How to stay tops

So how can Microsoft keep its current lead in the console wars? It's actually doing a lot that is positive already but we do have a few suggestions:

Price Cut To $299 For Main Xbox 360 By Summer 2007

Microsoft has kept the price of $399 for the Xbox 360 main system (the one with the included 20 GB hard drive) for over a year but Nintendo's Wii console has seen solid sales for the past few months, thanks in part to its $249 price point. We think that if Microsoft is to continue to compete with the surging Wii console it must make a price cut, and a fairly drastic one, before the fall buying season. We think that lowering the price by this summer will continue to keep the Xbox 360 competitive at a time when it needs it most. Although the Xbox division is still losing money, Microsoft can’t afford to give away huge chunks of the market to Nintendo.

All Future Xboxes Must Come With A Hard Drive

It was a flat out mistake to give consumers the "choice" of a console with either a hard drive or without one when the Xbox 360 was launched, especially when Microsoft was trying to emphasize the Xbox Live features of the console. We think Microsoft should just do away with the Xbox 360 Core system and make all future Xbox 360 consoles with the hard drive.

Lower price of the 20 GB Hard Drive; Offer Bigger Drive

As a corollary to our previous point, we think the $100 price tag for the Xbox 360 hard drive is way too pricey. It's time that the price be lowered by half and that Microsoft offer a 60 or even an 80 GB hard drive for a $100 price. We think this will spur more downloads of Xbox 360 add-ons along with more downloads of movie and TV shows. More microtransactions via Microsoft points means more money for the company.

More Microsoft 360 News Inside The Console

Microsoft has done a bang up job with getting info about their Xbox 360 on various web sites; however we think it would be even more effective if people could fire up their Xbox 360 console and get info about upcoming events in the user interface. Why there isn't a "News" section in the Xbox 360 UI is a question we have had for some time. It certainly would eliminate the middle man.

Keep Quality Control And Customer Service High

There isn't anything worse for an Xbox 360 owner than seeing the dreaded "red ring of light" when he or she boots up the console. Microsoft has taken hits for how they have treated these kinds of problems in the past (especially when a major dashboard update is released) so its imperative that when these issues come up they treat the customer well, fix or replace their console with a minimal of problems and generally keep Xbox 360 gamers happy.

Keep Up Their Solid 2007 Release Schedule

This year, more than any other, is crucial for Microsoft to prove that it can keep up its promising exclusive and semi-exclusive game line-up. 2007 currently has games scheduled like Crackdown, Too Human, Forza Motorsport 2, BioShock, Shadowrun, Mass Effect and of course Halo 3 that will either come out only on the Xbox 360 or between the 360 and PC platforms. These games are all looking like they will be great additions to the console's library.