1. More Xbox 360 consoles, games for sale
2. Xbox 360 to dominate
3. Microsoft's upcoming handheld
4. Windows Vista delayed to 2007
5. Oblivion: Fragmented Cache Data Fix

Full production of the console's components are underway at Celestica, Microsoft's third manufacturing outlet, which will mean a supply increase of "two to three times" (according to Microsoft).

Microsoft also announced that by June, there will be around 80 total titles available for the Xbox 360. Though they did qualify this would include Xbox Live Arcade titles.

Though only Dead or Alive 4 was released between the console launch and Feb. 14, starting this month, things really start to heat up on the game front (Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Oblivion, and Blazing Angels: Heroes of WWII).

And with the recent confirmation of the PlayStation 3 delay until fall of 2006, Microsoft probably has at least 3 big "waves" of games before competing with the PS3.

Check out my semi-updated video game calendar:

• Video Game Calendar

2. Xbox 360 to dominate

Last year, industry analysts like Michael Pachter surprised folks with a prediction of the Xbox 360 leading the console wars through 2008.

With Sony's recent announcement of the PS3 delay and Microsoft's increase in supply production, some analysts have updated their projections, with folks like Friedman Billings Ramsey analyst Shawn Milne saying the Xbox 360 will outsell the PS3 through 2010.

3. Microsoft's upcoming handheld

Rumors are rampant about Microsoft's pending handheld - and it's not the "mini-tablet" exposed by the Origami Project.

Insiders say the engineers tied up on the Xbox 360 for the last 7-8 months are now focusing on the "PSP and iPod killer", and the release of a Microsoft handheld is a "when, not if".

This may seem like an unwise move for Microsoft, so close to launching the 360, but I'll comment on that in a separate post.

Also, see my older post on ideas for Microsoft's handheld:

• "Microsoft should enter handheld gaming, what they should do, and how they should pwn it" (Jan. 26)

4. Windows Vista delayed to 2007

Microsoft's announced a dely in Windows Vista -- the next iteration of their operating system -- to January of 2007, though some OEM versions my ship earlier.

This is going to be problemmatic for people buying or getting laptops or PCs over the holidays, because their PC will be obsolete less than a month after Christmas, and if the past ineptitude from Microsoft, retailers (Best Buy, Circuit City) and PC manufacturers (HP, Sony) repeats from the Windows XP Media Center Edition 2002-to-2004-to-2005 continues, new laptop/PC owners could find themselves spending hundreds of dollars to get the current OS, with no guarantee their machines will even be compatible.

5. Oblivion: Fragmented Cache Data Fix

Oblivion, one of the most hotly anticipated RPGs for this year, released yesterday, and has a bit of a bug.

Straight from the armored horse's mouth:

"Oblivion uses the Xbox 360 hard drive extensively to cache (copy and reuse) game data. This is done to optimize all loading the game does. It has been found in rare cases on some Xbox 360s that the cached data can get overly fragmented. This exhibits itself by the game taking a long time to load anything from menus, dialogue, sounds, objects, levels, and more.

"To solve this problem, reset your Xbox, and hold down the A button as the game is booting up. If any button is held while Oblivion is loading, it will clear its hard drive cache, and create a new one.

"Once you see the 'Bethesda Softworks' logo video, the game is already loaded, and the cache should have been cleared.

"Note, this does not effect your game in any way other than loading. You will not lose any saved data."