Hmmm... well, I can say that from the perspective of at least one of the guys designing 4e, that's not the model they were following. They played a lot of games (including some video games), took what they liked from all of them, and looked at how they could apply what they liked to what was good about d20. I don't know about all the designers, but I believe James Wyatt when he says that they really have been trying to make the best game possible. I also believe that Hasbro pushed them to start a new edition earlier than necessary--but I don't blame the designers for that!

Whether or not it will actually be the best game possible, who know? We certainly won't 'til we see the full rulebook. But from what I've already played, I'm looking forward to seeing more. :) (Also, since I plan to continue writing for the RPGA if possible, I'll have to convert anyway, so I might as well look forward to it.)

Adding you to skype right now!