wow

i had to pinch myself when 909 posted without bashing on the 360 im might impressed. and i agree with you, most consoles break because of those problems but not always. just ask deftech, i went through 5 dreamcasts and 3 xboxs.
its easy to see how much casual gamers means when you think about how mainstream gaming became with the ps1. hate to admit it but sony really exploded the gaming market to the masses and before then it was mainly centered on the hardcore gamer. yes more quality games were released then but the gross income of the industry was nothing compared to what it is now.
both deftech and carlo (see got the nick right) are also right. its not hard to believe that a lot of people were influenced into buying games like GTA because of what they from their friends/peers. and what carlo has stated is probably exactly what MS is thinking when they chose this pricing plan. this way it can be made easier to get more 360s into more homes and still not leave out the hardcore market which is what they truly are catering for.