Will this generation be the longest yet?

[KBG29]

@goddog & Erik Aston

Both very good points. Nintendo is in a position were they could either cash in even more or risk a backlash, and knowing them they like to play it safe. I think even if they release an HD version of the Wii all games will have to be able to run on SD Wii's to be able to ship. Basicaly they would just up the speed of the proccessor to accomadate the higher resolutions, as the Wii has a good amount of RAM already, but addind enoughf to play with the others would not hurt.

As to Erik's point, the chance that 2010 or 11 could be the downturn of the 360 and PS3 is very possible, but one thing I see stopping that is the growth of the internet. I think we will continue to see both Microsoft and Sony add larger and larger HDD's as we move further into this generation. With internet speeds always improving the chance that we may see full downlaodable games becomes larger, and the relevence of streaming HD movie rentals grows just the same. It will not be long before both Sony and Microsoft have all types of major media in their system stores for consumers to pick from. As we move forward and the amount of revenue that PSN, and Xbox Live bring in becomes a major part of companys over sales we will start to see more content hit the services sooner, and I would not rule out IPTV for both, along with live pay per views.

Another factor that many like to downplay at the moment is Blu-ray. Whether everyone wants to or not, the corperate world is going to make the transition from SD to HD, and DVD to Blu-ray happen. Now obviously with the internet picking up speed, and HD rentals, and services like Netflix become more viable some will head in that direction for their movie veiwing. Some though will no doubt still be in a frame of mind that tells them they need to own a disc, and for them Blu-ray will be the way to go. As the price of the PS3 creeps down to the $199 price point this is a feature that should make the system very interesting to a broader group of people.

Lastly I think Home and the NXE are going to grow rapidly over the next few years. It only makes since for Microsoft to mimic Home even more as they update the new OS. I think both company's will begin to open their doos to markets outside of digital entertainment. I think the future of buying things on the web will change to were you not only get the physical item you pay for, but also a digital version for a personal space in a virtual world, or to were on your virutal personality. It may sound a little far out at the moment, but in a couple years time I think this is going to be the norm amoung the digital generation.