lol, can't say I disagree with any of that.

Microsoft - Has the best chance of being the number one console next generation due to their cash reserves. They will be able to spend incredible amounts on advertising and in securing some major third party exclusives early in the generation because of the limited installed bases of the next generation of consoles.

Sony - Will be facing a major crisis with the PS4 which can already be seen with Vita. The 3DS completely routed Vita this generation due to Sony being unable to protect its major third party exclusive and being unable to have a massive advertising campaign in the hundreds or even half billion dollar range. They simply lack the funds needed to counter what the competition can bring to bear. If Sony as a whole continues losing billions of dollars we might just witness the complete annihilation of the Playstation brand next generation.

Nintendo - They talk about wanting to get major third party support and to gain some of the COD/Skyrim/etc crowd but everything we've seen seems to pull the legs out from that effort. For example while the competition have built up massive online communities Nintendo talks about having a system in which it could take up 30 minutes for your comments to go live. In addition they have also stated that they will not pay for exclusives which could give the competition a major advantage. And finally if they're unwilling to sell hardware at a loss they run the risk of alienating the casuals that made up a large amount of the Wii audience.

That was a misunderstanding on the parts of the journalists.

It doesn't take 30 minutes for your comments to go live in general. It only does that if you've been flagged as a user that repeatedly posts inappropriate things. It's kind of like being set to "moderated" on a forum - because of your past behaviour, you can post at any time, but until a moderator has OKed the post, it won't be visible to others.

And they didn't say they won't pay for exclusives. They said that they won't pay just to get an exclusive because it's an exclusive. Instead, they try to make the best platform to put games on, and provide financial support for development of games with innovative uses of the system.

As for selling at a loss or profit... that's an utterly idiotic assertion. People buy things for what they provide them, not how much they cost to make. That is, the value of the system is not actually tied to the cost of making it. If they can inject enough value into it, then they could charge $800 for a system that cost only $100 to make, and do so successfully. Heck, it's what Apple does all the time (keep in mind that value is something perceived by the customer, it isn't the same as quality or features).

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Sadly this is a grasp at nothing but falsehoods. Sony is in worst condition to do anything. Sony as a whole has lost a lot of money. PS3 has been a mess. Yes it is selling good with forced price cuts. MS really pounded on PS3 by making them cut prices to early and making them take lose after lose. If 360 was not around they could have had successful sales in the beginning but they had to cut price, then do it agian everytime to keep up with what 360 was doing.  MS did a great job of staying ahead of the curb this gen. Lets hope they push for more first party support next gen, which I think they will with all the hiring going on.

You don't think Xbox has been building up for next gen first party support? You got to be kidding me. Remember before this gen xbox had barely any 3rd party support, they went and got almost all third party support. What they pulled from PS3 was incredible. You seem to think they don't know this. This gen will most likely be all about first party support. Kinect destroyed move, so in that case MS won again. So really you just being biased. Seems this gen with all the first party  support they didn't get they are still in the lead. Also they where able to get a lot of first party support by launching early and if ps4 launches a year late again, MS again will have support with out paying the first party prices. However MS has been building studios if you haven't noticed.

Thanks for clearing that up. I will be buying Wiiu and 720. The apple metaphore is great way to explain it and why I don't much care for apple. However you are right. People love apple even though I'm not a fan. It's all about appeal. Mario always has appeal with me. I love the nintendo for this reason, some of us grew up on nintendo and this is the longest running console maker. So everyone that plays games  most likely grew up on nintendo. Zelda, Mario are just straight classics. Hard to be a gamer and not play these games. However they do need a achievement system. That would be nice. Coins for small completions and stars for full completions of games.

I agree with everything but the nintendo post. Nintendo did a good job of choosing to launch the WiiU early. This might not bring that much third party but people want to buy into the next gen even if it is nintendo. I'm one of them.  If you look at my page about being sick of this gen there is almost half the people ready for something and I see this site as a hardcore one. Which means there willing to  stick with what the console maker gives.Most people are not hardcore and get bored faster then the hardcore market.  So in reality this number is going to be a lot higher. Most likely around 65-75 percent want something completely new and nintendo will deliver that, maybe not what the hardcore market wants but I'm hardcore and yet love me some mario. So in this is where nintendo will atleast keep up and be successful, also what the guy named above, Appeal is everything and nintendo has that. Lets not forget the lady gamers love nintendo and how many ladies come to this site. I know my girl games all the time and she is not a blogger at all. She is a nintendo fanatic. She also has her own xbox. Man she is f'ing hot. LOL

I have a feeling Sony will be number 1 next generation. I would say Sony beat microsoft this video game generation because they are currently juggling 3 pieces of hardware, PS3, PSP, and PS Vita. I was one that switched from Xbox because I felt like I was being hustled for online play and I'm sure others will follow suit, sooner or later. Nintendo, I feel, is releasing the WiiU a little too early. I'm interested to see how well they do.

Not gonna happen.

Nintendo has reclaimed a decent base fo support, so Wii U will sell well, if not as well as Wii.

PS3 has come back strongly after a poor start. PS brand has lost some of its base but there's no reason for the 65 million and counting PS3 buyers to make the switch to Xbox. They will remain as PS buyers with or without being multi-console owners. Sony would have to scew things up royally to not be guaranteed >60 million PS4 sales nex gen. I can see Wii U selling over 60 million, so that means Xbox 720 will need >120 million in sales. That can only really happen when the competition flops, i.e. combined sales of the competition is less than 60 million.

If PS4 and 360 launch in the same year and with more or less the same price point Europe will be for PS4 almost certainly, and Japan will always prefer PS brand over Xbox. I can see the possibility of 720 selling worse than 360 in Japan because Sony isn't going to make the same mistakes, and Wii U is launching first. That means MS will be pretty well shut out of the Japan market.

720 has a good future ahead of it, but there's really no chance of total domination.