I could see them doing a nintendo style repackaging, but the fact of the matter is the tech isn't there for much of a spec bump.

I just wanted to point out that, whoever said this (I dunno if you were quoting, or quoting another person quoting, Squilliam) was... not very experienced as a software engineer.

A ton of PS3 development is done with gcc, although Sony does have their own custom compiler as well (SN Systems, which Sony owns, I believe).  Like gcc, the SN compiler is completely tunable in what it will and won't accept, as far as errors, warnings, etc. go.  That's pretty much true for any serious compiler, for any architecture.

I didn't read the article you guys were going over... but I thought I'd point out this... really blatently messed up statement that only an engineering amateur (or nearso) would make.  This is either a bad misquote, or you can throw everything this guy said out the door, as hot air.

edit: I read the quote closer, and... lol.  The 360 devkit/SDK is no better than the PS3 devkit/SDK, in this regard.  If anything, the MS linker is slower than the ones on the PS3 (even the gcc one), in my experience, and so turnaround, when you are forced to recompile any part of a large project, is faster on the PS3.  

The MS debugger is the shining star of the MS dev suite (which is a big deal).  Outside of that, there's not much difference.  I actually prefer the PS3 performance analysis tools, and a few other minor PS3 tools... but the debugger (THE major tool of any dev environment) is definately awesome on the 360, in my book.

Those spec's are bogus as hell lol !

From what I understand Microsoft are implementing 'forward compatibility' in the new console. This means the same Xbox 360 games will play on the new console with higher resolutions, bigger texture packs, fully anti-aliased edges (dependent on the developer) and huge rendering distance. If anyone here has played Fallout 3 on the Xbox 360 and PC (a top spec one) will notice the HUGE difference in texture quality and rendering distance between the two platforms. PC looks strikingly better. Giving this finctionality to gamers will give them a reason to purchase the new console and not worry about their current games collection.

Microsoft won't be launching anything new in terms of consoles until at least 2013/2014. They need 2-3 years for developers to make the most of Natal technology and start implementing that into their games. Simpy doubling the processing power and RAM is a very stupid move, very much like the Gamecube ---> Wii jump Nintendo made, who were only saved by their controller.

With Natal as part of the package, I expect RAM to triple at least to 1.5GB and at GDDR5 since RAM prices drop rapidly year in-year out. By 2013 they will be completely affordable.
The CPU is tricky business since clocking speeds have peaked out, but number of cores are increasing but I expect at least a double of the current capacity to give space for Natal based games and others to grow. This new console will have a much bigger lifespan that the current projected 10 years for 360. I expect 15-20 year lifespan due to the immense power of the hardware .. developers need time to catch up with their games/software.

Graphics will probably be specialised and not integrated with the CPU as many have predicted with teh introduction of Larabee. I'm not even going to guess what the capabilities of the graphics will be since there's almost always a huge leap every once or twice a year for graphics on PC but I can say games as ambitious as Fallout 3 won't have to hold back on specs. Textures packs won't need any compression, rendering distance will be as big as it can be and things like Natal technology can become integrated elements of gameplay.

As regards disc media ... Bluray is out of the question in my honest opinion. Bluray is a Sony brand and Microsoft won't support its own competition. My bets are on a downscaled version of the Holographic Versatile Disc's which can theoretically hold upto 6TB with rapid read speeds. But this is up in the air ... Bluray's are now an established brand for high definition movies so Microsoft must address this in some way. Perhaps they'll integrate Bluray compatibility ? Who knows.

-U-