I wouldn't say any console manufacturers took the "safe" route this time around. Microsoft was going to dramatically accelerate the adoption of digital games in the console market, and Sony bashing Microsoft for this and having a huge push for Independents/Self-Publishing, these don't sound like safe moves by any means. And that's not talking about Microsoft bundling Kinect, the Wii U controller, and Sony's abandoning of PlayStation Move.
If anything this is the most "un-safe" the console market has been in awhile.
If anything this is the most "un-safe" the console market has been in awhile.