When the clock strikes midnight on the 16 of November this year the 360 will head into its sixth year, with dozens of games still to come. This isn't the usual console life-cycle; by now the big games should have dried up, with only one or two first-party essentials tiding players over until Microsoft release their next console, which would typically be revealed in the middle of the predecessor's fifth year.
As many of you may already know. Microsoft has never really had a strong first party studio developers. That said the Xbox 360 has also had many technology problems going on with it this gen. With the infamous RROD, to the limited disc space forcing many developers to split games into multi disc form.
I think these signs (and many others) should let Microsoft know that the 360 is right at its limit's and they should really start considering bringing on the next gen Xbox.
After all the Xbox 360 is a 2005-spec PC in a slimline box at a consumer friendly price, and the next Xbox will likely follow the same model when it arrives in late 2013 (or later) but building the next generation will be a challenge for everyone.
For Microsoft, The challenge is selling such a monster machine at the right price; for developers, it's creating so many HD assets in such a volume, on time and on budget; for the tech experts, it's everything from finding the right storage media to worrying about whether broadband data caps will kill the dream of a fullydownloadable future.
Whatever Microsoft does in the next year or two will more than likely decide rather or not the next xbox will be a bigger success than the current xbox 360.
Link: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/318550/features/microsoft-need-to-announce-the-next-xbox-now/
