I have thought about this quite a bit and I will try to be as concise as possible. With a growing handheld / portable market, I can see the next big change in the games industry being the hybridization of the portable and home consoles. Sounds crazy, but this very thing has happened with the iPod - a portable device that can be docked into almost any new audio receivers on the market, or easily plugged into a pair of powered speakers with it's stereo jack.
With flash memory becoming better and cheaper all of the time, I can definitely see it replacing optical media and possibly magnetic storage way down the line. Of course the actual components become smaller, chaper, and more effiecient, so several years down the line, it will be possible to shove as much power as current HD consoles into portable systems.
If you have a portable system with a docking station by your TV all the time, one can easily play it on their TV at home or can take it on the go and keep playing the same game. When docked in the TV pod, then one can use the standard controllers so it wouldn't be any different from playing Wii/PS3/360. When I'm at home, I want to be seated on the couch playing on my big screen, but I would like to keep playing the same game in portable form if I can.
The PSP did this a little bit with the video out, but it wasn't as convenient as my model of what I think it should be.
Thoughts?
"Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, IT IS THE LEADERS of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is TELL THEM THEY ARE BEING ATTACKED, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. IT WORKS THE SAME IN ANY COUNTRY." --Hermann Goering, leading Nazi party member, at the Nuremberg War Crime Trials
Conservatives: Pushing for a small enough government to be a guest in your living room, or even better - your uterus.
