Why the current generation ala PS2 will be supported for far longer than what has been tradition in the transition between current gen to next gen:

The jump in graphical quality from this generation PS2/Xbox 1/GC to the next generation Xbox360/PS3 is faaaar less than what has been the norm in the past 20 years from generation to generation.

A prime example of this would be the transition from first generation 3-D specific consoles Saturn/PSone/N64 and the largest leap in the 3-D graphics quality in the form of PSX/PSone to Dreamcast/PS2 NOW THAT WAS A TRUE GRAPHICAL LEAP from what was then current generation PSone to the then next generation PS2 but now even the supposed least powerful of this generation (PS2) still manages to put out great graphics that will still look good well into the next generation and beyond unlike the choppy texture challenged PSone 3-D games and the fuzz/fog filled bland N64 3-D games that look terrible now when compared to current gen graphics.

It has gotten to the point now that many gamers both casual and even the hardcore or more avid gamers cant tell much difference between this generation and what the 360 has to offer graphically thus far other than "shiney" graphics with better looking grass

Sure fanboys can rant on about how the PS3 will be sooo much better but the fact is that the graphic leap from generation to generation is not as apparent and obvious as it used to be especially to the untrained eye of the casual gamer masses.

That being stated the current generation -PS2 at least- will last much longer than what is traditionally thought of from 5-7 years to 10 or more just look at how long the PSone was supported by EA and a few others not counting shovelware well over 9 years and the fact is that many game developers/publishers have stated that they are not going to prematurely abandon the incredibly large installed base of the current Playstation-over 90 MILLION worldwide realistically- like many of them did with the PSone in favor of the PS2.

The simple fact is a decent/good selling title on a system with an installed base the size of the PS2 will bring in revenues triple that of a best selling game for a new next generation system that MIGHT have 1 to 3 million installed base users within the first few years IF it is a highly succesful system.

Basically you will see the current generation supported for much longer than what has been tradition in the videogame industry so you will see many more multiplatform and especially MULTIGENERATION ports for many current gen and next gen consoles and most likely there will be a large number of continuing PS2/Xbox360/PS3 multiports for a long time to come even if the current generation-PS2- gets the "watered down" version it will still be supported well into the next generation of consoles.

A major NON-gaming factor is that the current PS2 can already play DVD movies( and 75% of all the other CD formats that the PS3 will support) wich no matter how much teck geeks drool over the specs of Blue-Ray or even HDdvd the current DVD movie format will be supported for a LONG time to come.

Even Sony has made that point clear in their intentions to continue strong support for the still very popular current gen console the Playstation 2 and many of the major developers/publishers still have MANY new games in development for the PS2 and even the Xbox 1 -wich Microsoft has dropped prematurely like a red headed step child in favor of the 360- and continue to announce many games that will be Multiports on both current gen(specifically PS2) AND Next generation machines.

Sure there was evidence of this back in the PSone/N64/ to PS2 transition days but too a faaar less extent when compared to what we see today.

Also you have to factor in the cost of developing for the next generation of machines wich many of the smaller game companies would and will not be able to do without the revenue of a successfull current generation game bringing in the $$$ to support such high development costs for the 360 and PS3 so while some of the more major and first tier franchises will be represented on the new systems there will still be many other popular franchises and especially "niche type" of games being released on a system that will soon have well over 100 MILLION units in gamers homes and that would be the PS2 in order to support the development and production of high-cost high-end games like Metal Gear solid 4 -Konami or Resident Evil 5-Capcom.

Many of these same factors apply to the Xbox 1 and even Gamecube to a lesser extent (not the DVD support for GC obviously) even though Nintendos Gamecube has been on life support for the last 6 months it still has continued support from both EA and Ubisoft with EA multiports at a 90% rate for the GC and even Ubisoft announced games like Splinter Cell 4 for GC.

Now as far as Xbox 1 goes there is surprisingly more support for it than what was originally thought would be only months ago with the impending release of the 360.
The fact is that even though Microsoft would like nothing more than to make the original Xbox 1 vanish as quickly as possible with no first party support for the Xbox 1 there are a surprising number of third party developers/publishers still in full support of the system with many PS2/Xbox 1/Xbox360 multiports in the pipeline and even more than a few Xbox specific PC ports still in production and on the planned release dates.

So in conclusion dont trade in your PS2/Xbox1 or even Gamecube just yet in favor of a new shiney Xbox360 since these current generation systems still have a LOT of life left in them no matter what many fanboys or tech spec geeks rant about how these systems are "dead" in fact that statement couldnt be farther from the truth.