^i think they will support it for 10 years but they will release a console before that

Microsoft is poised to be first. They could squeeze the five year minimum reasonably, while making either competitor look silly for releasing simultaneously for a four-year cycle. Or they could stretch it to 6 years, and have the 360 seem more successful than the five-year competitor, while sacrificing the Xbox 3 slightly. The more likely of the other two consoles to push Microsoft into pre-emtively launching is Sony, simply because they're going to want to end this generation as badly as Microsoft wanted to end the last one. The Wii is the least likely to see a successor. Although I can imagine Sony releasing before Microsoft, I think it's unlikely. I don't think there's even the remotest chance that Nintendo will be the first out the gate next gen, however.

CrazzyMan said: PS4 will be in 4 dimentions, it will be just a console like in HACK anime. That will be somewhere in 2012-2015. IF FFXIII will bring the graphics, which we saw in E3 2k6 trailer. That CGI graphics will be good enough for a loooong time. I just recently played PC game - Age of Mythology, and even today i like how graphics looks. =) The only 2 ways of going on next gen console, it is deliver 3d graphics which is not close to real life, but just looks like real life. GT5: prologue looks close to real life, if in GT5 or GT6 they will be able to reach such quality = real life.. who will need x720 or ps4? The second way is 4 dimension, and i don`t see that happening earlier then in 2012.

You know the 4th dimension is time right? We've been playing 3-d and 4-d for decades now, just nobody ever really refers to the 4th dimension. Sony used it as a marketing gadget that wasn't all that popular and saw a lot of complaints. In truth PS3 360 and Wii are all 4d as were PS2 PS1 N64 Gamecube Xbox etc. I mean you can argue it and all but it's pretty true. In fact you can argue that the wii has superior dimension support to the PS3! As in Physics the 5th dimension is argued to be Graviton a particle thought to carry the force of gravity. So wii is 5-D! lol sorry couldn't resist. Note: This was just a joke don't get all upset guys ok? Edit: I really think nintendo has an advantage here in that they can release a system earlier then the others due to profits and popularity and lead into next gen by a year with something superior and cheaper to PS3/360(don't argue it in 4 years it'd be pretty cheap to do either.) lead in hope to use Wii's success to garner heavy starting support and lead into the new gen with a substantial gap for the others to fill. (granted the extra year would allow PS4 and whatever microsoft does next to be more powerful but not enough to completly destroy Nintendos.) If handled properly and given enough support from 3rd parties it could prove good. Or it could end up like the 360 a secondary thought after the popular gaming console of last gen(PS2) up untill the other companies have time to bring out their products.

Nintendo will be the next to release another console they are the only vendor who can.!
PS3 has very cutting edge hw allready and plenty of scope for far more than any other console
360 similar to above not much to improve is there aside from a model with built in HDD, HDMI, HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, a motion sensitive controller perhaps.
Essentially neither PS3 or 360 can be improved without adding unreasonable costs both are multicore( 360=3*cores , PS3=8*cores) running at over 3GHZ, with .5Gbytes of memory.
Nintendos Wii console is essntially an 50% overclocked gamecube running under 1Ghz , It has an innovative motion controller added. Nintendo have allways been Power PC since gamecube so they can easily upgrade to a 3+Ghz PPC and not loose any backward compatibility (unlike sony or MS who both just switched to Power PC ).
Nintendo can choose to throw in an STI Cell or other multicore Power PC chip at 3-4Ghz , add in say .5 to 2Gb of memory and put out a new console tommorow which is over 10* the performance and 10*memory of the Wii and keep the price similar to Xbox or PS3. Neither Sony or MS can do that because they allready have.
With the success of Wii - Nintendo will have enough time and cash to develop a truly-nextgen console which i expect to see within 2 years.
If they dont bring out a new console in that timeframe the PS3 and 360 will have come down in price and surly both will by then have better next-gen games next year. Wii will begin to loose huge market share to the PS3 especially with it's Wii like motion sensitive and Cell enhanced games, once the price difference comes down.

souixan said: CrazzyMan said: PS4 will be in 4 dimentions, it will be just a console like in HACK anime. That will be somewhere in 2012-2015. IF FFXIII will bring the graphics, which we saw in E3 2k6 trailer. That CGI graphics will be good enough for a loooong time. I just recently played PC game - Age of Mythology, and even today i like how graphics looks. =) The only 2 ways of going on next gen console, it is deliver 3d graphics which is not close to real life, but just looks like real life. GT5: prologue looks close to real life, if in GT5 or GT6 they will be able to reach such quality = real life.. who will need x720 or ps4? The second way is 4 dimension, and i don`t see that happening earlier then in 2012.   You know the 4th dimension is time right? We've been playing 3-d and 4-d for decades now, just nobody ever really refers to the 4th dimension. Sony used it as a marketing gadget that wasn't all that popular and saw a lot of complaints. In truth PS3 360 and Wii are all 4d as were PS2 PS1 N64 Gamecube Xbox etc. I mean you can argue it and all but it's pretty true. In fact you can argue that the wii has superior dimension support to the PS3! As in Physics the 5th dimension is argued to be Graviton a particle thought to carry the force of gravity. So wii is 5-D! lol sorry couldn't resist. Note: This was just a joke don't get all upset guys ok? Edit: I really think nintendo has an advantage here in that they can release a system earlier then the others due to profits and popularity and lead into next gen by a year with something superior and cheaper to PS3/360(don't argue it in 4 years it'd be pretty cheap to do either.) lead in hope to use Wii's success to garner heavy starting support and lead into the new gen with a substantial gap for the others to fill. (granted the extra year would allow PS4 and whatever microsoft does next to be more powerful but not enough to completly destroy Nintendos.) If handled properly and given enough support from 3rd parties it could prove good. Or it could end up like the 360 a secondary thought after the popular gaming console of last gen(PS2) up untill the other companies have time to bring out their products.

 Why lead into the next gen if they are popular and making profits, they can keep the Wii around longer, keep making money and slaes off of it, like Sony did with the PS2, and then release their next gen system when the Wii sales start to taper off, and by then it'll be cheaper for them to release a more advanced system, allowing them to keep prices at the mass market level

When Sony unviels the PS4 in 2035 after the PS3 wins the 6th gen you will all realise how wrong you were about Sony.

Avinash_Tyagi said: souixan said: CrazzyMan said: PS4 will be in 4 dimentions, it will be just a console like in HACK anime. That will be somewhere in 2012-2015. IF FFXIII will bring the graphics, which we saw in E3 2k6 trailer. That CGI graphics will be good enough for a loooong time. I just recently played PC game - Age of Mythology, and even today i like how graphics looks. =) The only 2 ways of going on next gen console, it is deliver 3d graphics which is not close to real life, but just looks like real life. GT5: prologue looks close to real life, if in GT5 or GT6 they will be able to reach such quality = real life.. who will need x720 or ps4? The second way is 4 dimension, and i don`t see that happening earlier then in 2012. You know the 4th dimension is time right? We've been playing 3-d and 4-d for decades now, just nobody ever really refers to the 4th dimension. Sony used it as a marketing gadget that wasn't all that popular and saw a lot of complaints. In truth PS3 360 and Wii are all 4d as were PS2 PS1 N64 Gamecube Xbox etc. I mean you can argue it and all but it's pretty true. In fact you can argue that the wii has superior dimension support to the PS3! As in Physics the 5th dimension is argued to be Graviton a particle thought to carry the force of gravity. So wii is 5-D! lol sorry couldn't resist. Note: This was just a joke don't get all upset guys ok? Edit: I really think nintendo has an advantage here in that they can release a system earlier then the others due to profits and popularity and lead into next gen by a year with something superior and cheaper to PS3/360(don't argue it in 4 years it'd be pretty cheap to do either.) lead in hope to use Wii's success to garner heavy starting support and lead into the new gen with a substantial gap for the others to fill. (granted the extra year would allow PS4 and whatever microsoft does next to be more powerful but not enough to completly destroy Nintendos.) If handled properly and given enough support from 3rd parties it could prove good. Or it could end up like the 360 a secondary thought after the popular gaming console of last gen(PS2) up untill the other companies have time to bring out their products. Why lead into the next gen if they are popular and making profits, they can keep the Wii around longer, keep making money and slaes off of it, like Sony did with the PS2, and then release their next gen system when the Wii sales start to taper off, and by then it'll be cheaper for them to release a more advanced system, allowing them to keep prices at the mass market level

It's quite simple actually. You use the popularity of last gen and keep that popularity hot by coming out first. It spikes people who liked the Wii and technophiles who like "super graphics" to want to purchase it. Casuals looking for a low end system will still purchase Wii people looking to move on from the Wii can purchase the next gen instalation and technophiles who wanted the PS3 for higher end will look to nintendos new system.(Not all but a good enough ammount) or it could end up terrible lol

Nintendo isn't concerned about super graphics, and I doubt their next system will be more than a little more powerful than a PS3, so it won't be a big issue anyways, Nitnendo will be more concerned about profits and market disruption, better to release last so you can maintain profits and so you can keep your secretsfrom being copied, they'll want to wait until Sony and MS launch, and then come in and disrupt their market and take the profits

Honestly, I think that expecting much more than a 5 or 6 years before each company releases a follow up system when there are three companies producing consoles is unrealistic. In a two console market (like the current handheld market) it is possible because as long as the leading console is making a crap ton of money and the trailing console is well supported (and has a growing userbase) there is little reason to release a new system; in a three console market one of the companies will feel the need to get a jump start on the other two companies in order to take advantage of newer technology in an attempt to controll the "next generation" console market.

Consider that in 2010 we will be be using a 32nm process (or possibly 22nm process) which will make a fairly inexpensive GPU more powerful than the current three card Geforce 8800GTX SLi setups, a farily inexpensive CPU much more powerful than the bleeding edge processors of today, and you will be able to have 8 to 16 times as much ram. The engine developers will all have cutting edge game engines ready to take advantage of these components, and there will be hundreds of PC developers who are looking to port their games to a console which can handle them in order to limit their risk.

One of the three will want to take advantage of these conditions, and the other two know that if they're given more than a 12 month lead they will (likely) gain such a large lead that they can never be caught.

souixan said: It's quite simple actually. You use the popularity of last gen and keep that popularity hot by coming out first. It spikes people who liked the Wii and technophiles who like "super graphics" to want to purchase it. Casuals looking for a low end system will still purchase Wii people looking to move on from the Wii can purchase the next gen instalation and technophiles who wanted the PS3 for higher end will look to nintendos new system.(Not all but a good enough ammount) or it could end up terrible lol

That sounds nice, but it doesn't work so well in practice. Sega tried this exact strategy in the 1990s, and it backfired on them. By making the lifespan of your console too short, you run the risk of burning consumers who invested in your product, only to find that support was being discontinued in favor of a newer, more powerful system. Besides, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense either. Why cannibalize your own success if you're dominating the market by releasing an unproven new console?

On topic, either Microsoft or Sony will launch the first eighth generation console. They both run business models that require them to dominate the market in order to make a profit; neither can be content to sit in a distant second place behind the Wii. One or both will try to get a jump on the field by launching their new system ahead of schedule, hoping to strike it rich and duplicate the PS2 model. Nintendo will run a real risk of repeating the mistake they made in the 1990s: sitting on their laurels with a dominant console (NES/SNES) and letting the competition beat them to the punch with improved technology.