People seem to mistake this as saying that they wont come out with another console until 2016. This is false. What it really means is that Sony will support that system for 10 years and it may be manufactured for 10 years.

The playstation 1 and 2 both had 10 year lifespans. Actually the Playstation 2 is working on an 11 year lifespan, and the PS3 has been out for 4 years.

The playstation 2 was released within the playstation's lifespan, the playstation 3 was released within the playstation 2's lifespan, and you can bet the playstation 4 will be released in the playstation 3's lifespan.

Well, there is also a theory that there won't even be a new console generation, meaning that Xbox360, PS3 and Nintendo's cappuccino machine might be the last of the gaming consoles. The graphics have more or less reached their peak and there isn't nowhere left to go, not to mention the facts that opting to go even further will simply become too much of a financial burden for publishers, which will most certainly mean that videogame prices will further inflate. It wouldn't be surprising that IF there will be a new consolegeneration, the software prices will range from 80-100 bucks.

If the PS3/Cafe/Xbox360 were the last, I wouldn't really mind it.

Not true. Consoles wont reach their peak until they can match the rendering capability of the top graphical computers of such visual powerhouses as Weta and ILM, and do it all in engine, and in real time. We're still many generations away from having that kind of power in a game console, and still have it be affordable. I'd wager we won't see that kind of magic until Playstation 6 or 7. Consoles are far behind their actual potenial. Current gaming consoles are to the bleeding edge computers of today, as a gameboy advance is to an iphone. Lots of catching up to do.

I don't know that we'll ever reach such a point, or that the console makers will keep on pushing towards that goal, or maybe take it all in a different direction, but my point is we're FAR FAR FAR from reaching the "limit" just yet.

Ha! PCs are affront to kick the crud out of the PS3 and 360. They definitely won't be the last consoles.

Anyone who says the PC is dead obviously hasnt heard of steam.

Your solution is certainly possible.

Yet, considering the increasingly inefficient cost/power ratio in modern tech, you may be wrong. It seems it will largely depend on what Sony's competitors do at this point.

The PC is far from dead, but the majority of developers and publishers focus on the console community. That is an unfortunate truth.

That said, the PS3 will be around for a few more years. They just now started to make some decent profit, and with The Last Gaurdian, Infamous 2 and Uncharted 3, their biggest titles have yet to come. I expect a PS4 announcement not to long after an Xbox 720.

@Stercullus

You are missing the point. The graphical jump from current gen to what the PC can do now is far to insufficient too justify the higher expenses. Graphically intensive games have higher development costs, which means the games will also become more expensive. This is something that can hurt sales and seeing how rampant piracy is, the publishers simply wouldn't be compensated the extra expenses. It is no secret that as technology has progressed, games have become more expensive.

I also think cloud gaming will ultimately kill the console business model. But that's just what I think.

how have games become more expensive. When the NES came out games were around $20 - $30 which is around $40-$60 in todays money. To me it seems as though games have mainly been the same price.

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“A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory... a far-off memory that's like a scattered dream... i want to line the pieces up... yours and mine.”

That IS my point. The fact that game consoles of today are greatly behind computers of today. So consoles won't get to TODAY'S standard of bleeding edge, until many years down the road, SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE of the high costs associated. That is why I said it's going to be a great long while before consoles reach their limit and people are justified in their complaint of "there's no where else to go from here"