Console life spans have always been rather short, living a maximum of six years until they are eventually replaced - the Nintendo Gamecube was replaced with the Wii after five years of shelf life, the Xbox with the Xbox 360 after just four years and the PS2 with the PS3 after six years.
And so naturally one would presume that history should repeat itself, with Nintendo bringing out their next gen console first, followed by MS and then Sony.
However, THQ CEO Brian Farrell said new gaming systems just aren't needed yet. "One of the things I like about this generation is we are still very early and there's still a lot of room for growth ... as we move down those price curves," Farrell said. "Those engines have a lot of steam left in them. We think it could be seven or eight years before new machines start to roll out. "
Also, gaming developers are still just tapping into the scope of what these new consoles can do - one developer managed to break into the talents of the current generation with COD: Modern warfare 2, a game which is utterly brilliant.
Nintendo have talked about their next gen console, and in a statement to Forbes Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said "We are always preparing for the next hardware," Iwata told the magazine. "We are under development. ... But the hardware is a kind of box that consumers reluctantly buy in order to play our games. "
Reluctantly buy? Thats not the world i'd use, but on a whole I suppose you have to buy the box to be able to put things inside it.
So with the Nintendo Zii, Xbox 720 and PS4 gossip being thrown around forums, you might be disapointed to learn that you'll have to wait up until three years to see the next gen.
These latest consoles are nearing their peak stage now, and are currently experiencing huge growth. The big question for me however, and I am sure the big question for a lot of you, is whether MS's 360 can last as long as the PS3 <because it has no Blu-ray player, a far worse media center, expensive internet that over the duration of a year makes it more expensive than a PS3 and a company branch (Xbox branch) that seem to pretend to be deaf whenever I ring CS.
How do you guys feel about the next gen of consoles, when should they be released?
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