Welcome to Gaia! ::

I was just wondering what other's think about the areas that each big 3 company could improve upon to make things better for the consumer.

This isn't supposed to be a "bash ____" thread or anything. I have my biases, but I'm leaving them at the door for a civil logical discussion about the industry.

1)Sony - They really have some work to do to regain the trust developers and consumers once had in them, because their business is all about having a great selection of titles that appeals to everyone. I think the PSone and PS2 had a wonderful catalog of titles, but unless things continue to change like they seem to be, the PS3 could end up being odd man out without proper developer support.

Also, the online integration and commerce aspect could be retooled and tweaked to make the whole experience way better, though Home seems like an interesting start.

2)Microsoft - Outside of the obvious "fix design flaws or improve your busted-a** repair system", Microsoft's biggest hurtle is a combination of myopic design choices, and a lack of support from European and Asian developers. The Japanese market for the 360 is still a joke, and a good portion of that could be fixed by making a system that isn't so huge and unsightly, and just buckling down and dumping some cash to get more top tier popular Japanese titles.

Lost Odyssey and Devil May Cry 4 are steps in the right direction, but until we start seeing titles that sell systems the way Crisis Core did with the PSP, there isn't much hope for a legitimate Japanese presence.

3)Nintendo - 2 major things: new IPs, and support of the non-casual gamer. They have the benefit of being insanely popular worldwide, and having a huge install base on the DS and Wii, yet they're settling for casual fluff because it makes a quick buck, and popular franchise rehashes.

When the developer of Smash Bros Brawl is fed up with Nintendo's lack of new IPs, then you KNOW there's a problem.

Nintendo: Make games for wide variety of ages and not mainly general. Being less paranoid about online would be good.

Sony: Bring more fresher titles. A bit more focus on PSP games quality.

Microsoft: Limit the location benefits. Widen the variety of games.