That's a really good point. I do see a difference in flavor between old D&D and 4e, but I've seen those changes in each version. From what I can tell, this version is much more "balanced" in terms of the different class abilities. They have focused instead on roles.

My most major concern is that they may have watered it down too much, making groups of classes too similar. I really haven't played it enough to know if that is a real concern as of yet.

The verdict is still out, but I have hope that the new rules system will still retain that D&D flavor. So far, it has.... yet again, that is something the players and DM bring to the table....

In all honesty, the number of people that actually go out and buy the hardware simply to run homebrew, even XBMC, software is extremely small. The problem for the manufacturer is two-fold:

1) If you buy the hardware only to run homebrew games then you're not putting the money into the 'system' the way that you're supposed to. Even now that MS is breaking even or making a little profit on each XBOX sold, the amount is nothing compared to the licensing fees on EVERY game that's sold or the profit on first party games. It's a losing proposition for them. But even more important is the fact that

2) The same methods that allow you to run homebrew software on a system also allow you to run pirated, published media. In a shareholder-centric company there's no way that you can do anything that jeapordizes your ability to make a profit by enforcing copy protection. If someone could solve this problem it would likely go a long way to making a hardware manufacturer more homebrew-friendly.