Bizarrely enough a Nintendo platform (where Nintendo always make money on hardware from day 1), the Wii, only opens up this possibility further as it’s demonstrated that the next-generation does not have to be defined with a box with a lot of expensive new technology in it.

He’s talking rubbish about handhelds of course, that’s a completely different market but consoles, yeah it’s a matter of time.

I hope that they tried to team up with Sony before they decided to create their own console.

And what exactly does he mean with “dedicated games devices”? The PSP sure ain’t a dedicated games device and neither is the 360.

If I was a Microsoft shareholder I would have to question the wisdom of projects like Xbox and Zune from the point of view of maximising my share value and dividend. To those outside the industry, they must just seem like massive money pits. And even when those same shareholders see the commercial success of Halo 3, surely some of them are going to ask whether the same amount of money couldn’t have been made just by publishing the game on the Playstation 3 and PC instead.

Then again, Sony and Nintendo have made very, very successful and profitable businesses out of making games consoles and games, so it’s not like the industry as a whole is fundamentally flawed.