The battle between Sony and Microsoft gaming consoles is practically a war with both sides racing to impress consumers with their best ideas. The battle for marketshare is summed up well in the episodes of South Park about Black Friday to readers familiar with the show.

Microsoft has come up with an addition to the Xbox One's system: A new media remote that functions similar to a TV remote. It allows you to better control video, music, and switch user controls easily. The Xbox One is indeed more of a media console compared with PlayStation 4 so it's likely a good idea to focus on the media aspect of the Xbox One as opposed to trying to over compete in terms of the gaming side. That being said, here are five reasons to get the Xbox One media remote:

1.       You're tired of shouting at your TV to get it to do things, or waving gestures using Kinect and doing that "you are the controller" stuff;

2.       The new remote is motion-sensing and has light-up buttons so you can use it in your darkened room while watching movies or playing games;

3.       The media remote can work with Kinect to send signals to your TV to change volume and channels, if you have a Kinect and want to use it;

4.       It's available just around the corner in March at the affordable price point of $24.99;

5.       With this release, Xbox Ones in the future may come bundled with the remote instead of the Kinect.

Will this new device shift the balance in this console cold war? Both sides have ardent supporters as well as ardent critics. There have been some nasty claims of the PlayStation 4 breaking down only after a couple hours of use, but despite that, the PlayStation console has definitely seen much better sales compared to the Xbox One or 360.

If Microsoft wants to keep competing against Sony, it will have to start specializing in what they know how to do best. Do you think the media for the Xbox One is a good move on Microsoft's part? Or is this another attempt to scrape by with some more sales?