Fewer gamers want to upgrade, so MS will focus on current Xbox Options

[Xbox-Scene]

Fewer gamers want to upgrade, so MS will focus on current Xbox Posted by XanTium | January 9 17:07 EST | News Category: Xbox360

From thenewstribune.com: [QUOTE] Microsoft Corp. will rely on its Xbox 360 game console for longer than the previous version because it's getting harder to get consumers to upgrade, the head of the company's entertainment unit said. The software maker will focus on improving the Xbox360's games and features rather than rushing to introduce a new model, President Robbie Bach said Wednesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. [/QUOTE] Full Story: thenewstribune.com

[SovietSlayer]

Thats right who called this? ME. (Look back in my posts and you will see)

Their is no way they could possibly release a xbox 720 in 2012 EVEN if the economy was good. Not everyone has even upgraded to a 360 yet and if they did release a new console everyone would think MS betrayed them since they "just" got their current console.

This xbox 360, ps3, wii generation will be one of the longest console generates to date. ATLEAST 10 years if not more like 12-13. Dont expect a new console till 2015.

This post has been edited by SovietSlayer: Jan 10 2009, 01:41 AM

[mist4fun]

Dont expect a new console till 2015.

are you high? There is no doubt that this gen of consoles will be the longest to date, but do you realize what graphics will look like in the coming years? There is no way microsoft or sony will leave there consoles looking like old junk compared to current gen PC's. You sir are on drugs.

[leo5150]

probably be 2010 or 2011 rollout at latest

[jimk72]

Unless there is a huge change in gaming there should be no reason. The last gen did not do HD and that was the main reason I feel they needed to update them. With DTS and 1080P gaming you should see a longer life as no new standard will be released. PC games will continue to get better as far as GFX but really this gen is fully capable of amazing looking games and that is what pushes for the next gen is a needed update and I don't think we will need an update for some time.

If you think about how far we have come the next gen may reach a limit as far as gfx goes. There will not be a huge increase in resolution or better sound than this gen. It will come down to human interaction with the system kind of like the Wii did. The next gen will have to have interaction with its environment plus voice recognition ect.. Without changes like these there will be little reason to upgrade.

[eduardor2k]

if they keep the compatibilty with all the current games & accesories, updgrading to a new console shouldn't be that bad.

[Black Diamond]

Hey,

Why do they need to get people to upgrade when they can continue selling them faulty hardware and get them to buy multiple current platform systems?

Why not focus on quality of the current system?

[Elemino]

The next gen will have to have interaction with its environment plus voice recognition ect.. Without changes like these there will be little reason to upgrade.

Umm... the current gen is more than capable of doing those two things.

Next gen will probably see standardized things. 1080p on EVERYTHING, not just new things (360) and a game in a blue moon (PS3). Bluray for Xbox and PS3... Nintendo might get DVD playback, but I doubt it. They may finally step into HD. What more can you really do? The next gen will more or less be a graphics upgrade. I doubt it'll take until 2015, but I doubt it'll be 2010 or even 2011 before we see the next gen. No one has a legitimate reason to release a new console, and the masses are DEFINITELY gonna have problems with laying down another $400 for a console thats just slightly better than the last one. Flexibility may have killed hardware releases... which isn't a bad thing.

[SovietSlayer]

The problem with them releasing a new console even in 2012 is that even tho graphic technology will have advantaged thats all to have advanced. They cant expect next gen to be as the same as last gen. More powerful graphics alone wont be able to sell a console. (this goes for sony and ms)

For nintendo they basically just played their trump card. Whats wii going to be wii 1 + 360 graphics?

IF any of the companys just release same old with prettier graphics in the near future, its seriously going to disenfranchise a lot of people. If you guys forgot when xbox 360 came out a lot of people were calling it xbox 1.5 since it just had nicer graphics. Another xbox 1.5 scandel during the next gen will be devestating since people will be like "why am i paying 400-500 bucks for a new video system that can do everything my old system can do, that uses the same controler my old system uses and has the same games my old system has"

[Chancer]

Contrast this with the pure speculation in http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=672940.
Its all guessing. Plenty of people on here have been touting how the next Xbox will be out before the PS3 even gets a decent install base. I wouldn't think that would be the case and the news post seems to indicate that.

[jdsony]

Well I can see going 1080P as a goal for all systems. Both the PS3 & 360 could easily push 1080p Wii quality games so there is little reason Nintendo couldn't next time (I find image quality more important than overall graphics). I always preferred the N64 or even the SNES to the PS1 for this reason. The PS1 performed quite well with 2D and while I had a lot of fun with a lot of the 3D games they were grainy and blurry as all hell. I could also see them increase texture quality tenfold since RAM prices have dropped like crazy since 2005.

The problem I see for console replacements other than the economy is technology hasn't progressed enough yet. Sure current PC games look better than console games once again (though the games are becoming ports more & more) but the hardware is getting more and more complex. GPU's are getting out of control even with shrinking dies. The heat, noise & power requirements keep increasing. While they are able to create low power cards that perform as well as the hogs of the previous generation they are still demanding if you want bleeding edge technology. With all the graphics developments you would think there would be a huge jump in great gaming but that isn't happening either. Technology since the 360 hasn't brought anything new to gaming. Everyone said this about the jump from the Xbox to 360 as well which only hammers the point in.

I think if gaming technology is to really improve in the future someone needs to go back to the drawing board and rethink 3D programming and how we game. Game development is becoming less & less efficient and so is the hardware. There are a lot of limitations game developers have to work around and opening those up could allow for much immersing games. Also I doubt anyone could live with any longer or more expensive development. The longer the development times due to graphics the less time there is for originality or even 'fun'. It's nice when you don't have to wait 3 years + for a sequel to a really great game.

This post has been edited by jdsony: Jan 10 2009, 12:53 PM

[Grumbledock]

Well, the next gen of consoles (xbox 1080 PS4 and Wii^2) will probaly be released late 2010/early 2011, wonder who gets first this time?

The biggest different will probably be 1080p for all games (native of course ) and probably a bluray for MS and Sony at least, bigger/more storage, maybe 500Gb, 1Tb or even more (hope, hope) and I hope a greater support for use as media center/htpc, possibility to stream hd-movies (mkv etc) without any bigger problem (MS and Sony), USB 3.0, ability to save games on harddrive from scratch (MS) even if the disc must remain in the dvd. Avatars, and ofcourse games that support using motionsensor inte the controllers (like wii but better?)

Wii^2 will probably be a Wii with sligthtly better sens for the controllers, xbox 1,5 grafics and a hdmi port (even if no game even reaches 720p native), it looks nice maybe even a harddrive at 50Gb or something like that (luxury version gives 100GB).

And I hope support for play 360 VS PC online, please!

This post has been edited by Grumbledock: Jan 10 2009, 01:56 PM

[SovietSlayer]

Well I can see going 1080P as a goal for all systems. Both the PS3 & 360 could easily push 1080p Wii quality games so there is little reason Nintendo couldn't next time (I find image quality more important than overall graphics). I always preferred the N64 or even the SNES to the PS1 for this reason. The PS1 performed quite well with 2D and while I had a lot of fun with a lot of the 3D games they were grainy and blurry as all hell. I could also see them increase texture quality tenfold since RAM prices have dropped like crazy since 2005.

The problem I see for console replacements other than the economy is technology hasn't progressed enough yet. Sure current PC games look better than console games once again (though the games are becoming ports more & more) but the hardware is getting more and more complex. GPU's are getting out of control even with shrinking dies. The heat, noise & power requirements keep increasing. While they are able to create low power cards that perform as well as the hogs of the previous generation they are still demanding if you want bleeding edge technology. With all the graphics developments you would think there would be a huge jump in great gaming but that isn't happening either. Technology since the 360 hasn't brought anything new to gaming. Everyone said this about the jump from the Xbox to 360 as well which only hammers the point in.

I think if gaming technology is to really improve in the future someone needs to go back to the drawing board and rethink 3D programming and how we game. Game development is becoming less & less efficient and so is the hardware. There are a lot of limitations game developers have to work around and opening those up could allow for much immersing games. Also I doubt anyone could live with any longer or more expensive development. The longer the development times due to graphics the less time there is for originality or even 'fun'. It's nice when you don't have to wait 3 years + for a sequel to a really great game.

I completely agree. Its programing not hardware thats now the limitation of games.

It just takes too long and costs too much to put out a game thats actually playable (production quality wise). And because of that all were getting is the same old with a new skin. (mostly ww2 fps's)

They need to streamline the game development process. That way we can get 360 quality games but with ps1 or snes quantity. The biggest problem this gen and next gen will have is game library.

Also i would like to add that competition has actually screwed us over. Game devs now need to make their games work on both the ps3 and 360. So everything needs to be portable. Instead of optimizing the code for the system, they are optimizing ways to port the games.

[Giga_Death]

probably be 2010 or 2011 rollout at latest

I'd say 2012. With backwards compatibility making the upgrade easier. They'd announce it in 2010 though.

[bucko]

I think MS will release the new console in 3012 until they sort out there reliability lines, lol just kidding, I hope not cause I got my 360 last november (07) quite late want to get a bit more use out of it.