| JGarret said: I wonder what will be the reasoning once the Next Xbox and PS4 launch. |
Since neither platform has been announced, let alone actually seen in action, we have no actual reference point to determine how powerful they may be, nor what features they may have. As such, any speculation on our part as to what developers or publishers will do in that situation would be getting ahead of ourselves.
My personal prediction is that the PS4 is very similar to the Wii U, similar to the difference between PS2 and Gamecube (obviously, reversed), while the next Xbox is more expensive and more powerful. Why? Sony can't afford to go the expensive route. They can't afford to release another console that is priced at $500+ and still loses them $300+ per console. Microsoft, on the other hand, cares more about cross-development with Windows PC, and thus will want more power - and they have the money to spend on it. MS have never actually been in it for the money, despite what so many people think of MS. They're in it for protection of their core business - PC OSes. They want Windows to remain the "PC gaming OS", because it makes it harder for people to switch to other OSes.
Also noteworthy is that Sony is following Nintendo in terms of their approach to gaming control (with Move, with PS3 + Vita to emulate Wii U style controls, etc), while MS is going for a more "sci fi" kind of feel with tech-free gesturing, etc, through Kinect and integration with other computing devices... much like a computer. And with the Vita struggling, Sony can't really depend on it to serve as the touchscreen controller to the PS4, so they'll probably end up doing something not unlike Nintendo. So it's entirely possible that the new generation will be PS4/WiiU vs Xbox720/PC, if you don't mind my use of "Xbox720" for lack of an alternative concise term that is unambiguous.
The next E3 will certainly be interesting to watch, anyway.
