I was mostly concerned about the controller and how hard it is to get right. Why not just build it with compatibility with other console controllers, including the older 8 and 16 bit systems? This way they dont have to worry about the tricky (and costly) business of designing a controller from scratch-- its very easy to get it wrong, and I'd think video gamers are most comfortable with controllers they are used to.
You really need to have a standard controller for a console so that developers know what the hell they are developing for. If I design a game that relies on an analogue trigger and 6 buttons how do I deal with someone plugging a PS2 controller in, or a NES controller?
