i think not. At best it will be like the PS2 and be all but dead after 9 years. But also the PS3 is not going to sell nearly as many consoles as the PS2 did so that will hurt its longevity as its not as solid of a platform. 3rd parties will move on much like they did with the xbox and gamecube.

If anything the wii will last the longest (software wise)

thats wots i m saying if they drop the price to $300 this yr and then drop it again to $200 then it will be well into its sixth yr by that time. So they will have two option either to drop PS3 support well before it has reached it mass market price or continue with PS3 for a bit longer.

Wow, i will post so i can see this thread tomorrow. I'm pretty sure i will have some laughs.

Are you sure about that? I know that for CPUs, it's easier to increase clock rate with long pipelines (for example, Pentium 4). Is it the opposite for GPUs?

Maybe its the opposite! It was a long time since I read up about that.

This.

I think it is more due to the lack of well optimized engines.. but now we r getting to the point where we are seeing better and better games every day, due to the increase in optimizations. Initially the engine are build to provide all the functionality and compatibility, then slowly and steadily optimizations are build into it. so even if 10 time fast machine is launched today its not going to provide performance until or unless its specific optimizations are not done. 

Secondly we already know that reaching 10Ghz is next to impossible. Intel launched 3.73 Ghz max on P4 and they couldn't push it any higher.. Also apart from PowerPC 6 i don't think any machine has broken 4 Ghz barrier. So Cell is very speedy machine but its potential can only be extracted if all its SPUs are utilized optimally.. and i m sure PS3 can provide 1080p with 30 fps gaming in a yr or so

That was like a CrazzyMan post.

Here is prolly why the PS3 wont last as long as the PS2:

Motion tech: I know most of us HD owners loathe it, but if used correctly it can be a lot of fun. Its not the ideal method of input for a lot of things.. say fighting games but it can be helpful in FPS, RTS etc. With rumors of m$ constantly putting out tech.. waggle, 3D cameras etc, its a no brainer that motion tech is going to be just as important as the standard gamepad in future consoles. The ps3 is pseudo motion tech compatible so if 3 yrs from now all consoles go motiontech PS3 will be left kinda dry(so will the 360)

Bluray- It was innovative, and a brave effort by SONY- but look around and you see that Bluray hasnt seeped into the home yet. Bluray ROMS or even Blyray R/RW drives are scarce in PC's and all games on the PC come on DVD9, heck even apple isnt biting the Bluray bullet for macs yet. It is the defacto HD movie format, but with cheaper memory(32nm coming this year) and with reasonably priced 16-32-64 GB (Vs bluray 25/50/100)flash drives available by the end of the year, digital downloads are going to look a lot more compelling.

Price- Sure there is room for cuts, I mean there has to be at a $400 pricetag.. the only problem being the hardware is too darn complex to allow it, add in the recession and sony would rather sell 110kunits/week/ww at a loss of say $20-40 than 160kunits/w/ww at a $80-90 loss.

Lack of success in america- well they have more money than all the other regions and Americas sells the most software. You cant be having an abysmal rate of 17% market share in the biggest video gaming region in the world.

Xbox720- IT will happen, and it should in another 2.5-3yrs. Given what M$ has learned they will aim for the $299-399 price range this time. PS3 wont look so pretty with a $200(half the current price) pricetag if m$ is going to pull the $299 gun with its next console which should be at any rate atleast 2-5 times as powerful as the PS3.

Cost- the ps3 is costing SONY by the day and with the recession, wii and retaliation by m$ it looks like sony have caught themselves in a perfect storm.

The PS2 was a monster, it devoured the DC and never ever stopped selling like hotcakes. It had FF as an exclusive, GT:SA was a huge hit and it had all the RPG's one would ever need. It also had DVD.. the defacto standard for PC/movies/media. It also was one of the first to launch(barring the DC ofcourse) and had a huge headstart.

The ps3 is an albatross around SONY's neck for the moment- and unless they cut costs and pass it onto the consumer or make blu ray cheap and viable(drives, movies or blank media).. the PS3 will never outsell the 360, let alone outlive the PS2.

Intel and AMD are increasing productivity per clock cycle,shrinking dies,increasing cores instead of pure clock speed.  Higher clock speed means more heat.  This is why we see processors that that are at the same clock speed  (p4 vs core2 or i7) but one is much faster then the other.  We have been sticking at the 3 ghz mark now for like 6 years