2015? 360's 10 year plan confirmed...oh wait that wasn't for the 360... ;-p

Microsoft do not seem to care about how long console A or B lasted, they seem more interested in eeking out as much bang for its buck from the current gen and will tweak it and improve it. I suspect they will have something interesting in the pipes for 2013 onwards for launch if they find plan A does not sustain the model effectively but they will be in no rush to start the cycle.

2013 is more comfortable for me so MS can get ahead of Sony's next console and still launch near the Wii successor, that way they can maintain the competitive edge while still giving the original 360 a 7-8 year life span which is pretty damn good.

I don't care honestly as long as It's backwards and doesn't suffer hardware issues.

Several years back (before Kinect was even talked about), I said 2013 based on 1) console pricing at the time and 2) profitability (or rather lack there of) for the PS360.  

Now that Kinect has introduced, I could see anything from between 2013 and 2015 so I have no issue with this.  

Also I think its important to keep in mind that developers aren't eager for the next gen yet either.  In addition, better graphics just aren't going to be enough next time.  Heck, this gen was the jump to HD.  How do you top THAT jump in visual fidelity?  2015 means motion control interfaces and 3D will have had more time to mature and prices to reduce.

Most importantly, though, it gives us time as GAMERS to spend our money on GAMES rather than saving up for the next $500 console ...

i dont believe that 2015 seems to long i say 2012-2014 range while the 360 keeps selling next to the next console

Too late, probably end 2013. Next wii will probably come in 2012. MS is not going to give Nintendo a 3 year head start. They might as well wait till 2017 and skip a generation.

"Heck, this gen was the jump to HD.  How do you top THAT jump in visual fidelity?"

Jump to 1080p 60fps with 8x msaa standard. Enable higher lod, longer draw distance, no more pop in. No more need to run shadow maps / transparencies at quarter the resolution or light updates at half the speed etc. You don't even have to change any game assets and you get a huge jump in visual fidelity at no extra cost to game development.

Or is it just myth that pc games with the exact same assets look a lot better.

2013 is enough time to integrate Kinect with the next 360. They probably already have a 60fps hires kinect ready. The infrared camera in the current Kinect is already capable of 640x480 and probably 60fps as well. It just doesn't work with the current 360 due to the USB bandwith limitations.

Ofcourse they can still support the 360. Seeing as how much money the ps2 still made for sony while the ps3 was out, ms would be crazy to drop the 360 like they dropped the xbox.

blah blah blah

if you remember my post from last yr this is on target with my predictions, but 5 yrs short of whts best (2020).

the cost of dev. is wht bothers me the most and PS3 will still be  priced high for a end of gen console with an estimated $199.99 price tag which puts it to close to the price of next gen consoles not to mention 3Ds and NGP which will not likely see price drops by then.

bad timing in my opinion.

2015 would be perfect IMO

Only grahic-whores need new consoles ASAP, that both MS and Sony might go for a really long generation is a good thing.

For a while I'd been thinking in time for 2013 holidays or maybe early 2014, but I could see 2015 based on Kinect success and continued developer concerns over costs.  Pushing it back 12 months if Kinect continues to extend 360 peak and putting more work into the SDK to ease development cost/effort could work.

On the other hand, Kow is clearly hinting someone's whispered some info in his ear...

I guess time will tell.  I currently feel the stretch between late 2013 and 2015 will for sure produce new Sony/MS consoles.  It's Nintendo I'm more uncertain about.  Will they ride the tail with Wii given it's overall still far ahead and selling more software than the HD consoles or will they decide to try and disrupt the others?