Microsoft could be the one to beat next generation. Their 3^rd generation of consoles is the perfect storm of opportunity for them to play to every strength they have, and if they win they will never lose again. Microsoft has the chance to both redefine what a console is, and weave the digital web between all the devices in a household to disrupt the very notion of how people interface with computer systems.

Nintendo forged a path for others to follow by bringing a next generation interface into the homes of people worldwide. The interface challenge that Nintendo overcame as we know removed a lot of barriers preventing consoles from reaching a wider audience, but it also removed a lot of the barriers preventing consoles from becoming useful to people outside of games. Essentially the lesson one could take from Wii-Fit is that if you bring something useful into people’s lives they will jump in with both feet.

This is where Nintendo trail blazing meets Microsoft’s strengths. There is no other company in the console business that can make a console useful to people outside of games better than Microsoft. The research and development Microsoft has conducted in fields such as voice recognition, gesture recognition and new interface technologies can be directly implemented by a console to both make it easier to use and allow them to leverage new ways to use the existing technology of the console to make peoples lives better.

Disrupt the old empire! The consoles making PCs obsolete.

The keyboard and Mouse, the unchanging interface between man and computers since computers began. The perfect answer to all your computing needs, until you decide to leave the desk. Between asking your LCD TV for an omelette recipe, and leaving the kitchen, washing your hands and finding a computer to Google and print out the results the obvious choice is neat and easy, like people want them to be.

The largest untapped market for consoles is people who don’t even want to play games. Games are just one form of software you can sell to people, and by selling a much wider variety of software Microsoft can tap a market many magnitudes of size larger than Nintendo could ever dream of. Games for many people fit into their lifestyle and giving them an opportunity to play games when they otherwise couldn’t is a recipe for increased participation. Like with my Kitchen example, if you’re waiting for the oven to pre-heat you’ve got time to play a quick game or two.

If you look at the definition of a console in a computer sense it is merely a terminal to a server hidden elsewhere. In my opinion, that’s what the next Xbox generation will be about. Increasingly as devices are becoming more connected, the need for duplication of high performance computing diminishes. For that reason, if you can render a game and transmit the results wirelessly to an LCD TV all you need on the local side would be a camera, microphone and a wireless network adapter to work it into your network.

Summary.

The hardware is almost irrelevant; the next generation will be defined more by the software which runs on it and the user interface. Realistically if they are looking to create a mass market device, the dual analogue stick interface is dead to them. Even the control scheme for the Xbox 360 is dead, the hardware can live on and by the time the next generation comes about the internals should be so cheap they can use it for almost anything.

They will look to expand their online content by making digital music, movies and games available from their Xbox Live service. The “dvd player” in the bedroom for this type of content is the wireless terminal which I discussed earlier and they will expand upon this by leveraging voice and gesture recognition to allow a much greater variety of software to run on it. Essentially its all about making it simple and useful to add value to their complete offering.

I'm not proposing that the game focus is dead to them. By focusing on the broadest market possible you give yourself the best chance to give the most people a reason to buy your product. Games on PC don't suffer because of the Office/Internet/Email focus that most people have with PCs and games shouldn't suffer either in this scenario. Between education, games, multimedia applications, and useful functionality like emails you can encompass the widest possible market.

Im not saying that the above will definately happen. Microsoft is in a unique position to redefine the roles of both the home computer and consoles and create the digital future thats been dreamed about in Science fiction for over 30 years. Essentially im proposing that Microsoft will do what they always feared Sony would do to their Windows monopoly. Because they are in a position of strength from windows they will take it even further than anyone had dreamt or feared and in the end if they are successful it is only because they have convinced more people than anyone else that they deserve the money and sales more.

I wanted to see a console that could wirelessly stream into more than one room at a time, obviously that means a performance hit for each game being played, probably maxed out at 3.. Or multiplayer, a person in each room, console in the living room, streaming to each TV thru a little receiver..

I don't think that will happen next gen tho.. Sony and Microsoft and even Nintendo still have a ways to go before the hardware is maxed out to the point that an increase in capabilities can't really improve what you see on screen..

However to say 'Microsoft is in a unique position to capatalise' is a little naive as any one of the 3 big companies could do what you are suggesting... Yes Microsoft has the PC advantage but why couldn't sony come with a DVD to put an app on the PC? Why couldn't Nintendo redefine the interface once more to make the console a more core product? They seem to be going that way anyway..

Good read though *claps*

actually if sony is smart,next xbox can become like original XBOX.

sony should launch PS4 within 6 months after 720's launch at $399 &$299 price point ,(due to low cost of cell and bluray by then,,,,since we already know they will stick to similar;ar architecture) .Keeping similar architecture also means that Sony already has the tools to develop their games so no more time is gonna be wasted for developing engines,,,they can refine/enhance their existing game engines . due to that reason Sony can pump out software on regular basis at launch,,, not like PS3's launch (for the first 6-9months).

all this is my opinion ,and it depends on how smart sony acts next gen.

The only way Microsoft could win the next generation is if they bought Sony and Nintendo and even then they would probably balls it up.

"Disrupt the old empire! The consoles making PCs obsolete." I disagree. PC is still in front in terms of graphics, controls (mouse still beat the wiimote), line-up. Home consoles still have to catch up.

Thanks!

As for streaming movies to multiple locations at once, thats a pretty disfunctional family! Anyway it wouldn't be too hard, its essentially just a little step upwards from what local multiplayer requires and if that can be done then movies would be a breeze by comparison.

The reason why I pick Microsoft as the one is because they have the most advantages or the least disadvantages with regards to achieving this. Between their control of Windows, their massive pool of talent they can draw upon to develop software and their ability to use pretty much any piece of software written for the computer by running them natively on X86 or porting them to powerpc means they have the most options in implementing this.

Graphics are becoming more difficult to distinguish, and will the mouse still beat Wiimote version 2?  

 Have you compared a Wii game to a 360 game recently?

Seriously though, there is a law of diminishing returns as far as graphics go. We're still not there though, there are one or two generations of console hardware to go yet where there will be a clear difference between one generation and the next in terms of graphics quality.

The next gen, aside from all being Wii-mote type controls, will be about hardware that can display all games at 1080p resolution. This gen, for the 360/PS3 has been about 720p (or below) graphics.

Disfunctional perhaps but if you can imagine, if the console is the central hub of the home. Wouldn't everybody want to use it for sumthing? So if I were Microsoft (say they are the ones to implement this) I'd make a powerful console with say a 12 core processor but tell devs that they may only use 4 of those cores for any one title but then allow them to have an enhanced mode using the full guts of the system..

That console may be priced at $299 at launch, then you have small receivers that have a camera, microfone, power button etc that retails for $79 that acts as a gateway to the console so everybody in the house can have the console in their room (up to 3 for one console)

So your mum wants to play Avatar World: Cooking Practice! in the living room while you play Gear of War 4 in your bedroom and your dad watches a HD movie in the theatre room..

That's how you:
1. kill the competition as why would you need more than one consoles when for an extra $79 you could have a virtual version.

2. Increase the usefulness of bigger, faster processors when te graphics, AI and physics aren't getting a whole lot better

3. Differentiate yourself from the competition as a truly connected household item.. Just like the Wii having the blue light for messages, imagine the console giving everyone they're own personal messages to their own receiver, turn on the TV, connect to the console and notice you have a message from another family member to join their online coop game etc..

Would be a nifty feature

The idea that the next Microsoft console could top the next Nintendo one is reflexive - you'll bother me for not reading your entire post, but one doesn't need to post a lot of reasons for that. Sony could take it, too. Nintendo could as well, I suppose, though it's not as likely.

But the idea that they would "never lose it again" is naive.