Hey all, new to this thing, so don't yell too much if this has already been done...

I love to speculate about things. At no time do I have any clue about anything that may or may not happen in the future. So therefor, I entertain myself by speculating wildly about things, and then see if anyone shares those speculations or have any wild ones of their own.

 This one's about the next generation of consoles. What will each company do with their next go around?

 Here we go-

 Xbox- I have a feeling they'll definitely gun for some good DX10 support, aiming for things that computers now will be pushing (Which by the time the next generation rolls around, will bring down those prices some.) They'll beef up the video card, add a little more ram, and make sure all their systems carry hard drives next go around (Which will hopefully eliminate the need for multiple models on the market.) Their online model is what everyone else is gunning for right now, so I think that will change little, asides improving as it's refined over time.

 Nintendo- Probably the easiest one to guess on, The Wii2/WiiHD will simply feature a beefier video card, RAM (and depending on what they announce at E3) a small hard drive, whatever size is currently the mass-produced lowest-cost option. Motion sensing and online capabilities will be refined, and probably (finally?) friend codes will be replaced with some sort of parental lockout system. They might even take a slight loss per unit on the console off the bat as well, depending on how well the Wii finishes.

 Sony- I think they're looking at Nintendo now and seeing how they can do what they did, using their PS3 technology. I imagine them reusing a lot of the PS3's archetecture, upgrading the processor and ram structure a bit, but making sure that they keep that price down enough to where they can compete against both MS/Nintendo right out of the gate next time around. Should the PS3 even out and go toe to toe with the Xbox towards the end of the cycle, then they may try to gun them down by putting out their next system out before MS.

I'm going to go in a different direction.

Historically, consoles have relied much more heavily on video card processing than RAM. That works wonders in action, adventure, RPG, and even FPS games; but it absolutely fails in MMOs. Other than the obvious issue of online connectivity -- which has always favored computers in the first place -- the basic reason why the most popular MMOs have consistently been on the PC is RAM. Unlike most single player (or small-scale online multiplayer) games, MMOs are usually bottlenecked by RAM size, not by the user's video card (this isn't always the case, obviously, if you happen to have amazing RAM and a terrible video card. But given reasonably good RAM and a reasonably good card, it's the RAM that will be an issue, not the card).

I expect MMOs to grow and grow and grow. I expect consoles to want to tap this market that has been so profoundly dominated by a small niche like the PC. And to tap this market, I see increased RAM being the most important hardware upgrade of the next generation of consoles. I expect both Microsoft and Sony to jump all over this bandwagon, but I'm very unsure about Nintendo, because they've always shown reticence towards online play, particularly MMOs. 

I can definitely see Sony wanting to do that, considering they drive a few through SOE. If Microsoft can somehow tie MMOs into Live, make them something you can pay subscriptions for with points they could probably be all for it. (Some people are still a little iffy on pay-to-play sorts of deals. A free MMO that you pay for extras on might be well suited to it though.) Not sure Nintendo would jump in and embrace MMOs considering their relative waryness with the internet so far, but then again, maybe they hire in some people to gear up their online platform next go too.

Good speculations.

Edit- Grammar police, jus' keeping the peace.