The next fight between Microsoft & Apple is the box sat by your TV. Microsoft have XBox, Apple have the Apple TV. In my opinion the other fights have:

Work PC - Microsoft

Home computer - Apple

Mobile devices - Apple

Music devices - Apple

Home entertainment - ????

I have just bought an xbox kinect. The whole interface is amazingly solid. The voice recognition, the movement tracking. All of it, just works… It even has facial recognition.

I enter the room, it signs me in. They have even taken the care to make it all work with other apps. Last.FM for example. “xbox play”, “xbox next”, “xbox stop”. You don’t even need to shout. And that is while the song is playing… increased background noise. But it still works. The body tracking is also excellent.. Yes it doesn’t track small things (fingers etc) but what it does track it tracks very well. Menu navigation via tracking is surprisingly easy, especially if you angle the kinect to the sofa and stay seated… ;)

It really is an extremely good quality product from Microsoft. The Xbox is the one thing I think Microsoft still does extremely well. I have had a ps3, and I still have a wii, but the Xbox is the only console I use on a regular basis. Why?

The user interface is so smooth, the graphics are great, and the games are great. Wii = poor games, ps3 = unintuitive interace, but great as a media centre.

With the launch of the kinect I strongly think Microsoft currently make the best consoles. Families often discount Xbox thinking it is for ‘gamers’ only. Until yesterday I would have agreed with you. But pair it with a Kinect and you have an all round excellent device (could do with better network video compatibility).

This then made me think a bit further and with the recent launch of ATV2. I would put money on the fact that one day in some form we will see apps on the ATV2. Whenever Apple have ‘perfected’ the SDK. What they also need to do is allow the usb to be used by apps…

Think of the possibilities, mic / webcam…

Don’t get me wrong I am not talking about gaming, gaming… just casual gaming.

So I have made some pros and cons of each of the options:

Wii

  + family fun
  - very poor as home entertainment
  - no longer feels ‘futuristic’
  - poor online gaming

PS3

  + excellent for home entertainment
  - PSN is not very good (personal opinion, feels clunky)
  - not many family games 
  - move does not feel ‘futuristic’ any more than wii

XBox

 + excellent for home entertainment
 + Xbox live is excellent, well worth the extra money
 + Kinect will introduce family games (that is obvious with the starting lineup)
 + kinect feels ‘futuristic’

AppleTV (with apps)

  + home entertainment is priority
  + game center for online gaming
  + loads of pick up an play games
  ? needs something to make gaming really stick and ‘futuristic’

Casual gaming seems to be all about easy to do, and futuristicness..
The problem with all the consoles now is still discs…
I strongly believe that the Xbox currently dominates home gaming… Microsoft could make it better at being a home entertainment centre… or Apple could let the ATV2 have apps… Only time will tell.