When it comes to software, hardware, toys, or whatever, my mantra is simple — I want options, options, and more options. I think the day software designers can write a program and expect people to conform their behavior to the needs of the program are long gone. Instead consumers want software that they can customize to the way they work rather than vice versa.
An example of a computer game that does this well is Space Empires IV by Malfador Machinations. Space Empires is legendary among fanatics of the so-called 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) strategy games. It takes the space gameplay from the excellent Masters of Orion and then throws in so much customizability that at times it comes close to having too many options, if that is possible (on the other hand, if you just want to play the game as is you can ignore all of those options, which is also important).
Just about everything can be changed in the game. Want to set a Babylon-5 vs. Star Trek game? Definitely doable (and believe me, the game’s fanbase will take only a few weeks after the game is released to post complete ships, technology trees, etc. for scifi properties like Babylon-5 and Star Trek on the Internet).
I got very burned out on strategy games after too many 4 a.m. sessions of Civilization II, but I bought Space Empires III based solely on the customizability, and eagerly await version IV. To my mind this is the way to sell a toy, electronic or not. Don’t sell me a gadget that just does one or two things, sell me that box of Legos where I can build the toy depicted on the front cover of the box if I want or if I feel more energetic create something completely different. I hate software that boxes the user in to only a few, often relatively meaningless, choices.