap the line entirely. Make it sleek, make it game-focused, and give it some cool features.
- Keep on truckin' with the PS3. Get the price down and put BC back into the unit, whether it be software or hardware. Stop screwing over customers and put a little consumer faith back in the PS brand name.
- Fire the entire PR department, especially that douche Peter Dille.
- Make it about the games. Stop promoting shit 2 years in advance and get consumers excited about the present. Don't try to compete with the Wii on its turf, make yourself a viable alternative with a completely different experience.
- Try as hard as possible to get the PS4 out in 2011 and keep it to one model at $299, just like MS and the NextBox. Do not take a significant loss on hardware.
- Fix PSN. Get it on par with XBL (don't think this will happen, though. Sony's strong point is not software design and interfaces).

If I were MS I'd buy Apple's designers out from under them, have them make a sexy, looking console with intuitive controls.
Have it be small, light coloured, and quiet.
Sell if for not more than $299 at launch and not at a loss, even if it means conceding technical superiority to Sony (the most powerful system has never won anyway).
Rip Apple TV for it.
And change the brand from Xbox to something more mainstream like XXX box, or Fun box, or imedia.

Hmmmm.... my name must be Steve Jobs.

If I were Sony I'd forget about graphic superiority, and make a system developers want to develop on (easy!) and people want to play on (fun)
heavy use of internet/downloadable stuff
intuitive controls
perhaps explore 3d vertual reality gameplay
Focus half the 1st party stuff on mass market the other half on core

I quit.....LOL

Fire the entire PR department, especially that douche Peter Dille

HAha

XXX box

no. just no...

If I were the head of MS I would start by testing the consoles more thoroughly before shipping them :P

If I was the head of Sony I would make sure as much BC as possible is included in every console shipped. Software BC is ok but shipping PS3 without any BC isn't ( especially when it's software, adding software BC to the 40G would cost Sony NOTHING).

I think rocketpig has it right.

Sony I can't seem dominating the market again for a while. With the PS3 10 year life span and all...they will go head to head with 360 until ms releases xbox 720. Then they have a big turkey on their hands...

for either company, release console at $300, do not worry about making it super powerful as they can already do hi def and in the ps3's case 1080p (unsure if 360 can do this, especially with limited disc space). release big time franchises at launch or very shortly after.

for microsoft, don't put out a system with 30% fail rate, put a hard drive and wifi into every system. have a controller that doesn't require normal batteries batteries, just internal rechargeable like in a hand held.

for sony, have full, or close to full, backwards compatibility in every system. by then they should have an online experience close to microsofts, but keep improving on it. if 6 axis doesn't pan out like it could, drop it (like it's hot, I know bad pun) and stick to just normal gaming.

I'll release a next gen console with tech specs comparable to that of our competitors, and set the MSRP at $1.

Hey, you hired me to gain at least 60% of the console market.

I suppose the key to this is the answering the underlying question "What can you do to improve a console that will motivate someone to buy into the 'Next Generation'?"

You can see how this has impacted the current generation being that the meaningful improvement in gameplay offered by raw processor performance from the previous generation to the current generation is one of the smallest improvements ever; this isn't to say that the processing power did not improve as much as in previous generations (Sony and Microsoft did a good job of improving hardware afterall), it just points out the obvious fact that offered almost all of the gameplay features of current generation games in some form. Being that raw performance could not motivate consumers on the level of previous generations, people bought into the Wii because of its new and inovative user interface.

Where I think Microsoft can really shine in the next generation is by providing a game which seemlessly integrates into XBox Live and converts the potential of online-gameplay into the reality of online gameplay. By taking the building blocks of Massively multiplayer games and Sandbox games Microsoft may be able to produce something with explosive potential; imagine a game that takes place in a city where if you choose to you can go down the path to becomming a criminal (like Grand Theft Auto or The Godfather), you could choose to set up a legitimate (or not so legitimate) business within the city, you could drive around street racing or just go skateboarding, or you could just spray grafitti (or dozens of other potential playstyles included). The freedom of being able to truely play however you want to play, combined with the social interaction of a MMO game would be heavily addictive ...