you forgot a big point NJ5 :

6- WHEN will they release their respective consoles ? who will launch the next gene first ?

that isa master point !

3D would be more radically overshooting the market than HD was. I really don't think we're anywhere near that kind of mass-market penetration.

I think that Natal is going to essentially be a Beta for what Microsoft intends to do next generation, so if you're looking at Microsoft's future, i would follow very closely what they do with Natal. How much support they give it, how much support 3rd parties give it, and how mandatory they choose to make it, that's going to be a forerunner of their next console, which will use Natal tech heavily... or not.

With Nintendo, the peak into the future comes from the DSi. Watch the services and functionality they add to the DSi, and you'll see where they intend to go, at least in terms of software services. I think, ultimately, that they'll have a more advanced version of the Wiimote there from day one, and experiment with more radical schemes as they go along, with a requisite leap in power.

I think that the Wand is just going to be another peripheral for the Eye this generation, and like Natal will just run a Beta for more developed control schemes further along, and will foreshadow what Sony is willing to do

The Dreamcast did not destroy Sega's hardware business. It was already on life support.

nintendo releashed some peripherals in 2005 also if you look at the sells numbers you'll understand why
2011 is going to come up to begin the nextgen

Next generation is going to be even more worthless than this one most likely.

Xbox 3 launch in Nov 2012:

- powered by a GPU based on ATI Radeon HD 6850
- true 1080p graphics
- Natal-2 motion controls built in
- true 3-D vision technology hardware support
- all Xbox 3 games work with 3-D glasses (as required by MS)

- $499 launch price

$499 launch price?...don´t think so...one of the things this gen has taught is exactly not to release a console at that price.

I'm still hoping onlive turns into the next big gaming thing

I don't think Nintendo will budge unless the price of the next system's games are only minimally above Wii development costs. (Anywhere from $3m- $12m average). Hopefully with more allowed freedom, mostly all of the 3rd parties will get on board with the N6 and probably keep it at #1 in the console war.


The specs cannot be "just better than the 360/PS3" unless the hardware is cheap to make with the parts to do so. All consoles became outdated in hardware the second they launched. But since it is 2009 now, Ninty may choose the high-end B+ stuff available today, and by 2012, have it cheap enough for mass-market production.

Cutting edge has proved to be one of the biggest mistakes and financial heatsinks of this generation of consoles. It would be foolish to continue into an era where game development goes anywhere near $60 million and software prices increase by 15%.

Sony may have to change their strategy, which will be a difficult transition after having it work for 12 years then completely fail. Whatever it is, they will be much smarter next gen and hopefully such mistakes from their end will not occur...............and they will come up with a new controller.

Microsoft won't have that much of a change next gen I don't think. However, they might focus more on destroying Nintendo rather than Sony this time. Their marketing may be a mirror of Nintendo's stuff, from the casual focus, to to peripheral thing. They might try a handheld too, who knows.

"mostly all of the 3rd parties will get on board with the N6 and probably keep it at #1 in the console war."

@Savior

If that happens, it´d be like the SNES again, when I could have Nintendo´s titles plus most major 3rd party titles on a single console.