Maybe I'm overreacting. I've dutifully replaced my 360 each time it's died. I'm not (really) coming down on the Xbox, as I am still a huge fan of the games they're putting out for the system, and because even when I'm pissed off about gaming I'm still a gamer and I need my daily Oblivion fix. I'm not just pointing at Microsoft, either: there are just as many questions and issues with the Playstation 3, but since I don't have as much hands-on time with that console I can only speak from what I've heard from others.

I was even thinking about upgrading to a shiny new Elite, figuring that a lot of the bugs had been ironed out. The message boards are already lit up, though, less than a week after launch, with more horror stories and problems. Even if only a percentage of them are accurate, after spending that much money on something you'd expect a pretty high chance of it working without any problems.

Is there any easy answer? Probably not. Unfortunately, I think we as an industry have painted ourselves into a corner when it comes to technology. Now that we've put DVD players and hard drives and music playback into our consoles, if someone were to pull them out we'd see them as stepping backwards, even if taking out some of this stuff would help them create a better console in the long run. They say we need backwards compatibility, because people want it even though hard numbers show that les that 5% of people play previous generation games on their new consoles.

Since one manufacturer makes a big deal out of it, though, all must follow suit regardless of any technical hit they may take in the process. Personally, I'd rather give up the chance to play an old game on my new hardware if it means that said new hardware will function better. Competition has gotten much more fierce, though, one-upmanship has become standard, and the manufacturers are convinced that gamers want bigger and better and faster and stronger, mostly because those happen to be the loudest and most outspoken gamers. Ironically, they're also the first ones on the message boards flipping out over the issues they're having.

If this was true, though, and all gamers wanted were better graphics and sound and such, then why is the Wii stomping the competition? Maybe it is just some remote-waving fad, but right now I'd say that innovation is trumping graphics, and fun is outselling DVD playback and MP3 support. On a smaller scale, the DS is running dual-screened circles around the PSP, proving that fun and gameplay still wins out over technology and features.

So, a message to the next next-generation of consoles: Take your time. Make sure that everything works like it should, that your technicians actually know how to build and use the stuff you're shoving into your machine. We can live that extra year or two with our "outdated" 360's and PS3's while you get it right.

Plus, when those break down, I can always go downstairs and play on my NES.