Yep, I always felt 2013 was the right time to start up the next generation. But I do agree with Yi-Long, Its gotta be backwards compatible with todays stuff.
that's the earliest for a new PS, a new Xbox might come out on 2013 but I'll wait some time after it releases to buy it because of MS's history with poorly put together hardware
the gap with the quality of graphics in PC gaming now is a lot smaller than in 2004 for example, and I don't want a new generation unless there's a similar jump in quality as in previous generations changes
2014, because the XBox 1080 will be out in 2013, and I'm waiting a year for it to become reliable, and I'd like to see what the PS4 is going to be like, too.
I'll buy a Nintendo Cafe, but only because I still haven't finished all my GameCube games, and I'd like to see them upscaled. Also, I'm 90% sure Zelda is coming out on the Cafe and the Wii at the same time, and I definitely want the HD one.
I'm not too excited about having a power-hungry LCD screen on some unwieldy controller, though. Doesn't sound worth it, to me. Hopefully old controllers will still be supported.
Nope. The days of major console generation upgrades are over.
I expect the XBox 1080 to be a minor improvement over the Nintendo Cafe, which is, in turn, a mild improvement over the current HD consoles.
Building something cooler would cost too much, and high-priced consoles don't sell. Nano physics problems getting in the way of tech getting much cheaper these days.
The tech you see today isn't far from the stuff you'll be seeing in 2020. I'd even say that 2015-2020 (or longer) will be a period of major, major tech stagnation, until fab processes smaller than 16nm are possible (which they may never be, at least in an affordable way) . Even 20nm is pretty hard with current lithography, and most chips produced these days are in the 28-32nm range. That's awful close to "the end", and the chips I just mentioned cost WAY too much to put in a console. The console versions would have to be 22nm or smaller, most likely...
Back to the point -- if you can't reduce chip sizes, you can't cut electronics costs, and, for that matter, you can't improve the hardware, either. Imagine how well consoles would sell if they still sold for their (~$500) release prices, today...
One quick example: look at a high-end smartphone from january 2010, and compare it to the latest 1.2GHz dual-core smartphones. The performance has multiplied.
Same goes for tablets; and just look at NGP or nvidias Kal-El chips; 4core CPU and 12core GPU on ONE device... !
So who is to say that the Xbox 1080 and PS4 won't make a huge leap? If they add a lot of cores and memory, and support the latest technology (i.e. Dx11) and future technologies, then they would be able to produce graphics in (at least) FullHD resolution with a lot of advanced effects like tesselation.
The thing is though, would we really buy a PS4 just for graphics? Or will both Sony and Microsoft be forced to innovate more next time, like Nintendo is doing?
Right on spot, I don't expect any magical improvements, i actually thought i was the only who followed that line in reasoning, but i'm glad you said everything on right on spot.
I don't want it to end too soon, this has been my favourite gen so far as its then gen where I've been earning money and could get all the games I wanted without limit.
I would love a next-gen system with a rotating disc reader, like old CD Music players had! So you could store games in there without needing to swap them out, it would also reduce scratches!
2013
In light of handhelds now is a good time in terms of consoles eh it's tricky really. I'd say in about 1.5~2 years maybe 3 maximum would be good.
2014, because the XBox 1080 will be out in 2013, and I'm waiting a year for it to become reliable, and I'd like to see what the PS4 is going to be like, too.
I'll buy a Nintendo Cafe, but only because I still haven't finished all my GameCube games, and I'd like to see them upscaled. Also, I'm 90% sure Zelda is coming out on the Cafe and the Wii at the same time, and I definitely want the HD one.
I'm not too excited about having a power-hungry LCD screen on some unwieldy controller, though. Doesn't sound worth it, to me. Hopefully old controllers will still be supported.
2012, make it happen
I would have liked it when I got my last paycheck.
Since that money is spent now I hope they wait.