Now that we are clear as to what Nintendo's strategy is with Wii U what will Sony and Microsoft bring to the table? We tend to talk about Nintendo when it comes to innovation as they took a big risk with the Wii, fortunately for them it paid off. 

So I was wondering will the sucessors to Xbox 360 and PS4 contribute something new to console gaming? Will they just expand in internal power and with Move and Kinect? If so, what new innovations do you think will be shown?

simple if there is no innovation to be made they won't release a new system.... no point

What innovations will those be?

I don't think either will really innovate next gen, just expand on online and digital distribution.

Sony has lost too much on the ps3 to take a big risk. They'll stick to blu-ray and the cell, too much money invested to abandon it already and piss of all developers again with completely new hardware. They're focus will be on 3D unless people give up on by next year.

Same for MS, too much money invested in Kinect to change course already, Kinect 2.0 shipped with the next box?

All I want is a console that gets close to high end pc's.

For PS3 I want them to keep the DS3 compatible so I can use those. Move should be compatible too. I'm fine with Blu-Ray and Cell staying in there.

720. We all know MS has the most money to throw around, so an uber powerful box with Kinect 2.0 in the box would be pretty sweet. I'd like a touch screen on the controller too please. Oh, and PLEASE be backwards compatible!

So no, no real innovation required to please me. Whether that's the case remains to be seen.

Yeah close. In my opinion consoles should not try to mimick or compete with PC in terms of power, people have PC's already for that. They should cost less than a PC, just don't want them to be over 400 dollars or the dreadful 599.

What innovation?

Microsoft will simply make sure every next gen xbox is sold with Kinect, Sony will bundle Move with every machine.

MS will try to create the "Service" which will be an gaming service for multiple devices, mainly for windows 8. They will offer in this service what xbox live is but with cloud gaming and many other digital distribution systems and will initially hit an hurdle because being ms they will charge an monthly fee ontop like for xbox live and consumers wont get suckered in when they have services like steam offering for free. But MS will go for the service and they wont have an console but unlike steam (but who knows what valve has up there sleeves) MS will have it running on many different products from tablets to tv's without the box.

SONY wont go boxless but will again combine boxes into one box, so the first thing will to combine digital recording devices in (eg. combining play tv into the box) and offer an gaming machine, blu ray player, ditigal recorder, music playback, radio, tv. Basically the one box for them all. They will expand there online services to give major competitive edge over Nintendo what appears to be backwards/slow approach to online and remain disk based with digital distribution (steam integration?) giving them an edge over MS by remaining disk based. While SONY will push power they will not make the mistake twice and will try to make an cheap and easy to develop for console to become the "3rd Party Home" when it comes to developing games for, which those titles have been held by ps1 and ps2 is the reason why they are mega successful.

So to sum it up, MS will introduce an service and get away with disks and the box, and will most likely have the best cloud gaming system. SONY will continue its tradition of combing tv boxes into one super box but will focus on easy to develop for techniques. An Nintendo will fail because they will have not done enough to compete with what sony will develop for and on an price point, like what sony did with the psv will have an set price of most likely 399.

Im sure both console makers have a plan set in motion at this moment for their next console. I honestly do think, however that we will see some of the most unique consoles with this upcoming gen. I also think you are seeing some of the new inovations from each of the companies as we speak. I do think they will both incorporate kinect and move into their next platforms. Here are my thoughts on the next consoles:

Xbox 720:
I think with this next console they will continue to focus on having an all around entertainment device with Netflix, hulu, ESPN, Zune, Last.fm, facebook, twitter, ect. But I think they will incorporate the xbox tv service to allow users to pay a tv subscription service to watch televsion on the next console. It is also evident they are trying to implement that now with Xbox 360. It is evident they are trying to currently make the X360 the ultimate entertainment device to allow for everything. Im sure they will continue this trend. I also do not believe they will incorporate blu ray into their next gen console due to the fact that they don't want to give any assistance to Sony's platform. We have the issue however of the DVDs not having enough capacity, and games are getting larger, not smaller. Mark my words that MS will introduce some new format that will incorporate such things as maybe cloud gaming, online game purchases through code entry, or some new physical data format. Remember that our world is going deeper and deeper into digital streaming, and online gaming. However, a part of me still thinks there will be some type of physical data format, because not everyone still uses internet in their home.

As far as hardware I think Xbox720 will stick with the same concepts of easy porting to their system with some changes and upgrades. I do think there will be a sizeable graphics jump from X360 to X720, but perhaps not as big of a jump from Xbox to Xbox 360. I also think They will incorporate Kinect with all packages either somehow installed within the console or seperate hardware form the console that is attached. As far as exclusive titles I think they will continue their main franchises such as Halo, Forza, and likely Gears. I think will also create some new ones with the release of their new console. They will have their work cut out for them however as I believe Sony will really push exclusives with their next console.

PS4:
I think the PS3 going to PS4 will not likely see any huge new inovations besides better hardware, more focus on exclusives, more online features, and better game porting to their system. PS3 when it first started really didnt have a huge push for their online capabilities. It was mainly pushed as a gaming console. Now PS3 has much better online features and is adopting a model thats similar to XBL. I think PS4 will continue with the Blu Ray drive for the majority of their game sales. I do not see Sony ever giving up the fight on Blu Ray. I do not however think that Blu Ray will ever get to the height that DVDs were since we are going much more digital streaming now, but they will still be a viable source of entertainment for some years to come. I also think they will continue with Move functionality either incorporated into the console or as a standalone device that automatically comes with the PS4. I think the PS4 in hardware terms will have a similar jump that Xbox 360 will have to Xbox 720. This will allow for their system to not be initially so high priced. I think Sony is going to do its heavy push in exclusives and easy game portability to their system to correct some mistakes they made in creating the PS3.

All in all I think the PS4 will basically fill in gaps made in the PS3 and have a decent upgrade in performance to make it a very attractive piece of gaming hardware. They will also likely make some improvements to their online features, but I think MS will still have more to offer in the online realm. I do however think the PS4 may make a huge jump in game popularity and some big hit exclusives.

So there you have it on my thoughts for the two systems. I think both systems will release in 2013 to compete witht the new Nintendo threat. I am not sure how to guage on the Wii U as of yet. To many people the name almost sounds like an add-on to the Wii and not a full new Wii console. Its hard to say if the public will see the Wii U as gimicky or not. Either way, depending on how Nintendo advertises and releases this product it could be a huge success, or a huge failure. There is the problem though of Apple just recently coming out with technology to virtually do the same thing with the Ipad and an Apple TV, but I think the price may shy people away from this. It will all be interesting to see. As more information comes out from Nintendo regarding their new system I think we will start to see more signs of new consoles from MS and Sony. MS and Sony know they can't afford to let the threat of a new Nintendo console hinder their install bases. This is truly shaping up to be a fun and exciting next gen.