It’s been talked about and rumored, but I think a recent article on gamesindustry.biz really did the best to talk about the recent explosion of sales Microsoft has experienced.

I often wondered how many people simply thought of the Xbox 360 as a gaming console and nothing more. Xbox Live was a multiplayer platform, and that was all. But for those of us who tinkered with the Dashboard in the past, we fell in love with movie rentals, TV show downloads, and every single part of the Xbox Live Arcade. Players would put in their game disc, and go right into what they came here to do.

I, myself, fell in love with the social platform that is Xbox Live – the entire Marketplace and the other features the Xbox 360 packs in. Since the NXE, users are being forced to stop at the dashboard and take a peek at the other offerings. And the consensus seems to be that they like what they see.

Hot on the heels of Nintendo talking about their community, Sony has sent out an email announcing their plans to bring the Playstation Network to Playstation.com. What does this mean for you? It’s hard to tell. They talk about interactivity, flexibility, and other buzzwords… but they don’t specifically say if they will provide access to the Playstation Store (like the “New Xbox Experience” allows you to add downloads to your queue for the next time you turn on your 360), or if there will be forums, or if you will have access to your friends lists and the ability to messages to other users. But it’s exciting to see companies putting forth the effort to make their platforms even mroe accessible. In the United States? Visit Playstation.com to merge your Playstation Undergound (Playstation.com) account with your PSN ID (login for your console user ID).