http://www.tech.co.uk/home-entertain...s-next-console


before anyone starts down that "it's too early" path, no it's not too early to discuss the next generation of consoles. PS3 was discussed in 1999 before the PS2 came out and Xbox2 was discissed in 2002 right after the original Xbox was released. Microsoft and ATI announced their partnership for the graphics of Xbox 360 in August 2003, before the original Xbox had been on the market for even 2 years.

There have been articles and threads on Xbox3/PS4 for several years already, so it's nothing new. the article I linked to above is 2 pages of predictions on the hardware that might power the next generation Xbox -- not the specific hardware but what will be possible.

Some of it might seem too far fetched but technology is moving rapidly even now. as far as technology goes, Xbox 360 and PlayStation3 are getting old, even though 360 has only been around 2 years and the PS3 for 1 year and both are much more powerful than the Wii. but compared to current highend PC technology, 360/PS3 are very much outdated. DX10 class graphics cards are a large leap in both features & performance. while dual-core and quad-core CPUs have more practical performance than the CPUs in 360/PS3. so if you read that article and think the technology they're talking about seems too expensive or not possible, think about where current highend PCs are and then add 4 years of advancement to that.

of course we should continue to enjoy the current generation. there are years left of life in the present systems including the Xbox 360. hundreds of more games will be made for all 3 systems. dozens of them will be worth owning. it's not like this generation of consoles will be replaced by a new generation of consoles in a year or two, that's not going to happen. At the same time, I always like to know what's on the horizon because eventually in gaming, the future generation becomes the present generation