It's a bit early but let's try and make some guesstimates about the next generation of consoles. You've heard some sqwaking about PS4 and Xbox 720. But what would games on these systems really have to look like in order to justfy an upgrade? Using Crysis Running at max settings 1080p 60+ fps as an acceptable standerd, I pose these 2 questions:

How much would a gaming machine capable of reaching this level of performance cost today, (out the box/factory)?

When would the said hardware come down to a reasonable price, perhaps $400? (Assuming the company would be willing to take a hit of $200)

Perhaps we could get a better view of the future through shared knowledge.

How about the Wii HD? It may have better specs. than the competition.

You have to remember that Nintendo was a graphical powerful company. The only reason why Nintendo doesn't have a Wii with powerful specs. is because they didn't want to, not because they can't.

And you have to remember that Sony was not always a graphical powerful company. Both the N64 and Gamecube were a lot better in terms of hardware specs. and graphics than the PS1 and PS2.

This is the first generation that Nintendo makes an underpowered machine.

@Fernando:

What about the Wii HD? I've not even heard rumours about that one!

Before I pick the hardware, I will explain it in terms of hardware that would exist if they used a similar mindset to produce a current generation console ... The GPU would be similar to using a Radeon x800 or Geforce 6600/6800 as your GPU, the CPU would be similar to a PowerPC 970MP @ 2GHz, and it would have 512MB of (moderately) inexpensive ram if it was released in 2006.

The hardware that I think this will relate to is a multi-core Cell processor (for Sony) at 4.5+ GHz, and Power6 based CPU (for Microsoft/Nintendo) also at 4.5+ GHz; the GPUs will (potentially) be based on the next generation of Graphics cards (AMD HD4870/Geforce GTX 280) with some modifications (like increasing the number of stream processors); and there will be 2GHz of Memory. (This is assuming a 2011 release date)

The maker of the console is somewhat irrelevant.

Hmm let me give an example.

A PC made by a gaming PC company Running Crysis on max 1080 60 fps etc. Out the box not modded or clocked by user: I'd say would be around 6k without unnecessary components.

A rig like that might go for $400 in 2013? By M$, Big N or $ony doesn't matter.

Leetgeek, your sig is way too big. Can you shrink it down so that it doesn't extend the length of a one-sentence post? When you said "The maker of the console is somewhat irrelevant." your sig shouldn't go past the timestamp under your name.

6k?What world do you live in?

6k?

It wouldnt cost that much, but it would easily cost over 2k, there is no computer that can run crysis at ULTRA HIGH at 60fps that is priced below $2,000.