How long is the gen going to last?

A few years to go yet, MS have just spent $500 million on marketing alone just for kinect, they'll want to make that a big part of future Xboxs if it goes well. They'll need a year or so at least to be able to judge the market and show they can do core gaming with motion sensing. Sony not so much riding with the move, but will still like to see in doing well for the same reason as MS, and also PSP2 supposed to be out this time next year cant see them announcing PS4 in that time frame. I would think that 2012 we will see new info on next consoles from MS/Sony with a 2013 release date. Nintendo i guess are starting the "next gen" for handhelds with the 3DS coming out in March 2011, but as Wii sales are dropping off while the other consoles are gaining market share Wii 2 probably will be announced late next year for a 2012 release.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
how do you know if it hasn't got much headroom?

it takes years of programming on a specific console, before programmers start to find new techniques and efficiency's in order to gain more.

personally i can see the ps3 lasting another 5 years. the 360 another 3. this is minimum. the wii was a gimmick, it needs to be updated as soon as, but i dont think there is enough space for 3 consoles in an online market currently.

i can see there being no consoles in 10-15 years time, it will be pc gaming for everyone then, due to pc's being extremely powerful and a hell of a lot smaller. pc's will become the new consoles.
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Well I'm no programmer, but I am an artist and work on these things every day.

There may well be some headroom, but it's never going to be exploited by most companies that develop on both consoles. Even for those that develop soley on the PS3 will only find small gains that the majority of the public won't even notice. Some of the biggest visual improvements that developers want to make to their games just aren't possible with either consoles limitations (without major sacrifices elsewhere), namely AA and higher rez.
 
I overheard an MS rep in a game shop the other day from what he was saying MS have no plans for a new console until at least 2014/2015.
I,m not convinced that either console has given it %100 and developers will continue to push things that bit further. Considering both consoles use hardware developed in 2004 they do prettty well, Can you imagine gaming on Pc hardware from 2004 you would be shunned and shot at dawn.....
 
i love how several people still seem to be ignoring the facts (that ms and sony have stated that the next console is at least 3-4 years away at best.)

and also seem to expect amazing graphics out of nowhere without having any regard for costs whatsoever that the devs have to incur...thats why things have become stale because of the ridiculous expenses that come along with designing a pretty engine and then paying the 100s to 1000s of artists, programmers etc that have to fill it. so little jimmy can say 'omgz look at the pretty grass'
 
I think Nintendo will be the first company to update its home console. If sales of the Wii continue to slide then they will have no choice.
 
nicktay2605 said:
I personally think the 360 is feeling more dated than the PS3. I don't see Kinect being able to extend the lifespan as long as people expect. Plus I got the feeling when I was playing Halo Reach that that was as far as the 360 could go in terms of graphics, and I think the moments of framerate drop are an example of how much Bungie pushed the console..
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The 360 has had frame rate issues regardless of how good or bad the graphics have been. Sloppy game making rather than pushing the limits. There are very few games without tearing of some sort.

That said, I'm more than ready for a new console, especially from MS. I really want them to bring a new console out with more power and bluray. I still enjoy the games but 5 years is long enough for a refresh imo.
 
Nothing wrong with current generation graphics, but then I'm ignorant to the fact the PC can produce much higher resolution anti-aliased graphics as I no longer play games on mine.
 
While the consoles are not very powerful anymore they are still way better to what we had with Xbox/PS2. The best future with xbox 360 is that you can hdd install games :)

Anyway I think it's going to be another 4-5 years before we see anything new.
 
A new Nintendo Home Console: 2 Years
A new Microsoft Home Console: 3 Years
A new Sony Home Console: 3 to 4 Years

That is unless Nintendo create something incredibly more powerful than the 360 or PS3 within the next 2 years. If that happens a new gen from the big 3 will come in 3 years. Nintendo will strike first though.
 
We'll get new consoles when they've made sufficient profit of the current generation.

When the xbox360 came out, it had some ridiculous hardware inside for the price, and they were selling it for a huge loss. It's gpu is based off the 7800gtx, which cost around £350 when it was new. Their profit margins are based off two things: them assuming each xbox user buys a certain amount of games, and their prediction on the price of the hardware several years after release.

As it turns out, each user has bought less games than they expected:Partially because piracy is easy on xbox, and partially due to economic crisis. Their projection for the price of the hardware wasn't correct either.... the gpu's they put in aren't as cheap to produce as they were hoping, DDR3 still costs a crapload, and the financial crisis has increased the price of copper dramatically.

Gaming hardware is getting more and more specialised...... and it's becoming harder and harder to R+D a console using powerful hardware, for a price highstreet consumers will be happy with. The xbox360 has a crapload of problems due to them squeezing a hot gpu inside a tiny case. I wouldn't be surprised if we never see a console as powerful as the 360 or ps3 ever again (compared to the PC hardware available when they're released). It's just not economically viable to sell what's essentially a £600+ gaming PC for less than £300.
 
I am still happy with the standard of current gen games (graphically). Having said that, if a new console was to be released in the near future I wouldn't hesitate to buy it.
 
anticonscience said:
Apart from 3D support, what would you expect a new generation to bring?
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This is an interesting question. Also if I remember correctly wasn't it sony computer entertainment ceo who hoped to beat ps2 sales with ps3. From wiki it seems as of now at least 145 million ps2 have been sold whereas only 38 million ps3. So that means there is still a whopping 107 million ps3 consoles to be sold lol. I wonder how long is that going to take :D?
 
Clarkson said:
I agree with the comments that the PS3 has more headroom. Of course this is my opinion, I'm no tech wizard, I just go by the fact that Uncharted 2 is probably the only game to come close to pushing the PS3 to its limits. So many other games just seem half arsed, because the devs aren't utilising the full potential of the PS3. Whereas I feel the xbox is operating close to its limits on most games.
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This is my opinion expressed perfectly, down to the unchartererered 2 statements. So it gets a +1
 
Graphics do not a good game make. Too many pretty looking games with crap thoughtless content - Bayonetta anyone ?
Major Nelson mentioned some time back that the XBox roadmap is at least 3 more years. They wouldn't launch Move / Kinect unless they could squeeze some more life out of the existing system. Laura Lollip0p (MS Coder) hinted in the last but one podcast that there was quite a lot of functionality to be unlocked for the Kinect that we haven't seen yet. Sony are investing in 3D with the PS3 (because they need to sell 3D TVs) MS Feel that the 3D roadmap is too early for their consoles. I think that both consoles have plenty of mileage left in them before we see replacements.
 
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