The power rumors make sense. Sony is in a different place than in the past. Playstation 2&3 were used to promote a new type of media. Any pofits were secondary. Now, the leaner, meaner Sony has stated the Playstation will be one of their 3 pillars of profitability. That means they need to be a true games company and sell systems and make money like Nintendo. If they don't include a tablet controler, double the specs and charge a little more they could do that at a near-profit. And it won't be called PS4 because four has a negotive connotation in some cultures.
Microsoft, on the other hand, is still very much in the business of pushing tech boundries for alternative motives. They will max out the nextbox and lose money, but the goal is to push tech limits to promote the advancement of PC's and... new copies of Windows.
I think this means that most 3rd parties will scale their games to hit as many platforms as possible. This is great for us, the game buyers, as it gives us lots of options. As far as what strategy is best for the companies selling products it depends on their goal. They could all be successful in their own way. Since Nintendo is launching first with what will be the cheapest system, they will probably get the most sales.
