Personally, I'm split between two for the worst move:  Making Live Gold a paid membership, and shipping the console with hardware issues (RROD)

Worst: dl dvd instead of HD dvd

Best: Deciding to put away money to repair Xboxes free of charge
Worst: Shipping the console maybe a little early before all the hardware kinks were fixed.

Best : Hardcore games.

Worst : The Rrod, and a digital pad that is just useless for fighting games.

They're best decision has been their huge investment in 3rd party games (or quite possibly their 3-yr warranty on RRoD) - worst would have to be the alienation of their core demographic...

best: gamercards, guide
worst: avitars(we'll see)

Avatars...worst evar.

Worst: Releasing with shoddy hardware.

Best: NOT including HD-DVD or Blu-ray.

"

Worst: Releasing with shoddy hardware.

Best: NOT including HD-DVD or Blu-ray.

"

Best: Xbox Live.
Worst: Thinking XBL needs a casual side.

Best: Come out first
Worst: Tie between HD-DVD and not getting rid of RROD sooner

Best: Early release
Worst: RROD

Best: Extending the warrant for the RROD to 3 years
Worst: Shipping consoles that get the red rings in the fist place

Best: Great games. Thats what consoles are supposed to be about right?

Worst: RROD and the refusal to admit the console had an issue until it was almost too late. I'm sure the delay in the admittance to the problem cost Microsoft alot of console sales.

Not making HD standard for 360.

Best: Adding HDMI ports to the system
Worst: New Dashboard

Best - Making development easy, this ensures that most multiplatform games look and run better on 360
Worst - Unreliable hardware

Best: Building the 360 around online experience (LIVE)
Worst: Not including built in hardware, or having a next gen disk be built in to the console.

Best: Achievements.

Best - Xbox live
Worst - charging for Xbox live

"Sidle said:

"Worst: Releasing with shoddy hardware.

Best: NOT including HD-DVD or Blu-ray."

How is releasing without Blu-ray a good thing?  The format has succeeded so why not have the next generation video format?  Plus the console has the Video Marketplace and Netflix as alternatives.  Although, one could argue that these features wouldn't have been as fleshed out by Microsoft if Blu-Ray was built in, but still..."

So far, ever? Or so far since the 360 came out? Microsoft have been charging for Xbox Live since it started.  So, technically they didn't make Gold a charge service, they introduced Silver as a free service.  However, I agree, paying for Xbox Live sucks. 

Worst ones: Rushed the launch of the console, making a SKU without harddrive, not buying Bioware and Bizarre.

Best ones: Constanlty evolving the system trhough Xbox Live, Nailing exclusive deals with all kinds of games.

somehow not seeing that investing in their owns studios will benefit them in the long run rather than using that money to buy exclusives

worst: rrod (costed them so much)
best: getting games and supporting their console

"somehow not seeing that investing in their owns studios will benefit them in the long run rather than using that money to buy exclusives"

Ahh i don't think RROD was a decision.  Its not like they sat around the office and said "hey guys lets make the system die with a cool red lights ring on the front of the console"   Another decision that was posted here was releasing good game... thats not a decision either thats just the companys making good games,  no one decides "Hey lets release a shitty game" no they all want to release good games.

My picks for best and worst are one in the same.  Releasing the console early.  On one hand it gave them the head start they needed on PS3 in the USA (note i said USA cause in japan it didn't matter they don't buy American goods.  The USA could come out with the greatest console ever and they wouldn't buy it just cause it wasn't made by Japanese)  On the other hand it rushed the dev team to make a console that had flaws that would in turn cause things like rrod.

Of course it wasn't a decision,but seeing as its been 3 years now since release and its still a amazing high percentage of failing, they obviously failed there big time. I'd say that and live costing money, is the fail, best is XBL .

Their worst decision was to shipping the hardware before it was finished. Runner-ups: Dvd instead of HD-DVD or Blu-ray, selling consoles without harddrives.

"Personally, I'm split between two for the worst move:  Making Live Gold a paid membership, and shipping the console with hardware issues (RROD)

For the best move, although this may be controversial to some of you, I would say it's the New Xbox Experience.  I think the Avatars actually look pretty cool, and the new dashboard redesign is slick.

What do you guys think Microsoft's worst and best moves has been this generation?

"
Heeeeey guess what. There likely wouldn't be a New Xbox Experience if they didn't charge for gold.

Best: "The Duke"
Worst: Discontinuing "The Duke" in favor of the Controller S

The worst decision was to exclude the hard drive from the standard specifiction.

The best - Xbox Live.

Best: Xbox Live
Worst: make a console without a required hard drive

Best decision: The way they handled adding internet to a video game console.
Worst decision: HD DVD

Probably believing that the Zune would be a tough competitor for the iPod.

"Worst: dl dvd instead of HD dvd

Best: copy full games to hard drives

"

best: games
worst: releasing so early (red rings)

Worst: paying the lowest bidder to builkd 360s

Best: Dunno yet

best decision was early release and worst was core/arcade  HDD-less SKU

Best: Designing Xbox Live well enough for it to be the dominant online platform.
Worst: Making users pay $50 for XBL and still having ADS ON THE DAMN DASHBOARD.

best: in all reality their best move was axing the xbox early and bringing out the 360 first

worst: being cheap, i guess...

Best : Including a free three year warrant in case of RROD. Probably the most helpful thing Microsoft has ever done.

Worst : Nickel and Dime'ing every little thing in the Marketplace. There is no need for us to be paying $2 for Picture Packs and Themes that should be free in the first because we paid $50 to have that account we should at the very least be able to pimp it out free of additional fees.

"Probably believing that the Zune would be a tough competitor for the iPod."

Oh and you can't forget the whole bungie situation.

I don't know what they're worst one was, but I think they've made a lot of great decisions and a few poor ones. Too tired to think of anything at the moment. :)

Worst : Not backing HD-DVD hard enough, MS Points, Shadowblade. Core/Arcade console.

Best: Xbox Live, XBLA, Copying discs to hard drive. Netflix Integration. Red Controllers.

"Pezjulo said:

"Probably believing that the Zune would be a tough competitor for the iPod."

I think the zune is actually holding its own against the iPod.
anway"