My PC already does that. People like me and others want an affordable console. I usually go for the console with best and unique 1st party titles.

Even without the soccer mom.....Nintendo Wii would still be the most profitable console last gen. This gen they started with profit per software sales.

Your PC isn't a console. Consoles are the things people buy at Gamestop and Walmart and hook up to their TV's to play games on the coach with their feet up and their back reclined. PCs are the things people set on desks to do their taxes, send emails, and watch funny cat videos. Some of those PCs are also used for games. Some of those PCs used for games are owned by gamers who keep them up to date with the latest gaming hardware.

I have consoles and a kick ass gaming TV, but I'm part of an even smaller minority.

If Nintendo want to compete with MS and Sony in the comming years they are going to need something else besides casual appeal to make up for lower specs if the other next gen machines are considerably more powerfull. Being the only machine with Mario wasn't good enough for the Gamecube and the whole motion control fad has ended. If the Wii U turns out to be underpowered compared to others it's not going to get those all important 3rd party games that single system buys want.

1. Many people's PC does that to and plays multi platform games at highest settings. with my feet up on the desk as well.

2. Have all consoles since coleco with kick ass tv.

3. If Ms and Sony want to compete with Nintendo they better end the (kinect and Move fad) and release 1st party titles that at least breaks 11 million and not have COD carry them through another generation.

1. Most people do not buy PCs to play games on their HDTVs. Most people put their PC on the desk in their den and they don't upgrade or replace them for the better part of a decade.

2. I don't know what you mean by that.

3. None of that makes sense. For your information 3rd party games make tons of money for console makers because they pay a portion of their sales to the console maker. 1st party games cost too much to make enough money to pay for a consoles R&D and manufacturing. If 3rd party games on Nextbox and PS4 are too advanced for the Wii U  then Nintendo will lose out on a lot of money.

1. Thats why people buy "affordable consoles."

2. Too bad. thats ur problem.

3. Too bad thats ur problem.

4. Go research profit or attend classes in accounting. Lets figure out who loses money at the begining of the consoles life. I wonder how long it took to develop Mario kart and Gran Turismo or Uncharted and Mario -U.

How many times did the author use the word "purported" in that article?

Regarding system memory, there are no excuses why PS4/XboxNext won't use at least 8GB of DDR3. I mean really, you can already find 8GB of DDR3 for $28 CDN this holiday season. By this time next year, at cost, I bet you can get 16GB of DDR3 for $55. 
http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=76774&vpn=PV38G160C9KRD&manufacture=Patriot&promoid=1033

I am not saying 16GB will be in those consoles but not putting 8GB would the biggest cop out ever in terms of costs. We are talking about $30 here for 8GB, which means 4GB is barely a savings of $15. 

It's not about PC games today, but about games in 2014-2022. When PS3 and 360 came out in 2005-2006, how many games used more than 1GB of system memory and how many games used more than 256MB of VRAM? 

Here is a 2005 PC Building Gaming guide - December 21, 2005. I used the flagship system to give you an idea.

http://hothardware.com/Reviews/Hot-Hardware-for-the-Holidays-A-Buyers-Guide/?page=2

Nvidia 7800GTX 512MB @ $749 x 2 = $1500

CORSAIR 2GB (2 x 1GB) System memory = $232

So if we look at it in those terms, 2048MB (~2GB) of system memory was $230 when Xbox 360 launched with 256MB or 8x less. 

Today, you can buy 64GB for $280:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233308

By Q4 2013, 64GB is probably going to drop to $230-240. 8x less of that is 8GB. For simplicity's sake, 8GB as the minimum kinda makes sense if they want next generation consoles to not become comletely outdated to PCs of the future.

System memory should never be compared on consoles to today's PCs because consoles need to be around for what appears even longer generations now. So if PS4/Xbox Next are going to launch in 2013-2014 and last 8 or so years like this generation of consoles did, then it's about games from 2014-2022 and 8GB is going to be peanuts in that context. Given the cost of 8GB today hovering at $35-40 in retail, there are not many logical excuses to not have 8GB in next generation consoles. RAM is now one of the cheapest parts in a console. 6-7Ghz of GDDR5 over 384-bit bus interface for 288-336GB/sec of memory bandwidth dedicated for a flagship GPU is what's really expensive in terms of memory layout.

This is where Nintendo cut costs as they have only a 12.8GB/sec of memory bandwidth available for the GPU. 8GB of system memory is the basics. They can't cut the memory bandwidth to the GPU either and that's where cost and power consumption skyrocket. You can mitigate this to an extent with eDRAM which is why it's so common in consoles now.

There is one. It's just too slow to be particularly useful. The quantity of memory a console can actually make use of per frame is the bandwidth divided by the number of frames per second so whilst you could have 8GB of DDR3 the effective quantity of memory you could use per frame would be something like:

12GB/S /30FPS = 0.4GB which is an absolute maximum if the bandwidth was say the same as the Wii U. In the best case scenario the Wii U can address 0.4GB assuming perfect utilization however the real world figure is likely less than half of that. If the consoles are going to have 8GB to really make use of it they need a LOT of memory bandwidth to go with it.

By the way Wii U already has 2GB. For the real next gen consoles will be at least 4GB an obligation, but i believe in 8GB of RAM.

Why would consoles need 8GB of RAM? Not even a PC fully utilizes that for gaming, and I honestly see that changing in the next few years. Even IF gaming PCs will need 8GB of RAM in the future, consoles still don´t need it because of the better optimisation. My guess remains at 4GB RAM