After everyone bickering about the 1 year head start MS has had over the competition this gen and subsequent lead and developer advantages many of you still predict that they'll let them have another year headstart next gen?? I don't think that would be learning from mistakes.

MS is profitable so they don't need to rush it to the market but i believe 2011 sounds right...there were rumours and speculation about this new MS game division they amassed with the MGS4 producer working on Halo 4 as a launch title so that gives them 3 years.

Fixed. Hideo Kojima is not working on Halo 4.

Hell, we don't know if there will be a Halo 4. If there is, let's look at the patterns. Halo- 2001. Halo 2- 2005. Halo 3- 2007. Halo 4- 2010. However, we have to take into account:

-If Ryan Payton is working on it, they probably started recently.

-It will be an entirely new development team. They have to familiarise themselves with Halo and, in Payton's case, with the 360.

-This new studio hasn't been announced yet. However, Microsoft is closing Ensemble and somebody needs to replace them.

So if Halo 4 does ever decide to come out, we likely won't see it until 2012. Which seems a reasonable time to release a new console.

A change of developer can have mixed effects. You can get CoD3 or Fallout 3. Which one Halo 4 will be like remains to be seen.

I just hope MS will show no new console at E3 2009

I'm expecting Microsoft to try to merge the Wii strategy with the XBox 360 strategy in order to maximize their potential market share. If you replaced the A button (thumb button) with the four buttons from the XBox 360 controller, and switched the B and Z buttons with analogue triggers there is nothing that could be done with the XBox 360 controller that couldn't be done with the Wiimote and Nunchuck ... At the same time, if you incorporated the technology from MotionPlus into the Wiimote and Nunchuck there is a lot that could be done with this controller that couldn't (easily) be done with the XBox 360 controller; in particular, if you consider the IR pointing and motion controlls that are possible.

At the same time, I think Microsoft will push forward with performance but not to the same extent as they did in this generation. The XBox 360 has a GPU which is similar in performance to a Geforce 7800 or Radeon X1800, and if they take the path I am expecting them to take it would be like them hvaing released the XBox 360 with a Geforce 6600/6800 or a Radeon X600/X800 which would keep costs and energy use/heat production way down.

Don't know if i'm reading that right...does that mean you think that the next console will have a GPU worse than what they're currently using?

nextbox, fall 2010, spring 2011. Nintendo, sometime 2011 but a HD console with emphasis on the HD. PS4 is much harder to predict

No, I was saying that if they used the same strategy I expect them to use with their next generation console on the XBox 360 it would have had a less powerful CPU, GPU, less memory and so on ...

The success of the Wii has demonstrated that making games more accessable through lower pricing and a more user-friendly and intuitive interface is a more successful strategy than increasing processing power for the sake of increasing processing power. At the same time, Microsoft's existing strategy of staying close to the capabilities of a gaming PC at launch is a good strategy for gaining third party support from western developers, and the lowered emphasis from PC developers on pushing PC hardware also leads support to not needing to produce the most powerful system you can.

If Microsoft has any business sense they will release the next Xbox before the PS4 and for a lower price point. The early release and lower price did wonders for them this console generation. If they don't have any widespread hardware issues then the gulf between the next gen Xbox and Playstation would likely grow larger and Microsoft could focus on competing with the HD Wii. If I was a Microsoft executive and it was up to me, the next Xbox would launch in late 2010 for about $300.

I hope the games are not on any form of disc. (horrible bloody tech nowadays). I believe they will have the ability to play DVD, but not BLU RAY. I just dont see BLU RAY around in 3 years.