I find this view suprising:

I think the N6 will probably be about 2 - 2.5x as the PS3 and the 720 will be about 3.5 - 4x as much.

There will be no doubt that next gen will see significant leaps in power, just look at the DS - 3DS jump.  The emphasis will be on keeping costs down, and that can still be done with a console which is a graphical powerhouse, Nintendo made a profit (albeit a small one) with every Gamecube sold at launch at £149, and that was amazingly powerful for it's time.

@Carl2291. agree with a lot of what you've said. its just imo, why even think about releasing a PS4 for at least another 4 or 5 years. i mean the PS3 has only just started making money, and it hasnt reached the type of saturation of the PS2 (not even close).

cause other companies will release their systems

my point is that i think the PS3 is fine to compete with next xbox or wii. i think the console will be more than enough to go toe to toe with them, and it will likely have the advtange of price. but whether or not people percieve it as last gen is a problem!!

even if it is able to compete on games,people just run behind the cool new thing so their is a problem

the only thing i would add to what you've said is that when PS4 does come out, i think they should release an SKU with no HDD, that way PS3 users can save some money buy reusing their old one, and this will also reduce production costs. of course they should also release a SKUs with HDDs.

they might even add SSD's by then as PS3 will release in 2013 when SSD's will be cheap

intel has already proposed plans for cheaper SSD's for 2011

Theres nothing from this generation which will significantly help Sony in the next generation. The Cell processor may infact hinder Sony more than it will help them if they are forced to make a decision between more powerful hardware and backwards compatible hardware.

Blu Ray isn't the only high density disc format. Its quite possible that both Microsoft and Nintendo go for the native Chinese HD format disc which is based on HD-DVD because of the fact that it'll likely be cheaper and there will be no widespread adoption for burners of that disc format. Playback of Blu Ray in 2012-17 may be as meaningless as playback of DVD was to the Wii, I.E. a non event if the console doesn't have it. Its also an obvious cost cutting measure if it can cut the cost of the console by 10-15% at launch.

Microsoft is in the best position to release the most powerful console next generation if they so wanted. I don't really think it matters that much anymore unless the difference is accutely noticeable from the perspective of the general public. They aren't tied down to any particular hardware because they forced the developers to not write to the metal on the Xbox 360 and instead interface directly with an abstraction layer. Microsoft knows the direction of GPU technology almost as well as ATI/Nvidia do because they are the mediators of the Direct X specification which dictates the direction of graphics hardware. Since the GPU will be the most important hardware for visual fidelity next generation, Microsofts 12-36 month lead in knowing where the roadmap is going is valuable.

In the end it'll be about the games, ecosysem and gameplay experience. I don't understand this fascination with the hardware when the hardware hasn't signficicantly altered the courses of any generation for this and the previous generation and it will likely be even less important in the next generation. Sure fidelity is nice, however people don't play fidelity, they play games and they want a fun experience. Provide the best of that and the console is a generational winner.

maybe keep the CELL but get a more powerful GPU to help with stuff devs arent expericened enough to do using the CELL

So this thought just popped in my head tonight and I had to get your take on it.

Do you think Sony has screwed it up for themselves in reguards to the next gaming system? I mean think about it, they released this ultra powerful system with capabilities far  exceeding any other console on the market. I don't know that next gen will see MS or Nintendo making a console that matches the raw power of the PS3. If that is the case, then what does Sony do? I think everybody has learned that making a console that vastly outweighes the competition is good for nobody...with the exception of fanboys and their mindless chanting and dick measuring.

It drove away many devs because it was too hard and costly to develope games for.

It drove away consumers because the only way Sony could afford to launch the console was at a muc h higher price point than the competition.

It drove away gamers because multiplats looked the same (or even worse in some cases) as the Xbox 360's games, this was due to the fact that it just wasn't worth the time or money to make multiplat games utilize the PS3 better.

It cost Sony millions which they are still trying to recoup.

There is no doubt that the PS3 is a technical powerhouse, and I suspect it may be way ahead of it's time. But now Sony has raised the bar, people will expect a n even better console next gen, and if Sony provides it, we will see a recap of this gen. Sony has put themselves in between a rock and a hard place, on one hand, they cannot afford to build a console that is vastly superior to the competition, on the otherhand, they cannot produce a console that is inferior to the one that they currently have on the market.

Your thoughts please???