Microsoft & Old Spice

After the "unforseeable" surge in traffic to the Microsoft / Old Spice challenge, I have to say that if MS can get their stuff together, they may have a good strategy here.  It looks like now that people are signed up for the whole reward challenge thing, many companies can sponsor a challenge to their target audience.  If Under Armor wants to sponsor a Madden/NCAA football challenge, it looks like they can under this new system.  Aside from a Sony-esque launch, this may be a piece one of the 4 things that MS needs to do to dominate this generation of consoles.  Here are those four things:

• Continue to foster a strong community.  When it was PS2 vs. the Xbox the xbox folks were a tight knit group.  There was an Xbox identity.  MS must continue to foster that feeling, while expanding the people that it encompasses.  If you can get my wife to identify herself as someone who loves what the 360 does in her life (which it looks like she is starting to do), then you have added a member of a community.  The Rewards program can continue to keep hard core gamers interested, while allowing MS to also reach out to everyone else.
• Continue world-class game development.  When I was rocking out to my NES and SNES, I was also secretly wishing I could play Sonic and Altered Beast at home.  As 3rd party exclusives continue to die, 1st and 2nd party games (those by MS and its cohorts, respectively) become very important.  Obviously, GoW was a huge hit and H3 will be a system seller.  But don't count on Sony to roll over and die quietly.  They will have good games.  The question is who will have more?
• Develop and release new technology. And do this without alienating your installed user base.  If MS releases a new 360 with a 120 Gb hard drive and then expects me to shell out $300 for it as an add-on, they can kiss my shiny metal... anyway.  I would like to see either an enclosure or external support so we can determine our own storage needs.  I'm sure that the media companies that allow movie and TV downloads are making this hell, but MS needs to find a way to make this happen.
• Drop the price already.  Hey, Microsoft, you're in the lead, Sony has dropped the ball, and Wii, while a great device, doesn't compete with what you do. Here's what you do: Press X to curbstomp.  We all know that you're now profiting from the 360 and that's a good thing, but don't let a $50 per 360 now keep you from having the largest install base and game revenues for years to come.  It's time to drop the price and get that next level of gamers into the fold.  You have the early adopters who aren't Sony and Nintendo Fanboys already, don't slow the momentum.  Give it the gas and leave Sony wondering if they should drop the price and lose more money or just start selling the PS3 at Bang and Olafson.