Dreamcast as considered gen 6 because Saturn was gen 5. Which is why despite more than 2 years difference between the Saturn and the GC, they're all one gen. And it's more than 1 year between the PS2 and GC release - about 20 months.

I'm not sure at all the industry is ready to such a radical change so soon. Sure, there would be pros, but cons too, as generations provide a stable platform for a number of years allowing some savings and easier planning.

Fiber Optic is spreading rapidly beginning this year, but even with existing cable infastructure companies like Comcast are utilizing new technology like DOCSIS 3.1 modems to enable 1 gigabit internet. 

No one had broadband cirica 1997/98, but everyone had it by 2007/08. 

The US, Japan, UK/France/Germany are the key markets, once ultra high speed spreads there, I think console makers will begin to offer console-free options for people who don't want to pay for the console itself, and eventually the console box itself will be phased out. 

Change something Non-existent, to existent, is different to make it 100 Times better than the previous, with Dozens of countries that will not be able to do it for the next Decades, and even the  biggest ones, will struggle to get such a thing, it Took more than Half century to make HD, as the Standart, and still places that don't have HD Tv, as a Standart.

Those are the Key markets but a lot of those markets also cannot do this in  just 10 Years, and the Other Markets are still relevant, Spain + Brazil + Mexico (together), already give more Revenue than France, Germany, or UK,(individually) and still have Dozens of other countries that would be harmed by those Updates.

According to Newzoo, without those Asian Market that are nearly 100% PC, or Mobile, we have other 7 Countries with more than 1 Billion of US$ in Video Game Revenue, some near 2 Billions, Germany's Market is worth 4 Billions of US$, is much bigger than france, and bigger than UK (UK, aremore than 3 Countries Together), 7 Countries with a Average of 1.3 Billions of US$ in Revenue (maybe even more), this make more than 9 Billions of US$ in Revenue from those 7 Countries that don't have the possibility to follow those changes so fast, 9 Billions, is nearly  more Revenue than France + UK + Germany (that is Equal to 10.5-11 Billions of US$ in Revenue).

Don't Undertimate the Revenue of the Lower Countries, there also are  other 8 Countries with more than 500 Millions of US$ In Video Game Revenue, i don't think that Developers would piss those Countries, that are giving more and more money for Gaming, because of that we will not go Full Digital, when more than 1 Million of PS4, are sold on Arabic Countries less than 2 Years within the Generation, and with Brazil's Best selling Console via Official Sourcers,  selling more than 5 Millions of Units, while the Majority of the consoles (like in other countries with less revenue for Gaming) coming from Import, or Un-official Sourcers, a Lot of People Worldwide purchase games on USA, because some times are a lot cheaper, or sometimes are Really hard to find in other countries, the USA's Gaming Revenue, also would be down because of those countries, that would stop of Purchasing their Video Games.

This is from Wikipedia.

In the history of video games, the sixth-generation era (sometimes referred to as the128-bit era; see "Bits and system power"below) refers to the computer and video games, video game consoles, and video game handhelds available at the turn of the 21st century which was from 1998 to 2008. Platforms of the sixth generation include theSega Dreamcast, Sony PlayStation 2,Nintendo GameCube, and Microsoft Xbox. This era began on November 27, 1998 with the Japanese release of the Dreamcast, and it was joined by the PlayStation 2 in March 2000 and the GameCube and Xbox in 2001. The Dreamcast was discontinued in 2001, the GameCube in 2007, Xbox in 2009 and PlayStation 2 in 2013. Though the seventh generation of consoles started in November 2005 with the launch of the Xbox 360, the sixth generation didn't end until January 2013, when Sony announced that the PlayStation 2 had been discontinued worldwide.^[1]

PS2 in 2000 and GameCube in 2001.

Isn't history wonderful.

I didn't realise that we're still using bits to define console generations.

Those were the days. A man knew what he was buying when it said 16 bit or 32 bit. Of course sometimes that just meant color palette.

The terms are pretty much obsolete now with most cpu's being 32 or 64 bit. Too many other factors come into play now.

I doubt it. Game streaming will never take over due to the laws of physics. VR game streaming is a no go no matter how stable the connection. Let them try to make it acceptable through wireless first. Plus display resolutions are still outpacing stable internet speeds.

Upgrade-able consoles, let's extrapolate. Games can have no extra features, no better AI, no more enemies/cars, better physics, or anything gameplay related than what can work on the base model. So basically this is it? The end of innovation? At some point the base model will have to be let go, voila new generation of games.

Besides a new player might step in going back to the subsidized 6 year plan, which will allow them to offer up a console that substantially exceeds the incremental model around launch, matches the 3 year later incremental model and surpasses it again the gen after.

So.. Xbox One tries something like an online only console 3 years ago. How'd that turn out?

I agree, it's happening. Just not this year, or next year. They'll be a generation much like this one. Digital will become the majority, then it'll happen.