When rumors of the Apple Television — an actual giant screen produced by Apple, not a black box that fits in the palm of your hand — and Google circling back around the TV again boiled over a couple months ago and mainstream reporters asked me about it, something funny happened basically every time: They asked how Microsoft could possibly catch up to Apple in the living room, since Apple's now sold a few millions of those Netflix and iTunes-streaming little black squircles. It's funny because Microsoft has something like 66 million Xbox 360s sitting in living rooms around the world, and they're streaming Netflix, Comcast, Verizon, ESPN3, HBO Go and a whole lot of other video, just like an Apple TV, but with even more stuff.

The Xbox 360 has been the best-selling console in the US for the last 15 months. And now the Verge reports that Microsoft is gearing up to sell the Xbox 360 (with a Kinect!) for $99 with a two-year, $15-a-month subscription (bringing the total to $460 over two years). It's obviously designed to more directly position the currently $299 Xbox 360 + Kinect bundle against Apple TV and Roku and whatever-other-box, moving it into the same pricing realm, the same plane of thought: "They're $99? So is the Xbox + Kinect, and it plays real games, and you can talk to it too." It's kind of like a 99-cent Big Mac (except better tasting?): The point is to get you into the store, where you'll spend money on a bunch on fries (movies), soft drinks (music) and Happy Meals (games) .