THE reality behind Xbox 360 is worse than Microsoft would have people believe. Microsoft uses NPD at the moment to throw out there some US-only figures to flatter itself and pretend it's a leader. Microsoft has done this a lot recently. It's the same old story [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. The reality is that outside the US, buying Microsoft is not buying from a "local" company and in Poland, for instance, people are angry at Microsoft [1, 2] because of Xbox, not just issues like racism.
Reggie Fils-Aime, President and Chief Operating Officer of Nintendo of America, has never really been one to mix his words and he's given his honest opinion on both Microsoft's Project Natal and Sony's PlayStation Move in one stinging retort.
When speaking to Kotaku on the subject of Sony and Microsoft playing catch-up, he said "I think we would have been embarrassed to do what our competitors are currently doing."
A recent patent application describes a process in which an Xbox Live gamer, invited to a multiplayer session, but missing a critical piece to play (a map, a track, whatever), is offered and may buy it without dropping the invitation.
Dubbed the "Automated Direct Transaction and Delivery System", this new patent would automatically detect whether a player has the required content to play in a particular session, whether online or offline.