Front loaded Generation... What does that even mean?

[Intrinsic]

so how does this suggested earlier peak somehow correlate to a lower overall peak sales?

Unless I'm missing something, but the Wii last gen peaked early, and the PS3 and 360 peaked later mostly in part to how long they maintained a $400+ price tag and because their adoption was basically synonymous with HDTV adoption. Now these consoles have come in at a cheaper price point, so fine; they will hit mainstream pricing sooner and peak earlier, but doesn't that also just mean that the will sell better faster?

I mean if it takes the PS4 4/5yrs (just an example) to hit 100M, and then in its 6th year sales tank and it only manages 10M in sales, is that a bad thing? I mean I know we like talking sales here and all but aren't we forgetting that what really matters with consoles is how large of an install base they have, how fast they get there and what their attach rates are?

Call me crazy, but I can bet on my life that if sony could choose OPTION A selling 100M consoles in one year, then nothing for the next 5 years as opposed to OPTION BY selling 15, 18, 22, 21, 18M consoles over a five year period, they would jump on OPTION A in a heartbeat.