Well, I think your following statements are "absolutely absurd falsehoods."

: I believe people who have little to no interest in games will in fact buy one
: of these.

: For some people, the non-gaming features will be very compelling factors in
: deciding. For others, those bonuses will factor far less than the
: exclusive titles. You can't assume others think like you (or even most
: people - if anything, you've demonstrated repeatedly that you're a
: minority).

What possible advantages does the XBO provide the average non-gaming consumer that would be worth the asking price of $500 (+$60/year for XBL Gold, which is needed to access these features)? In a world with smart TVs, smart Blu-ray players (which can be bought for less than $150), other more affordable set-top boxes (Roku's most expensive model and Apple TV both go for $99 normally), and other alternatives, are a couple of additional apps and motion/voice controller enough for the average non-gaming consumer to fork out half a grand plus another additional subscription fee? Is "The Experience" really worth five times as much to a non-gaming household as what they would get with a smart BD player or a Roku 3? Maybe some people that have a shitload of money and can just blow that kind of scratch because "hey, why not?" will get it just out of curiosity or for bragging rights or whatever. But for the average person, most of whom would consider spending $500 on something to be a serious investment, well, I would think the vast majority wouldn't bother spending that kind of money on what will be for non-gamers just a really fancy smart BD player. I guarantee you that nearly all XBO sales will be by households that have gamers. Non-gaming households that will own an XBO will probably amount to no more than 0.1% of all sales, which is rather trivial. $500 for "The Experience" is likely too much for them. All but a maybe a tiny handful of non-gaming households will ignore the system and won't be swayed by the ads. The idea that non-gamers will latch onto the XBO in any substantial number is beyond far-fetched.

Gamers are still the primary and likely only audience for these machines. I'll admit the possibility that Microsoft probably wasn't targeting non-gamers with that ad but rather trying to just target gamers who are also football fans (there is obviously significant overlap between the gamer demo and the football-watching demo). MS needs to do a lot — and I mean a lot — to convince gamers who have no brand loyalty that the $100 higher asking price (almost entirely a consequence of bundling the Kinect) is worth it. It is absolutely essential that they make its non-gaming functions look so strong, so mind-blowing, so indispensable that gamers just couldn't live without it ever again. I think this first commercial failed in that regard (then again, I'm not much of a football fan), but they still have a good while to convince people that the system is worth $500 (there's still two months until launch, and the ad war won't end there). And convince them they must, because otherwise that price point is going to hurt them. Whether it's gamers who have no brand loyalty or parents who are buying a system for their kid, they're going to see two systems that both get most of the most popular games (COD, Assassin's Creed, Battlefield, etc.), but one is charging $100 more because it also has a camera bundled. Many if not most probably don't care about anything other than the games (keep in kind that only about a third of 360 owners have XBL Gold, which gives us an upper limit to how many use the system for Netflix, etc.). Strip away the Kinect and the ability to connect to a cable box (and as far as anyone knows it only does live TV, meaning no DVR & On Demand support), and the XBO is a nearly identical piece of hardware to the PS4 in terms of overall capabilities. It's not like it was in generations past when there was a huge gulf between all the systems in terms of specs, what the games looked like, etc. Like the 360 and PS3 before them, the XBO and PS4 offer much of the same content with essentially identical fidelity, the only difference in their gaming offerings being exclusive titles. Some people like myself will probably get both systems (I'm one of those people with no personal preference between Xbox and PlayStation; I'm not an Xbox fan, I'm only a Halo fan, and Halo just happens to be Xbox-exclusive, and I'll buy any system that has games I like), but many if not most gaming households will probably only buy one system, and many will go with the cheaper option unless MS goes above and beyond in trying to convince them that the $100 higher price tag is worth it. Can they pull it off? I have my doubts, but stranger things have happened. Of course, if the XBO ever reaches price parity with the PS4, which is a definite possibility in another two or three years from now, this will all be a moot point.

: Wrong, wrong, wrong (c.f. Nintendo).

It's hard to talk about Nintendo focusing on anything this generation in their ads because Wii U ads have been so rare that they may as well be nonexistent. With the Wii they had those "Wii Would Like to Play" ads on TV everywhere all the time, but I don't think I've seen a single Wii U commercial, not even when I'm watching cartoons on CN (they did make one, but it must not have gotten much air time). But the real reason the Wii U lost all sales momentum in 2013 (it did have a strong launch, selling 3 million units by the end of 2012, just shy of what the Wii did and way more than what the PS3 and 360 did) is lack of content. Satoru Iwata recently admitted just that, though most who follow Nintendo felt he was just stating the obvious. Few ads, and more importantly an 8-month dry spell with no major software releases, are what hurt the Wii U this year. Of course, the Wii U isn't Nintendo's only product, and the 3DS is actually the best-selling system right now. I've seen a few 3DS commercials, and they're all about games, games, games, and that's worked out so far. Granted, the 3DS is a handheld and games are about all it can do, but a console maker can focus solely on games and still do well. Even before the 3DS, the Wii and DS were all about games, and they went on to sell 100 million and 154 million units respectively.