also truer when you consider the pc market would have free reign over the home market if that happened. PCs are just too easy to customize and improve that the difference in game quality would be severely contrasting.

Until someone invents an all purpose device that makes console gaming obsolete, then consoles will still be here to stay. Its like saying Consoles will phase out because the PC and handheld are more popular. There's still millions of people who are buying consoles and not buying a handheld or PC. But even more important, there's still specific gaming experiences you can only get from console games.

So, as I said, until one company creates a device that can allow you to play all the different types of gaming experiences from ONE device, console gaming will be going strong. And even if a company does somehow make a device that allows you to combine every facet of gaming into one device, they still need to get everyone on board to develop for it.  And that will be hard to do if the cost for the hardware is so high (coming from them trying to pack every type of hardware into the system).  Look at the PS3.

The discussion is on getting those console experiences and those handheld experiences with a single device. 

Imagine a PSP that you can plug into your TV that plays PSP and PS3 games that wireless PS3 controllers can access.  Now imagine a smaller SD media format instead of giant discs.  Now make it pretty.

**Warning**
Long silly rant due to rough day at work, read at your own risk.... you have been warned :)

Greed will always rule this world unfortunately... and that goes for gaming too which is why there will always be 'consoles' or basically PCs with some unique functionality or simply locked down so that profits can be maximized. Otherwise there would only be one platform and everyone would be able to play any game with multiple controllers of their choice. Kinda like the PC in that you can connect wiimote, dualshock, 360 gamepad and really any other controller for a multitude of things including games. You can actually imagine how it would help everyone involved from the devs to the consumers except....... the investors, shareholders and anyone who has profit in mind. They only see that as a loss of money, you can lock down certain areas with exclusives and other proprietary means and charge and make more money. Even though they are segregating the gaming community, they feel they can make up for it by gaining more exclusives and further differentiating themselves from competitors. At the core of all this is a very basic and simple impulse that has grown in our society like the plague.... greed. Don't get me wrong, I still love gaming in all of its forms but I can't help but sit and watch as our industry falls deeper into the commercialized whirlpool and sigh...

But oh well, this is life and there is plenty of other great things to look forward to.... things that have nothing to do with money. I seek those out more and more these days :)

/angry bad work day rant

Uh...that's what I was specifically talking about.  I was just taking it one step further and thinking about the logistics of having an 'all-in-one' gaming device and the fact that it would be hard to get running (getting third parties to join up and getting it to sell because the hardware would be expensive).

But no matter how you want to think of it, you either would have to go with a less powerful 'all-in-one' handheld that you can plug into your tv and play like a console or a hybrid console/handheld that has 'upgradable' parts like some older expensive Sega system (which people would never get behind).  The only alternative is to invent something completely new, and that takes entirely new technology.

lol, i stopped at "greed will always rule this world", sorry for your problems m8, hope things look up for you. Go play some vg and forget about this shitty world.

We live in a world where sales of Vinyls are seeing massive growth, as is the box office.

The out with the old and in with the new mentality isn't always the logical next step.

I think that some kind of all in one device will be developed at some point in the future, however I hope it never is because what works well on a big screen doesn't necessarily work well on the go.

I just hope Ipad isn't the gaming device of the future... because I get angry playing games and I don't want to throw my 'console'. controllers are cheaper and easier to repair.

that mother f er is a fool.

its slowly happening. more and more people are using debit and credit each year.