The next, next Gen?

[Pure Mongrel]

With all the new attachments being released this Christmas and in the near future there has been virtually no chatter on the interwebs about what consoles will replace the current generation and when.

This generation of consoles seems to be enjoying a unique existence compared to it's predecessor. Currently there is no end in sight for the 360 and PS3 due to constant upgrading of firmware and evolution of peripherals.

For so long in the games industry, bigger, newer and faster has always been the holy grail.

But todays consoles have redefined gaming for the masses and in doing so may have made the tech giants change the way they view the market place (This of course is up for debate )

Consoles today are not just games machines, nor are they are not just glorified movie players. The PS3 and The 360 have changed the way we play games, share information and interact with the world.

I think the industry is still in an "experimental" faze. Each new update they try a new application or upgrade an old feature to make their consoles more central to a households entertainment needs.

Some things have worked beyond expectations, (Ask me 2 years ago if someone would pay 400 MS points for a lightsaber an avatar could hold and I would have laughed at you ), while others (IMHO) have failed miserably (Come on, does anyone actually use the Playstation Home? )

While I can only hazard a guess as to what the next gaming console will be capable of, I think we still have a few good years left with our current toys while SONY, Nintendo and Microsoft keep evolving their current products to see what exactly excites us enough to make us part with more cash.

Ask me 5 years ago if I would spend extra money on a game I already paid good just so I could extend the experience or have better armour / weapons and I would have giggled at you then too. Of course I could not do that now as I have just finished every DLC for Dragon Age and I am eagerly waiting for the next one. I even bought the premium DA A theme .... something I swore I would never do I am sure!

Also while there is a lot of excitement about the depth and outstanding graphics of the latest games, no one can deny the massively growing industry of casual gaming. These games are making big money without the need for the latest tech and massive production costs.

IGN.com have this interesting article on 10 reasons we do not need a next next gen console.

So my fellow gamers, what are your thoughts on the future of console gaming?

[Dragonhammer]

Next gen console will look something like this :
A Sony playstation sporting a Processor probably based on Nvidia fermi processor with 3.0 billion transistors, featuring up to 512 CUDA cores
The GPU has six 64-bit memory partitions, for a 384-bit memory interface, supporting up to a total of 6 GB of GDDR5 DRAM memory.
The console will have no harddisk but will have a SSD (Solid state disk) wich is in layman's terms a big USB flashdrive.
SSD drive can have a data transfer of 14 Gigabyte's per second wich means that there are no loading times,everything is instant.
Ofcourse it will have blu-ray,every game will run in 1080P with HD-sound
Interactive HD-TV and sound will be available streaming over internet connection.
The price tag however will be around $1000, but the games will look like so awesome that every person will want to have one including your grandma.
If that thing comes out PC gaming will officially go extinct.

[Snott]

Yeah, it will hurt it a lot. I am considering building a "Media PC" for my living room which will double as a gaming rig as I prefer to be comfy, rather than sitting over a desk the entire time.
A console like that would make the decision much easier and cost less in comparison.

[Dragonhammer]

I have on my PC a streaming mediaserver installed, it is capable of streaming any video or audio format there is with no installation of codecs it has everything built inside.
I use it to stream HD-tv over the network.
My playstation sees it as an mediaserver from wich i can access my library of HD movies and music from the comfort of my couch.
Its a marvelous program and its FREE , you can use it with the PS3 or Xbox 360.
Here is the link.

PS3 Media Server

[Snott]

Yeah I do have friends with that exact setup, but they watch a lot more movies than I do at the moment.

[Mysterio3]

teh reason we havent got a new console yet is cuz the 360&ps3 were release with 1080 compatibility, but most of their early games only used 720. so recently, they've uped the graphics by making use of ther 1080 capabilities.
now when we all get bored of this and need better graphics yet again, or when MS finally decides it would like to fit more data on to its games via bluray (due to ever increasing game content), they'll release a new blu-ray enabled console with better graphics blah blah, and sony, not to be out done, will follow through with a PS4. nintendo will most likely follow as well, but with some random new console that will prolly look more like a kids toy (along with controllers that look even more like adult toys or "body massagers") just cuz they can, and to screw with people.
honestly, i get that nintendo wanted to be innovative and all, but why the hell would anyone wanna wave a tv remote around at high speed in an enclosed area! i returned my Wii within a week (well my parents did) cuz i put my hand through a wall, and left a damn good blood splatter around that area of the house... alcohol was involved...