Xbox 360 - $199
Wii - $249
PS3 - $399

This generation has not even hit mass market prices yet. That is another huge reason that a next gen in the next two years is just obsured. Tell me how one of these competitors is going to put out a system that blows away PS3 with a price that is reasonable by 2011.

Like I have been saying for years. Don't start asking for next gen. When it gets mentioned shoot it down. Now with all three console makers looking healthy we need to give them time to make profits, expand the market, and finally show games as a muture entertainment platform. Let the install bases grow to unheard of numbers, let the devs have a base big enough to drop the prices of games. There is just to much good that can come from holding on to this generation, and gamers, and game companies should pry we can get the most out of a golden oppertunity.

If MS's $200 price cut hadn't been so successful I would have thought as early as the end of this year for the next Xbox. Although I was more leaning towards the end of 2010.

However, considering that I might push back the next Xbox to 2011 along with N6. At the latest 2012. 2013 would be suggesting that all three companies are satisfied with their current situations and unwilling to mark fierce competition. I don't somehow see that happening.

For the handhelds, Nintendo is going to ride out the DS as long as possible however the iPhone, not the PSP, poses a greater thread to them in their mind. Sony already has what they need to compete against the iPhone, except for a userbase wanting to buy software. Thus Sony might want to try to elevate software by releasing another PSP soon... possibly as early as the end of the next year. PSP hardware is starting to significantly drop and software has been down for a long time. If Sony wants to stay competitive in the handheld market they'll release another one soon. However, I doubt there is much they could do to affect Nintendo's dominance along with Apple intrusion coming.

So really I think we'll see N6 and Xbox 3 by 2011 and we'll see a PS4 shortly after. However, I do think MS will no longer call their systems "Xbox". I think the RROD might have damaged the brand too significantly to maintain it. Don't want to be known as the brand that breaks. Sony might also reconsider the Playstation brand as it has been proven to be almost unaffective this generation. They might try like Ninty did this generation to start a "fresh" brand. But, I also expect Nintendo to change their brand as well. They want to continue to push the market forward and calling a console Wii 2 sounds only like an upgrade rather than a new market push.

Next handheld for Ninty should be quite interesting. It's hard to go from DS to anything. Sony, though, has everything in the book to do with the PSP brand. Possibly a change of brand name there as well and more emphasis on gaming competition as they probably can't beat Apple in the other features market. By separating their handheld as "gaming" only per se, that might actually continue to keep Apple out of the "direct" competition. New Nintendo handheld should release in late 2012 or 2013. Possibly earlier considering new PSP release. As for that new PSP I expect end of 2010 or 2011.

I would say that if reliability issues linger that the changing the Xbox brand would be more expensive than simply placating fears at launch with an automatic 2-3 year warranty if marketing finds that to be an issue for potential customers. The same applies for Sony, Playstation is still a strong brand and their failure this generation was inspite of the brands strength and not because the brand was weak in any way.

How long do you actually consider the consoles to be able to keep up with pc graphics the way that recent games like Fallout 3 have done? Crysis is going on two years old and it blows away anything that can be done on current consoles and surely a game is bound to come along soon on pcs that blows away even Crysis in the graphics department.

Many of us would like to see Gears at the best it can be with pc graphics. If the current console makers continue to just leave their consoles on the market too long then the growth between pc graphics and console graphics will become so large that it makes the current consoles obsolete as gaming platforms much as in the early nineties games like Doom and Castle Wolfenstein prompted the release of 3DO and Jaguar.

Pachter's schizophrenic now...he keeps calling himself "we"!

Crazy man.

MS said they would support the X360 for around 7 years.  It will be 4 years in Nov. 09.  So, Nov. 2012 should be the end of the X360 games, etc.  That's around another $120 in fees per account starting from Nov. this year.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure MS will launch it's next console in 2011.  Then, Sony will have to follow.  Of course, I would wait at least 6 months to make sure MS didn't pull another RRoD via rushing to launch.

But what makes you believe that Sony will release it later?

They have the slowest selling console, and it seems even the current, slow selling rate is slowing down!

Apart from Crisis, which is only one game, I don't see any signs of PC games getting ahead of consoles (except perhaps Empire: Total War to some extent).

The big graphical difference between PC and consoles is a thing of the past.

I don´t think Sony will stick with the 10 year plan :/

The Aliens can still get the new platforms.