@Andyr2120: Answering myself - starting in 2008, Square Trade estimated that the new consoles failed less than 4% of the time in the first year, while the PS3 failed at 10% in the first two years and just 2.7% for the Wii. Note that was 1 year versus 2 years... If you see higher numbers, it must include the older…

@Polite Society: I don't have the exact number, but I recall that the recent models are finally on par with the other consoles. I'm talking about the 2009 models.

@The Real 31: Sounds more like they are addressing the issue of fragmentation here, but ok....

@knwldg: Me too. There are a lot of things you can do with Kinect while keeping both hands on the traditional controller. Head motion, facial gestures, voice commands, and body lean all come to mind. If you play standing up, you could crouch or jump, too.

@whatne1wuddo: Sarcasm fail.

@whatne1wuddo: If you want to be on the leading edge, there are going to be a few sacrifices along the way. Charge the phone and change the channel when it is done.

Speaking as a man who rarely watches TV, Google TV looks like the only thing likely to change my viewing habits. Not sure I like it, but I like it.....

@vapour: I'm going to wait until they are $20 used on Ebay and try it with software synths on my Mac. I'm hoping that a two-handed tapping technique would work on it.

@Who the eff is GlassAdam?: Marketing-speak. HSPA+ might be referred to as 3.5G in some quarters. Technically, LTE and WiMax are not considered to be true 4G, either.

There will probably be quite a few sales like this one. I'm hoping that they drop a game bundle on the new model for holiday sales, but that is probably wishful thinking.

@Kyuusei: It sounds like you can play for free, but they probably expect a significant percentage of players to opt for the upgraded package. So, nothing to fear, but plan on being assimilated...

@ithyphallus, 13382: My sarcasm detector is a little off today, but most of the hardcore games are probably best for single player experiences, and the Wii knock-offs are designed for multiple people because they would suck without a social component.

A lot of the demos were using two of the Move wands instead of one Move wand and one navigation controller. OK, so you need the $99 package and an additional $49 Move wand for a complete kit for one person. That's still $1 cheaper than Kinect, I guess... until you invite a friend over to play with you....

Definitely getting it. This takes the Wiimote several notches up - one for HD, another for Xbox Live, and a third and maybe also a fourth for the lack of holding a controller while I use it.

What games are bundled with it? That would make a huge difference on the product's value, but I'm probably getting one. The E3 demo was a good bit more impressive than I had expected.

This is what the 360 should have looked like when it came out years ago. It has more design follow-through from the original Xbox than the launch 360.

@Hell_yawn: Trusting a huge corporation to act on your behalf is not realistic. I don't care if we are talking about Apple, Google or anyone else - the urge to profit today outweighs the (more sensible) model of developing a long-term relationship with customers.

@Rzah: I was actually referring to more significant updates, but you've made your point.

@Thiago Peres: You realize that it takes a lot longer than 6 months to get an update from Apple, right?

@cbytes: there's an app... for that?