What will happen to the big 3? Sony and Nintendo are well prepare for cloud gaming due to years of developing it themselves. But what about Nintendo? Nintendo have always relied to created new and interesting ways to play. but what happens when people can get new gaming experiences through a $10 update? Unlike Sony and Microsoft Nintendo have no other reason for cloud other than gaming. if cloud gamign where to fail both the technology giants could use it in a number of different areas of there expertise. 

If i had to make a prediction id say next gen sony and microsoft will createdconsols built to use cloud, ready for anythignt he fututre may throw at them. is Nintendo doomed? No.

the effect of cloud based gamign wont be instant infact id say that sony and microsoft nxt consol will bejust like the current gen consol,but wiht the technoligy of cloud ready to go. Id say about4 years into ext gen will be the point cloud hits hard. Thats gives nintendo many years to prepare for the comign cloud storm. But will they> only time will tell.

The only thing holding cloud back is lack of exclusive games, but what happens when 2 of the big 3 inevitable go cloud? theres your games, there your power, theres you limitless amount of ideas. whats not to like?

What are your predications or the 8th gen?

I do not think cloud gaming will be standard on the next gen of consoles. Its barely making it way into pc gaming. But we will see. I think the next gen will still use a physical media (along side full game downlads) and as long as consoles still use discs I don't think they would rely on cloud technology.

If games go digital only. I will resort to pirating. If I can't have a physical copy in my hands. I'm not getting my moneys worth.

Consoles End when Sony says so.

Probably not ..

The next generation of consoles will probably be the last systems to use the raster-scan line algorithm to produce graphics because they will be (realistically) about as good as you can get that way; the following generation will probably use ray-traced graphics (potentially involving radiocity for diffuse lighting); and the following generation may move towards holographic displays.

On the user interface side of things, there will be a greater move towards interaction with the videogame taking place in real-world space (as opposed to digital space) and may potentially involve projectors and cameras in the next generation; and the following generation is too difficult to predict.

Essentially, until we have systems that are 1,000 times as powerful as the HD systems there will be ways to improve graphics for 2D displays; and in the not too distant future, there will be other kinds of displays which could potentially require significantly more processing power to produce similar visuals. On top of that, until you have a holodeck there will always be ways to improve the user interface.

Around 2020 there will be a new generation of consoles on the market (or almost on the market) that are the successors to the next generation of consoles, and they will be advanced in ways that make people consider the current generation of consoles as being (somewhat) primitive.

Well the 8th gen starts in a couple of months and gaming doesn't look like it's dying to me.  Maybe the 9th or 10th generation.

Oh, Lord.

Cloud gaming is a PC gaming experience in a nutshell. Even if we'll ignore other obstacles to cloud gaming to become mainstream, like serious change to buying habbits of majority, high bandwidth requirements, and the fact it's subscription based, while most consumers aren't fond of the idea of renting games. We're still forgetting about purely console gaming experience, first and foremost what Wii is all about. It means, that cloud gaming could grow rapidly in the future, but by no means implies that Wii-like (true and superior form ;) ) console gaming will extinct due to cloud gaming growth, unless Nintendo, or for that matter, any other company in the biz will f**k up (it's not like it never happened before). The potential marketplace will be still there even though there'd be no one to capitalize on it. Just look back at the history of gaming, when NES has emerged from nowhere while PC gaming was on the rise. The whole point of console gaming is to differentiate itself through content, so it ain't going anywhere unless they stop doing so (Sony and MS are two likely candidates who can and probably will join cloud gaming if it'll ever appear as viable option, since both Xbox and PlayStation never were an end in itself).

I hope 3DS is capable of cloud gaming with nice graphics like Onlive on iPhone.

Im talking about home consol dont handheld. The home consol 8th does not start in afew months XD

High bandiwth its being created around the world. South korea and japan are already ahead of the game, BT int he uk is currently install fiber optic cabels in every town and city in thhe uk, giving everyone an internet speed of around 100mb. america as stated that they will be following suit.