Word

MS has yet to make any money on Xbox. It only makes sense that they are going to try new areas of growth with it's successor. Not surprisingly the area MS wants to take it has huge potential for profit, and is in a area where they can excel. (software and hardware integration).

Fact is, when it comes out, unwanted features or not, it's going to do things besides play games. And I'm willing to bet it does it better then the PS3. (I'm sure it will do lots of things even the PS3 doesn't do.)

I'm interested to see how much this is going to cost.

Ask Sony what the PS3 will cost. There is your answer.

Don't forget.. Sony has very similar plans for it's next system too. In fact, they had plans to add all that to the PS2, but decided to hold off for it's successor.

The stuff that comes with the PS3 and xbox2 will be cool. Just as so many people enjoy the built in DVD player, people will enjoy built in basic photo editing. Don't expect Adobe photshop, but do expect a full interface for digital cameras and printers. You will be able to plug in your camera, create slideshows, edit, etc. and then if you choose it will allow you to hook it up to a printer, perhaps even a seperate xbox2/ps3 branded printer and let you print stuff out.

MS and Sony's goal is not move the PC to the living room, rather move certain PC abilities to "boxes" in the living room, abilities that make sense to have in the living room. With the adaptation of broadband and HDTV over the next few years the living room is about to become the "full monty" of multimedia in the homes. There is a TON of money to be made in these areas, with huge potential for growth. This is why Sony and MS are going this route. Some people will love it, others will hate it. It is coming.

Yep they're definitely coming, from everyone but Nintendo.

There success, IMO, will depend on price. If they launch at more than $299 they could be in trouble. Especially if Nintendo makes good on it's promise to launch at the same time and is smart enough to undercut them by $100 again and have a better launch line up this time.

In that scenario I imagine many gamers that only want to play games would opt for the cheaper gaming only Nintendo machine with the great launch lineup.

But I would be shocked if Nintendo launches at the same time or has a launch lineup with more than a couple decent games.

Hopefully Sony will price the PS3 at $299 (forcing MS to do the same) and this won't be an issue.

This is what I was about to do. Seriously though, if they're gonna put all that into the Xbox Next, you may as well buy a computer. It really won't be much more expensive. You'll have a better graphics processor too.

Ouch!

Microsoft pioneered the DX API in which the Xbox is using (DX 8 I believe). I would speculate that MS would continue this with their next installment whichever it happens to be at that time (DX 9, 10, etc.). In this case, all Xbox games will be playable on the Xbox 2 or "backwards compatible".