If Sony and Microsoft were to only release consoles about on a par with Wii U and not that much more powerful than than the 7th Gen Consoles ( since Wii U itself is only a marginal improvement kind of like the 7.5 gen) that were geared more towards casuals, what do you think would happen in gaming in general?

Do you think interest in gaming would diminish quite a bit since a gen that didn't wow as much as this gen would be boring to a lot of people ( it was the HD Twins that wound up with well over 50% of the console market this gen proving that people do greatly enjoy games with incredible graphics, immersive storylines, Blockbuster Hype and Effects etc. over casual fair in the longrun)?

Do you think there would be renewed interest in computer games and a new unprecendented Golden Era of PC Gaming rivalling that of the late 1980s through 1990s would Emerge?  Face it, developers aren't going to sit on their laurels and lose interest in their dream projects just because they've been dealt some shoddy underpowered consoles to develop for.   And computer tech is not going to stop evolving at a rapid rate just because people only have home consoles that for their time would only be in comparison to the latest computers as NESs were to Amigas (or worse).  A lot of the big draw for 360 and PS3 has been that they can play pretty decent conversions ( in comparison to consoles of the past ) of many of the latest and greatest pc games.  If the home consoles just were no longer up to snuff for these types of games, don't you think that would lead to a resurgence of pc exclusives and devlopment?

And do you think Apple the true king of casual gaming vis a vis their ios machines would finally be impelled to enter the home console marketplace?

IMHO it would be great for the developers, since production costs won't go skyhigh, so there will be potential for innovation and not just "playing it safe".

Since the establishment of Steam, I find myself enjoying indie games better than many "gaming blockbusters". The mainstream genres just feel stale and lack some radical innovation.

It means my pocket will be 100% empty because I will buy all of them.

Alot of people would probably go to PC. I mean right now alot are changing to PC because this generation have lasted so long.

I think it would make a slight difference, mainly towards Nintendo. We shall see, I doubt it but you never know.

PC gaming would come back, though.

There would be no point for Sony and Microsoft to release new consoles then since their current ones are already on par with the WiiU.

Actually, a halfway smart idea for Sony might be to release a system that is about double WiiU in power (better graphics, 4gig RAM, somewhat better CPU) but without the tablet controler and undercut WiiU by $25. They might dominate the industry.

The two flaws I see in the OP is that a) current hardware can still wow me so much more powerful hardware isn't overly necessary to do that. The Last of Us looks amazing, and if you told me it took the PS4 to make those kinds of images I'd probably believe you. b) I wouldn't call the 80's or 90's the golden age of PC gaming. I don't know if there ever was a golden age. I've enjoy quite a few great PC games over the years... adventure titles, classic RTS and FPS and more recently some MMO's, but PC gaming was a niche market with low selection in the 80's and 80's. It still is today, if anyting it is bigger now with more options than it was then.

The big draw of consoles is not that they are powerful. It's that their hardware is consistent and they have a large market to sell to. This is true no matter what console makers put under the hood. If software makers want the easiest route to decent profits, that's where they put their games.

And if there isn't any proof of this, please draw your attention towards the best game of the year awards.

I think Sony's mistake will be the greatest lesson learnt for next gen.

Regular people still get the wow actor from the PS3 and Xbox 360 graphics and are still buying a lot of them, and in some development countries (like mine) they just became affordable to the masses.

If the new consoles are not too powerful and they can sell it at a decent price they will have quicker market penetration and we will have a shorter generation (5-6 years, instead of 10 year plans), and that seems to be beneficial for developers.

Developers will also be willing to take more risk, as the costs will not increase too much. And lets face it if people are ok playing iOS games, they will be more than ok playing with something 2 or 3 times better than a PS3/Xbox360.

See what happened with the music industry, the masses did not wanted more quality, just more quantity at an affordable price, and MP3 became king.

Sony and Microsoft already have a console on pair with Wii U... so why are they release another?

No sense... the PS4/720 will be a lot better than current gen... I can see 10x with the latest rumors.