There has been a great deal of discussion about how Next-Gen the consoles released by Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony have proved to be.  Microsoft seemed very determine to have the XBox 360 released to the public before the Nintendo Wii, and Sony PS3.  Many have speculated that having a year head start in sales has been a good move for the new comer to the console wars.  But is there another benefit to the quality alone time spent with the XBox 360?  Has it become that comfortable pair of shoes that you prefer over new and shiny consoles?

When I bought my XBox 360 I compare it to the original XBox version one.  When the Nintendo Wii came out, I did not own a Nintendo GameCube to compare it to so I ended up comparing it to the XBox 360.  When the Sony PS3 came out I did not compare it to my Sony PS2 as much as I compared it to the XBox 360.  For almost a year, I became very comfortable with the blade interface of the 360.  For a year the XBox 360 defined how I started games, interacted with my online friends, or downloaded content from the online store.  With these preconceived notions I was then thrust into two new and completely different experiences.  Immediately I felt like they had both done it all wrong.  I had gotten comfortable with the XBox LIVE interface, and now both the Sony Playstation Store and the Nintendo Wii shopping channel seemed like they were very cumbersome to navigate. 

So I decided to do a little experiment, I spent two weeks only using one of the three consoles.  First the Nintendo Wii, then two weeks later the Sony PS3, and then finally returned to the XBox 360.  After spending only a couple of weeks with each of the other two consoles exclusively, I found that when I went back to XBox LIVE I would get frustrated with its User Interface.  I would forget how to do certain tasks, like end voice and video chat sessions, or I had forgotten how to get to different types of downloads.

So before anyone is two critical of the Sony PS3, Nintendo Wii, or the Microsoft XBox 360 I would say spend some time with it you may find that it is not all that bad.