So two PlayStations in 7 years, 3 Xboxes in the same period. Well thanks Microsoft, just goes to show what innovation you have... You really thought through these consoles properly didn't we. Oh no, I forgot, you're just in it to take our money and to nick all the best ideas from your competitors. Well you won't be getting my money next time, it's the PS3 for me now, haven't you heard, that's got a 10 year life span, and a Hi Def disk drive built in that's winning the HD format war hands down.

That's a very angry comment based on a rumour. Sony will have had the PS4 in their mind already, Nintendo will have plans for Wii 2...

It's no surprise Microsoft are looking 3-4 years ahead.

@ first poster

Even before the ps3 was released in europe Ken kutaragi mentioned the ps4 so chill your boots, once the system designers finish with one console of course they will start thinking about what tech to use in the next one its a fact of life.
And as the article says all 3 consoles will have a long life cycle this time round so it seems rather a knee jerk reaction.
though the way you are going on about it seems like you are just a fanboy bashing MS for the hell of it

Sony have mentioned about the ps4 and ps5 before but I have to admit if people are starting to put off games for the xbox 3 that is worrying unless they're planning on taking 6 years to make the game. At worst (or best depending on how you look at it) they could be looking at 3 years; that would give the 360 a 5 year life span but sony are looking at the ps3 last until around 5 or 6 years after that.

Sony & Nintendo may well have ideas for their next gen consoles but the basis for my anger is based on the fact it says that a 1st part 360 games has been cancelled and pencilled in instead for the next Xbox! So on that basis one can assume the 360 is in its latter stages of life, whereas the PS3 is right at the beginning. And having spent hundreds of pounds on 2 XBox consoles in the last few years, I'm not prepared to do the same again in a few more years just because Microsoft can't be innovative enough the first time around.

Microsoft you need to take a look at what happened to SEGA when they took liberties with the gaming community,the gaming community will give you a wake up call.The Xbox 360 appears to have been rushed should have been called the project 360.I am angry because I already own a Premium & an Elite I didnt expect to need another upgrade in 12 months.They are obviously to rich to care what the customer wants,simple really get it right first time.I might then have some money to spend on games as I m sure you still want to sell these.

In response to the first comment, I'm pretty sure that the whole 'taking our money and nicking ideas from competitors' way of business was pioneered by Sony with the first playstation?

I'll also add stripping the industry of personality and originality to that as well. (Please dont hit back with 'yeah but what about Ico and Katamari blah blah blah, if you're a real gamer then you'll know what I mean)

The damage was already done way before Microsoft got involved....

Jesus,get lives and "Play for the day,for tomorrow you could die"-Old Chinese proverb,circa ZX80

@7 - No I'll hit back with it's the whole MS philosophy that isn't just their gaming division but every one of their products. Vista, Zune, Internet Explorer, MSN to name but a recent few...

I'll end with a joke - what do PCs and air conditioning units have in common? Answer - the both stop working when you open windows.

Arguing on the internet is like taking part in the special olympics, even if you win your still retar....

Won't fini**** for fear of it being censored and not making sense!

But yeah, dear god if I ever need cheering up at the end of the day coming on MCV to read the comments always works.

God it could be worse folks-like being called Graeme,now thats a name for a "special" little boy-luv ya!

You think Microsoft is going the same way as Sega and that you don't think the ps3 was rushed? Yeah cos Sony care about there fans, what with not releasing on time in Europe, not giving them a 60gb hdd to start and then taking it away completely. Did you REALLY have to upgrade to an elite? Really? No you didn't but you wanted to feel like you had all the machines. Stop whining on and complaining, there all as bad as each other.

don't want to join in the slanging match - to be honest, if the EGM rumour was true Mr. Angry has every right to be angry, and Robintorc still has a pretty helathy approach to gaming.
But here's the rub - the EGM thing is totally made up. MGS aren't cancelling games that are in development & slating them for any new consoles.

I have heard the latest news on the stats for the XBOX 4D - yes, that's the name!

It has a 20 core cpu, each one more amazing than the last!
The graphics chip is designed by 3DFX and is capable of 4D graphics.
It's memory is a billion microbits solid state silicatescence!

And amazingly it has a brand new storage media called black ray that is a whopping 0.3% larger than blueray!

The 360 is very, very well designed.
Part of this is ease of manufacture and potential for cost reduction. So I see this console as having a ten year life.
This year Microsoft will use the price mechanism to build market share in the face of Sony's AAA game releases. This will leave room for M$ to introduce a new premium console giving them a two model range, just as Sony have had for a few years now.
The premium console will feature a gesture interface and integration with a new handheld game console.
Microsoft have a great incentive to go for this two model (plus handheld) strategy sooner rather than later because Sony are currently too weak to respond. So it would be a knockout blow that could give them market supremacy.

Another factor is that Nintendo will have to do something about the Wii. This machine is really Gamecube 1.5 with a gesture interface. It's old technology will find it out. So Wii2 cannot be too far away. And it is something that Microsoft must have an answer for.

If M$ are following the traditional 5 year cycle then Xbox 3 is due at the end of 2010. If they bring it forwards a year, which makes sense, then it is due out at the end of next year. So the original story of starting game development now makes perfect sense given industry timetables.

When Sony said the PS3 would have a 10-year life span, they did not say that it would be 10 years before another PlayStation, they just mean't thats how long the console would be supported for. In the same way that games are still being developed for the PS2 - still a supported console. As it is currently doing better than the PS3, it probably will continue to be supported for some time and may even end up being a 10-year console itself.

Technology and games move so quickly, there is no way that any console could still be 'current gen' in 10 years time.

MS do need X360 to remain as a supported console to take market share from Sony, but another console in a 2 or 3 of years would make sense as undoubtably hardware specs and what is possible would be even greater by then.

As for an MS handheld... I really don't think anyone can touch Nintendo in that dept. They have got handheld gaming down to a fine art.

WAAAAA!!! Who wants to hang onto a console for 10 freakin years??? I don't want one for more than 3.5- 4 yrs. before I'm ready for the next big thing.

Some people are so CHEAP! I don't want to be denied the next great experience due to you tryin to pinch a couple of pennies. Thanks

M$ would have started the work on the next gen console before the 360 was even released..at the end of the day you're talking about a company that has more money than any other tech company to say the least..

there would have been a small team within M$ brainstorming
the next gen from the time the plans of the 360 would have been finalised. They have the money, the tech is out there so they're going to utilise the market to its full i.e the next gen gaming platform, the next new kid on the block. As long as there is a gaming market this will carry on...I'm looking forward them all.

It's the same if you look at say cars, they may have a 10,15 even 20 year + life but that doesn't stop the manufacturer/company creating the next gen...it's a way of life especially in this day and age.

There is such a thing as a multi-console enthusiast.

There is zero value in being a half-geek.

Personally I have a Master Sytem II, NES, Megadrive II Playstation, X Box and X Box 360 all plugged into the same TV.

Coupled with my BBC B micro, Tekken II coin-up and PC's I have over 300 offline games available at any moment in time.

I am looking to expand as much as possible.

Currently I am looking to get SNES, N64, GAMECUBE, SEGA SATURN (which I had before but regretably sold), DREAMCAST, PLAYSTATION 2 and 3.

I have my current consoles in a glass display case under my Toshiba AV505D 42" HDMI with home cinema system.

I have contextualised the silicon soul of the consoles in my living room by integrating decor/lighting to the theme of technological beauty.

Yes I do have a girlfriend, and a host of other 'friends' who like 'Mike's House'.

Nice to see some one into collecting consoles.
My self I have many consoles from NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, Dream Cast, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360 and more. How ever I will only buy a PS3 soon for the Blue-Ray player. The PS3 is a very poor gamming system.
Why do you think all the comercials you see on TV are for Xbox 360 games? It's not because of $ marketing from Microsoft. It's because it's a well known fact that Xbox 360 is the current gamers console of choice and has the BEST internet gaming support with Xbox Live.
If you want to get technical with issues in the current consoles. Wii had disc-read issues that people are now having to send them back to be fixed so they can play new games like Mario Smash Bros. The Xbox 360 has had many heating issues. But of all things the PS3 has had issues with not just the Blue-Ray reader breaking down but constant software issues that it's seen more 'firm-ware' upgrades then new versions of MSN Messenger. Not to mention that few games on PS3 support Mic use over internet play.
If you want to get technical with display stats, the PS3 bousts about it's great graphics although over 80% of it's games are only 720p and 1080i at max. Over 80% of Xbox 360 games support 720p,1080i AND 1080p. Yes there is a big difference between 720p and 1080p and any of thouse idiots out there who think there isn't do not know video graphics from a whole in the ground. 720p = 1280x720 progressive scan, 1080p = 1920x1080 progressive scan.. That means there are many more pixels of graphics and a much larger view area. Take your desktop right now and set it to 800x600 and then change it to 1280x1024 and try telling me that there is no difference and that you can fit just as much of this browser window on both view settings!

I think Microsoft did a great job with Xbox 360 although they could of done a much better 1 it's still a good system for now. If you have heating issues then learn to keep your system clean, add extra fans for rear and bottom and don't leave it running for hours or play it for hours on end. Turn it off for a bit and take a break.

Also, I totaly agree with the person that said many people are cheap and it's sad that they want to hold back the release of new and better consoles from being released. My computer is already much faster and better then the Xbox 360 or PS3. As far as I am conserned the PS3 and Xbox 360 were already obsolete technology or middle to middle-low end technology within 1 year of being released. -Go ahead and comment "Then why don't you just stick to your PC and leave console people alone.". The reason I would like to see a new Xbox console soon is because they are releasing games for it on DVD instead of HD-DVD or Black-Ray etc. and they are still not utilizing the HDD to download the game content onto it so that it can run better. They need to do a lot of proper thinking about what they do with the next console before they release it this time and add proper cooling technology to it. I just hope that the next console they release takes better lessons from current and future PC's and PC technology instead of OLD console casings and technology.

:PC Stats:
Intel Core2 Quad q6600
OCZ DDR2 667
Sapphire Radeon x1950pro 512mb (GPU 600mhz, Ram 1400mhz) with a Zalman VF1000 heatsink.

What I think would make nice specs or is an amazing currently buyable PC:

2 AMD Phenom X4 (Via DSDC)
4 ATI Radeon™ HD 3870 X2
8 GB DDR4 RAM at top availible speed with perfect sync timing to Processor/FSB
AMD 7-Series Chipsets

It's the new 888 PC ^.^
8 Core processors
8 GPU processors
8 GB system ram

No offence to NVIDIA fanboys but that will blast away any product NVIDIA has on the market.
If you don't believe me check up the specs.
http://www.sapphir...grp=3
Sorry I can't find a website for a DSDC motherboard supporting the AMD Phenom X4.
There is same info but not much at http://game.amd.com
about the new processors and Chipset.