Now that the big three have been out for about a year and we have seen the possibilitys of all the machines, when do you think you will need something new.

I think the next gen consoles shouldn't be needed till at least late 2013, perferably october 2014 would be when I would like to see the next gen consoles. Last gen the systems all had a lot more to give than what we got, and we moved on early thanks in a large part to Mircosoft jumping the gun. Even after the big three came out we had games like FFXII, Zelda and God of War 2 coming out that showed we could have stuck with the cube and PS2 till this winter and still had great new games coming for them. I think their is no reason to go into a new generation till we have really put these systems to their max. I think the PS3 will be fine tell at least 2020 for most people and the next generation systems will need to be really special to get peoples attention. The PS3 already does everything any casual consumer is going to want, it has party games, fun games, deep games, it can be used as a home computer with linux, and it plays Blu-Ray. By the end of this generation the PS3 and 360 should have TVIP, DVR, downloadable media of all forms, and huge stores with tons of content. We already know the next gen will have real to life graphics and be completely intergated with the internet and they will all have motion 20 times better than Wii or PS3. I think their is no option than to wait a good long time for the next gen.

This generation just started no need to be ready for anything.

Even if you put the wii in a blender, grinding it up into a juice, then inject it, in its entirety, into my arm, I still dont think I would have gotten my Wii-fix for this gen.  Itll be awhile. Im not looking forward to the future yet, and I wont be for awhile.

Whether you like it or not Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo will release a new console in 2010 (maybe 2011) and the others will be forced to release their next consoles in 2011 (maybe 2012) ...

hum 2010 ?? happy squrriel... I think it's a bit early..... that would mean they start R&D at least next year... It's hardly probable... 2010-2011 might be a little more accurate to start R&D so it would put an eventual new console in 2012-2013... damn those numbers make me dizzy... i'd be 30 yo old by then..... that's crazy lol :)

So what is the next gen going to have over the current gen?
We already have great graphics, force feedback, motion sensors, surround sound, HD /MP3/DVD/CD/etc playback what more will there be? The next gen console will rely on what other hardware we can plug the console in to. For instance you can't build a super HD console without a super HD screen to play it on.
Perhaps the current gen can continue for longer than the last gen by adding the plug-ins themselves - see Guitar Hero, Wii Fit etc. I can see more of these add on devices taking the games in a different direction rather than the next gen providing better technology. (unless of course we get surround-vision screens or cost effective VR in the next 5-8 years)

JRI.

I'm ready now.

3 days from when you last read this post

next next gen.. that would be PS5... Remember PS3, Wii, and 360 is currently gen now as all 3 have been released.

Next gen will be PS4, Wii 2, and Xbox 420.

But it wont be till TVs reach Ultra HD levels (4k+ resolution)

I don't think the technology will even be in most stores let alone being adopted by 2014.  Do you realise that a single minute is about 200GB of uncompressed data?  Even compressed UHD would need a pretty sizeable upgrade to our cable TV infrastructure.  So you would essentially have the exact same scenario as HD did where it had to survive on DVDs to entice early adopters. Thus UHD would very likely have HD's same very slow adoption rate. I think there will definitely be a new generation before UHD becomes available much less before UHD has an install base worth worrying about for consoles.

@OP, 

To be honest, I am ready for the next generation as soon as they can get it to us at an affordable price tag.