Here's a scary thought: What if the next generation of gaming consoles were embedded into Cable STBs?
Right now the 360 takes away some of the market that cable companies want to control: on-demand video, and viewer time. If an STB were built that incorporated DVR, on-demand, and gaming, and games could be downloaded through the cable connection, then why would anyone (read: joe-the-plumber and jane-the-teacher, not jack-the-PC-guru) want to buy an extra box as a console? Imagine two parents - a teacher and an attorney - faced with the following situation:
They want a system that provides parent-controlled TV, movies and gaming for their kids, but is dirt-simple to setup, use and maintain, and "just works". A PC - even store-bought - will never be that. A console and a DVR means that you have to switch the input from one to the other (again... imagine a 2-yr-old doing this). But all-in-one means one remote, one parentally-controlled content source, and one box sitting near the TV. And it can be rented from the cable company for imagine $15 / mo with all-u-can-play gaming downloads.
Of course... those games include substantial in-game advertisement in the form of product placement, etc., and possibly even transitition ads. And the cable company gatekeeps which games you can play. And the hardware capability would be