Traditionally, the xbox has been thought of as a console for hardcore gamers.  However, I think they are thinking of competing with Nintendo instead of Sony for the top spot in this industry in the years to come and this may have them rethinking their market position.  There was some evidence of that at E3 when half their press conference focused on things like avatars and online game shows.  Well, I watched their most recent CES keynote last night, and it seems that they spent four minutes talking about the 360's recent successes and the new Halo games, a couple of minutes talking about Netflix, five minutes talking about their upcoming online game shows and the next five minutes talking about Kudo which was apparently developed by a 12 year old girl.

     Do you think Microsoft is changing their strategy from being the hardcore console to trying to be a system that competes for a Wii type audience and  what do you think of that?  

I think they realize that their traditional market is a limited one and that they need to branch out if they want to have longevity and mass market success. It seems like every big Xbox exclusive is rated M, so it's tough to blame them for trying to tap a new market. Whether or not they'll succeed... we'll see.

What they're doing now is basically just practice, testing the waters and experimenting. The real new direction will come with their next generation console.

Yes they are... but phailing at it, it's impossible to compete with nintendo without a motion sensing control...

I dont think its necessarily a new direction. The casual apsect is being integrated....an addition moreso. There will be hard core games and casual. Its not as if everything in 09 and beyond will be Lips, Scene It, Kameo and Viva Pinata spinoffs.

There will be plenty more fables, Mass Effect, Lost Oddysees, Bioshocks, halos, and Gears! OH MY

It'll be good, more sales = more content = more win.