I think a new generation has to wait a couple of years, because it is not possible right now.
Okay, MS made some money with the Xbox360 and Xbox Live, but they need at least 1 more year of profit. Sony has no chance to cover the losses they made with the PS3. Hell, they still aren't profitable. And the price cut won't help either profit wise. The only one that could afford a new generation of consoles is nintendo, but why should they do this? The Wii is the fastest selling console EVER (without any kind of price cut or any kind of redesgin), the DS will be the best selling "console / handheld" ever. They surely want to milk this cow.
But the biggest problem are the 3rd party developers. A lot of developers lost much money the past years. EA lost a lot of money, THQ was almost bankrupt, midway is gone etc etc.
Today, the biggest investments to get in this generation are done. Now, they need some years of revenue without huge investments. So late 2012 would be perfect for a new gen. The hardware will be crazy, the 3rd party developers will be healthy again, the economy will be better, the internet will be bigger and faster (Games on Demand / Video on Demand etc).
And I feel 7 years are pretty much for a hardware. Imagine the PC you would have bought 7 years ago ^^
Imagine not having GamePass on your console...
