Was going to make these threads a few days ago, but I was too lazy. 
Anyway, here's my general predictions for what will happen with all consoles, including handhelds. This thread is for...
Home Consoles
Nintendo is the only one who has officially announced their next console, scheduled for a mid-late 2012 release. One of the main things that I see working against Nintendo is that next gen ALL 3 console makers will have motion controls out of the gate next gen, so unlike this gen and regardless of what new feature is added, the Wii successor won't seem as unique as the Wii did in 2006. Something that may not bring back as many "casual" gamers as the Wii garnered. We also have had rumors circulating that the next Wii will be slightly more powerful than the PS3, ones that may be backed up by "leaked" photos that may show Nintendo promoting that Xbox 360 games can be easily ported to it. If this is true, than I see it more like Nintendo playing catchup to this gen instead of moving onto the next one. Something that will not win over hardcore gamers from the 360 or PS3 at all. It will also hurt them if the 360 Elite and PS3, which may have graphics close to the Wii2, drop to $199 around its release. As for the rumors of havig a HD screens in every controller, as well as be able to play games on them, I highly doubt that. I mean not only would that drive up the cost of the controllers incredibly, as well as possibly hurt the need for the 3DS. Then there's the competition, which brings us to...
The Xbox "720." I think MS has 2 courses of action. One would be to hurry along development and testing of their next console so they can release in 2012 with Nintendo. I don't think MS will do this, however, not with what happened with the 360 early on. MS may be able to survive one RROD fiasco, but 2 would destroy any future they may have in the console market. So, I see them announcing their next console in 2012, with a mid-late 2013 launch. A 2012 announcement, especially at E3, could hurt Nintendo's next console, but I'll get to that in the Sony section. Now, while MS has definitely made the Xbox a bigger brand this time around, it still hasn't become bigger than the Playstation brand, with the PS3 having more momentum towards the end of this gen than the 360. I also think that the 360's success this gen is more due to the mistakes of Sony in 06-07, mainly due to price and lack of games, than any strengths that MS may have had. Which brings us to...
The PS4. I believe the PS4 will have a similar release window as the 720, E3 announcement in 2012 and launch in 2013. Now some of these next points also go for the 720, mainly price, power, and E3 announcement. Price and power actually go hand in hand with the E3 announcement. What I mean by this is If the Wii2 isn't launching until mid-late 2012, and at E3 Sony and MS can match or come close to its price, while offering much more muscle under the hood, Nintendo is going to have a tough time convincing people to go with them this time around. I believe Sony can release the PS4 for ~$400, as Sony will probably stick with Blu-ray, which will have dropped in price greatly by the time the PS4 is released. I also think they will be going with an evolved form of the Cell, which again will be cheaper than its first form.
So with prices around the same, people will be looking at features and power as their deciding factor. With the 720 and PS4 probably being around the same power, I believe the Playstation brand will come out on top of all 3, though it won't be as dominant as the PS2 was 2 gens ago.
Thoughts?
