Osmium, it will happen no doubt. But we are still a long way from the day when the common house will have a server type computer that runs the entry system, alarm, fire detection, monitors lights and temperature, turns on the TV/stereo and controls the media on them. That is the logical direction to take. And several companies have dreams of that being the case in the near future. Thou I would bet the near future for the common household is more like the next 20 years. So MS is going to do their best to be one of those companies, if not the leading company, offering those services & equipment. They are looking long term like with the X-Box.

I have yet to see anything remotely close to that in this town. Thou a networked house is not surprising. Just that most families are only using it for internet and data sharing. And the few I have been out to(I work in telecom)are just sharing a high speed data line throughout the house. Still it's step in that direction.

As far as X-Box... I was far too angry with MS buying Bungie and then stealing away Halo from us PC gamers to even think of buying X-Box. Thou I was very very close on a few occasions. Luckily I have a wife that knows when I am at my weakest and she keeps an evil eye on me to stop me from buying too many toys.

I have been dying to get my hands on Splinter Cell. I reserved my copy(PC) about six months ago. Along with Raven Shield. I love all of Tom Clancy's Rainbow-Rogue-Ghost games.

The thing is there are so many great PC games that I find it hard to justify(while my wife is around)buying another console...