Last generation the Xbox was the new kid on the block. Watching as they tried to cobble together a significant first party group of developers was a bit painful. Sure, there were some gems like Halo, Fable, Mechassault and Crimson Skies, but overall the original Xbox had a ton of titles that were overly ‘hip’ attempts at regurgitating what had been done before.

While I think the Xbox brand has made some great strides this generation in refining games like Fable and growing some great new intellectual properties like Mass Effect, Gears of War and Crackdown, simply going from third place to second is not comforting enough when they have let their first party go to pot.

I think Microsoft might really have a problem in the next few years, as Sony has introduced a number of strong brands and padded their first party, while Microsoft have had people like Bungie leaving the fold, closed down studios like FASA and Ensemble and failed to follow up on successful titles like Crimson Skies and Mechassault.

I think in the end the console war does not really mean squat in the grand scheme of things, but I do think that the prospects for the next Xbox may be bleak, creatively and in terms of output, unless Natal catches on hugely and all the third parties continue to see the Xbox as 'the' platform to put their games on.

Maybe Microsoft should ask Sony how well things go when you assume third party support for your system before launching the next Xbox system.

Sony came into this generation with the assumption that third parties would flock to their titles simply based on their past domination of the games industry. With this thought in mind, Sony decided to pursue risky new intellectual properties that would give them more of an arsenal in the long run, but in the short term would leave them putting all their chances of success on untested brands. This was a risky move that, when combined with the high price of the system, made the PS3 a less attractive system to the average gamer for it's first few years in the market.

In many ways the boat has sailed on the biggest gun in Microsoft’s holster. Bungie has moved on, and while they are continuing to make Halo games for the moment, they can not be counted on to continue to do so in the long run. For many loyal Xbox fans, the idea of someone other than Bungie taking over the reins of the Halo franchise seems a bit scary, even if the team contains a number of people who worked on Halo over the years.

As a Microsoft fan, I would as them to take a step back from their relentless pursuit of third party success, and take a more measured approach. I would suggest that Microsoft not just pad their second party offerings, but buy some studios and invest the time and money in creating new IP’s or bringing back old IP’s to create a stronger “Xbox Only” brand. If they do not, then they risk having the public perceive them as having a console that mostly has games that you could buy on any system, while Sony and Nintendo have a crop of titles that you could only play buy owning their system.

This is just a little advice. Hopefully someone at Microsoft is listening.