well isn't PS2 well into its 8th year of life? Once the stupid thing dies, then Sony should announce the PS4. I don't see the PS2, PS3, and PS4 all being on the market at the same time. That would just be silly (not to mention confusing)

It would make sense that they just reuse a lot of the stuff on the PS3 and just bump up the specs, i.e. faster Cell, bigger HD, Blu Ray, etc. etc. At least that would be a lot cheaper than building from the ground up again. If that were the case, then all the R and D for the PS3 may be worth it, as it is spread throughout 2 generations instead of just one.

I suspect Microsoft to be the first to release a new system. I say that 2008 is its peak year and will decline for the next 2 years. If its lucky, it can push back the Xbox361 to 2011, which will give the Xbox360 6 years of glory.

The PS4 will probably be announced during E3 2010 and will be released in 2012. I have no idea of what Nintendo will try to do.

Nintendo still has a vendetta against Sony and will pull the "Our only competition is Sony" card again (which at the same time is a total Diss of MS) and will come out with the next Wii in 2012. ( I predict the next nintendo system will be called the "Dong" so it can get rid of the phallic double meaning of the word "wii")

Well yeah it'll get waaaaaaaay helluva cheaper, but it'll never be as cheap as developing a Wii game or a PS2 game, so it won't get as many games or last as long.

 Developing games in general is getting more expensive. Developing games for the PS3 or 360 may be more expensive, but that won't mean it can't be profitable. Looking at the 3rd party support for the Wii, support for that console may even die faster then support for other consoles.

In all fairness, you are just fishing for an excuse to glorify the Wii and are not adding any really valuable comments to this discussion.

I'm not just glorifying the Wii. I'm glorifying every generation's market leader. 2nd place consoles don't get 10 year life spans.

But what could Sony do? Bust out a ps4 that's even more powerful than the ps3, and thus has even higher dev costs?

The only thing I could see Sony doing is releasing a slightly more power system in a 4-5 years that focuses more on extra features than powerful hardware. It would have a hardware layout similar to the ps3's, and development would be rather easy for anyone well versed in the ps3's hardware (much like the transition from GC development to Wii development).

But I personally think that the ps3 will be around for quite some time. The thing was essentially built to be the media center to take over the living room

IF you look at specs for Wii and its sales, then look at PS3 specs its not too hard to imagine that if Sony chose not to compete with MS technically again (for the FPS/graphics crowd) the PS3 could easily last a long time. If you go by trends the next Wii would only have roughly the same (or even less!) horsepower than the PS3 already has. And Sony have got to be looking at PSP / DS and Wii / PS3 and realising that while for a smaller subset graphics is the big decider for the larger majority it isn't.

I suspect he means total lifetime and not when another console might come out. As others have noted they could easily bring out another console and still support PS3.

chunk, I think it'd be suicide for MS to release a new Xbox in 2010. Developers still haven't stopped reeling from the cost hike associated with the transition to the HD systems. Another increase of development costs (even if not as extreme) so soon would undo a great deal of the good-will MS has built with developers.

That will be especially bad considering the fact that the Wii may not even peak until 2010 (though 2009 is more likely) and will certainly be going strong through 2011. That would be an uphill battle the whole way, and by the time MS hit their stride (likely two years later) the PS4 would be released at nearly the same cost with noticably more power. Going against the Wii in its prime will retard MS's start, and make the struggle to 10 million harder than it was for the 360.

2011 is the best time for MS to launch a new system, though 2012 is better than 2010. Unless this generation turns out different than previous ones, it's safe to say Nintendo has no intention of cutting their console's life cycle short in its prime in order to compete with a product that doesn't really threaten their position. It doesn't make any sense and wouldn't maximize their profits, unless it's a GBC-esque upgrade.

And let's be honest, with the way Nintendo is pulling in the money, by the time they'd first consider a new console (2012), they'd have the technology in their next system to make the Xbox3 look a bit pale in consideration, I'd wager. Heaven forbid Sony keeps gaining steam from this point and defies the expected trend of second place consoles.

 So what, the PS1 support ended in 2005, and the PS3 was out only 20 months later.

both the NES and SNES were actually supported (in Japan only) for a year or two after the N64 had lost support. (2002 for N64 and 2003 for NES/SNES I think)

So much trolling in yet another Sony related thread... The Wii boys just can't help themselves when something positive is said about the PS3 can they? It's rather sad...