Not only Microsoft thinks that Kinect'll push the gaming industry for another 5 years. THQ in on the ship too.

"Frankly, the last thing I think the industry needs now is new hardware. You look at the games coming out on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 now and they look stunning," Farrell said. "If we were to have another $1000 box that the hardware guys have to subsidize and that software developers have to spend even more money developing, that model just doesn't work."

"What's the proposition for the person shelling out the $300-$400 for the system and the $60 for a game, what is value proposition for that gamer?"

"And right now, I don't know what that is in the next console cycle."

"Better graphics? They're pretty darn good now. Better sound? No. Gameplay? Probably not. So I think the ways games are evolving now is really a direction we're going. Where it's going to be is in the play experience; richer stories, better characters, production values that are much more like movies."

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/113/1130836p1.html

Oh my......

They are already aware Nintendo is to launch their next console the earliest.

They are withholding Super Wii support already!

Triple screen. It allows you see more of the already amazing grapihcs.  I know very few will ever have this but it is one direction without increasing software cost.

Sony and Microsoft are saving the videogame industry!!!

THANK YOU HD CONSOLE MAKERS! THANK YOU!

One of the things both HD consoles really needs badly is more ram. The ram limit problem is only going to get worst with time.

No wonder as publishers are still struggling to make profits even with current gen HD consoles... For example what was last time that THQ made profit in whole fiscal year? I really can't remember. Next gen we will probably see many smaller publishers to die or at least concentrate their resources to handhelds like many Japanese companies have done with pretty good succes.

I agree that we don't need much more powerful hardware, since development costs are already high.

That doesn't mean that we won't have another generation, but it would be best if we didn't.

Micorsoft? The Taiwanese company that creates "happy computers for consumer"? They make consoles now?

well the super Wii will be out soon and Nintendo will have something that will make people want to develop games for it like the 3DS

It makes sense really. There aren't enough 3D TVs to really bother with that at the moment and the performance to target 3D is even more demanding. A lot of people are satisfied with the graphics, those who aren't have an obvious out with PC gaming anyway. Also Sony / Microsoft are quite happy to milk their new found profitability for as long as possible. In a way you could almost say that the 360 cutting the price to $199 in 2008 was the real start of a 5 year generation given that was when the costs first became reasonable.