This past year has definitely been a transitional phase for Microsoft. Apparently the war chest is being put to good use with deals finalized with AOL, Sun and now EA.
If you don’t have an Xbox and have held out for various reasons, perhaps now would be the best time to invest in one. Aside from the best online service, including upcoming support for video chat, the Xbox does have one of the most complete game system chain : from developers, to end users to third party providers.
If it’s on another console, consider that it’s a stolen idea from the Xbox.