Based on what he's seen at E3 this year, Strategy Analytics games analyst Martin Olausson believes that the Xbox 360 will strengthen its market share. Based on press conferences at E3 the next generation of entertainment looks like Microsoft will be the one to beat. Despite improvements announced by Sony and Nintendo, such as Sony's PSP Go and the Nintendo Wii Motion Plus, Olausson believes these are merely incremental improvements to gaming rather than major developments for the platform. For years Microsoft has been trying to figure out how to get some kind of computer into our living rooms. With the Xbox 360 they finally have the numbers to begin to take advantage of the situation. With the announcement of a blitz of new services, the 360 is starting to look like more than just a gaming console. Some new services announced include: Xbox Live platform, which will provide instant streaming of full 1080P HD movies and TV shows, 10 new markets where Xbox LIVE will offer its TV shows and movies, social media services Facebook and Twitter and music streaming service Last.fm on the Xbox Live platform, and a completely new user interface, code-named “Project Natal”. “With Project Natal, full HD streaming of movies and TV shows, and new social media features, Xbox is ushering in a new era of digital entertainment and continues to put new challenges to its competitors in the battle for online entertainment leadership,” said Martin Olausson, Director of Digital Media Research at Strategy Analytics. “So far these challenges have gone largely unmet and as a result Nintendo and Sony are falling further and further behind in the online entertainment market”.

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