Microsoft did it, they entered into a market that already had 3 major players in it. Helps that one died off in the process, and now they’re at the helm to try and win the console wars in 2006, however, they rushed the Xbox 360, and I think they’ve missed some vital components that would have let them stay strong.

1. Full HD Support. I’d want HDMI and DVI out of the box, with support for 1080p in several games.

2. Full backwards capability. They’re able to do it, but instead of a broad virtualization, they focused on their best selling titles, though they missed a few that the fans enjoy enough to want to replay.

3. XBMC. If Microsoft really wanted their console to be the clear winner, they should have integrated XBMC into their software instead of the Media Center software that has severe limitations.

4. Moddable Hardware. Stick to putting the security on the software and protecting Xbox Live, people like to find multiple uses for hardware that costs them a pretty penny like that. It’s what made the first Xbox so appealing in the first place.

5. Stronger launch titles. The first Xbox had Halo, one of the best FPS games for consoles. The 360 had a myriad of games, but nothing that really stuck out. Most of the games that were ready for launch were either slightly beefed up versions of Xbox titles, or woefully inadequate 360 titles. Call of Duty 2, while being a great PC game, still looks better on the PC tha the 360, and the gameplay doesn’t really improve since it was designed for a PC instead of a console.

6. HD-DVD/Blu-Ray. Choose one, and use it, help solve the damn battle and back someone. It’d be the latest and greatest piece of hardware out there.

7. Bug-free hardware. Power supply overheating, discs not playing when in the vertical position (despite every promo shot of the 360 showing it in a vertical position, their tech support says that it wasn’t designed to be played in that orientation). These little glitches seem like they should have been worked out back in the development stage.

8. Media & Music Stores. You have a micropayment plan that rivals iTunes, put it to use. Slap a larger hard drive on the machine (say, 100 GBs) and have deals set up to purchase TV Shows in HD, and music albums that people can put on their iPods via their 360.

9. Wireless Keyboard & Mouse. Add in a web browser, or at least a simple e-mail client, for those who want a full media device, but not a computer.

10. Supply. They could have easily shifted half the supply they allocated for Japan to the US, that would have made a few more happy gamers on Christmas. Now, if they had fixed all the problems noted, and had a launch RPG that was designed by the Final Fantasy guy, they may have needed a larger supply for Japan. Microsoft is the black sheep in the console family over there, as that’s Sony & Nintendo’s home turf.

Now, if one wanted to start their own console, they’d want to check out this book.