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[Shtof]

These guys are far more reliable than Edge:

THQ hints at imminent Wii 2 reveal (Feb 17, 2011)

EA Hints at Wii 2 (March 15, 2011)

THQ: We don't expect new hardware any time soon from either Microsoft or Sony (Feb 17, 2011)

Take - Two: We still have plenty of room to push the limits of creativity in the current console generation (June 3, 2011)

Avalanche Studios: New hardware in 2014 (June 20,2011)


Gearbox: The Wii U as a "really cool stop-gap" between this generation and the next generation of consoles (July 7, 2011)

GameStop: Xbox 720 and PS4 not out until 2014 (July 15,2011)

Epic: no "huge hurry" for next gen,we can continue to hone our skills with PS360 for a few more years (July 20, 2011)


Epic: Wii U is early,one can certainly envision a future a couple years down the road where we have some significantly leapfrogged generation (Aug 4, 2011)

Skyrim boss: No PS4, Xbox 720 before 2014 (3 Aug, 2011)

EA: What would PlayStation 4 even do? (Aug 31, 2011)

Irrational Games: There's A 'Ton of Juice Left' In Current Consoles (November 7, 2011)



-Sony cannot afford to launch new hardware anytime soon (PS Vita is more than enough)

-Luckily,since the PS3 is the best worldwide selling console of 2011,publishers and developers are happy,and the system has not even hit a mass market price point yet,Sony doesn't need new hardware anytime soon

-Moreover, in these situations,the price is always the most reliable source

-Microsoft is in an a similar position: home consoles have lost Microsoft literally billions of dollars;however Xbox 360 sales right now are fantastic in the U.S., publishers and developers are happy, Microsoft still has plenty of room to cut prices and the global economy is very sick


-I understand your point of view.You need something new and exciting,however the industry needs to make sound decisions to keep going: several manufacturers,publishers and developers have lost billions of dollars, lot of studios have been closed,lot of talented people get fired...now the PS360 business is at the peak of its power and people want to start from scratch? From a business point of view it would be madness.That's why I believe those rumors are fake,but we'll have to wait.

According to all these sources, MS should be smart enough to not jump the boat just because Nintendo is releasing a new console. On the other hand, they may be changing their plans because they weren't sure what Nintendo was up to.

MS may just be that immature in the console business that they think releasing close to Nintendo will be a key to success. If anything, the two next-gen consoles will cannibalize each other among hardcore gamers that buy all the new stuff, but they'll be even more cannibalized by PS360 which are as strong as ever and have killer third-party line-ups incoming next year.

Anyway, we probably won't see anything from Sony since they're launching Vita, yeah.

 

[-ImaginaryInsider]

MS may just be that immature in the console business that they think releasing close to Nintendo will be a key to success. If anything, the two next-gen consoles will cannibalize each other among hardcore gamers that buy all the new stuff, but they'll be even more cannibalized by PS360 which are as strong as ever and have killer third-party line-ups incoming next year.

I think MS logic for an early launch would be pretty sound:

(1) Don't leave Nintendo to soak up early adopters itching for an upgrade for an entire year.

(2) Between the WiiU and an Xbox-Next, who are the hardcore fps fan/early adopters more than likely going to prefer?

It hurts Nintendo, it forces Sony to move quicker than they would like, and more than likely MS had some version of this scenario planned out all along.

 

[RaijinFY]

I dont see Microsoft launching a new game machine in 2012.

 

[itsgreen]

These guys are far more reliable than Edge:

THQ hints at imminent Wii 2 reveal (Feb 17, 2011)

EA Hints at Wii 2 (March 15, 2011)

THQ: We don't expect new hardware any time soon from either Microsoft or Sony (Feb 17, 2011)

Take - Two: We still have plenty of room to push the limits of creativity in the current console generation (June 3, 2011)

Avalanche Studios: New hardware in 2014 (June 20,2011)


Gearbox: The Wii U as a "really cool stop-gap" between this generation and the next generation of consoles (July 7, 2011)

GameStop: Xbox 720 and PS4 not out until 2014 (July 15,2011)

Epic: no "huge hurry" for next gen,we can continue to hone our skills with PS360 for a few more years (July 20, 2011)


Epic: Wii U is early,one can certainly envision a future a couple years down the road where we have some significantly leapfrogged generation (Aug 4, 2011)

Skyrim boss: No PS4, Xbox 720 before 2014 (3 Aug, 2011)

EA: What would PlayStation 4 even do? (Aug 31, 2011)

Irrational Games: There's A 'Ton of Juice Left' In Current Consoles (November 7, 2011)

To be fair, all those are basically half a year old and most say 'we expect...', except the EA one and Irrational one...

The EA only expresses their hope for an even longer generation (ie. more installed base, more sales with same effort)

And Irrational probably has a PS3 title in the works at the moment...

 

[Shtof]

I think MS logic for an early launch would be pretty sound:

(1) Don't leave Nintendo to soak up early adopters itching for an upgrade for an entire year.

(2) Between the WiiU and an Xbox-Next, who are the hardcore fps fan/early adopters more than likely going to prefer?

It hurts Nintendo, it forces Sony to move quicker than they would like, and more than likely MS had some version of this scenario planned out all along.

(1) Personally I don't see the Wii U offering much for the PS360 crowd which the PS360 don't already provide. Wii is also pretty much frowned upon among the dudebro/CoD crowd, who in some cases are early adopters.

(2) Good point, if they have killer launch title. I can see Samaritan being exclusive at launch, and I don't think Gears would have been such a huge success if a third-party did the publishing, but we don't even now what kind of game it is. I don't think an upgraded Call of Duty port is enough.

By jumping the boat early, MS may leave Sony in the dust... for a while. But Sony may be able to build a more powerful console for an equal price, and also copy/improve any new features the Wii U/neXtboX brings along.

 

[[Nintex]]

These guys are far more reliable than Edge:

THQ hints at imminent Wii 2 reveal (Feb 17, 2011)

EA Hints at Wii 2 (March 15, 2011)

THQ: We don't expect new hardware any time soon from either Microsoft or Sony (Feb 17, 2011)

Take - Two: We still have plenty of room to push the limits of creativity in the current console generation (June 3, 2011)

Avalanche Studios: New hardware in 2014 (June 20,2011)


Gearbox: The Wii U as a "really cool stop-gap" between this generation and the next generation of consoles (July 7, 2011)

GameStop: Xbox 720 and PS4 not out until 2014 (July 15,2011)

Epic: no "huge hurry" for next gen,we can continue to hone our skills with PS360 for a few more years (July 20, 2011)


Epic: Wii U is early,one can certainly envision a future a couple years down the road where we have some significantly leapfrogged generation (Aug 4, 2011)

Skyrim boss: No PS4, Xbox 720 before 2014 (3 Aug, 2011)

EA: What would PlayStation 4 even do? (Aug 31, 2011)

Irrational Games: There's A 'Ton of Juice Left' In Current Consoles (November 7, 2011)



-Sony cannot afford to launch new hardware anytime soon (PS Vita is more than enough)

-Luckily,since the PS3 is the best worldwide selling console of 2011,publishers and developers are happy,and the system has not even hit a mass market price point yet,Sony doesn't need new hardware anytime soon

-Moreover, in these situations,the price is always the most reliable source

-Microsoft is in an a similar position: home consoles have lost Microsoft literally billions of dollars;however Xbox 360 sales right now are fantastic in the U.S., publishers and developers are happy, Microsoft still has plenty of room to cut prices and the global economy is very sick


-I understand your point of view.You need something new and exciting,however the industry needs to make sound decisions to keep going: several manufacturers,publishers and developers have lost billions of dollars, lot of studios have been closed,lot of talented people get fired...now the PS360 business is at the peak of its power and people want to start from scratch? From a business point of view it would be madness.That's why I believe those rumors are fake,but we'll have to wait.

It seems obvious why they're saying this. They want to sell their games like Skyrim, Halo Anniversary and all. After fall 2011 we'll see a shift towards next-gen as far as PR is concerned. They even had the Bonus Guys talk about '2016 at the earliest' lying through their teeth. If there isn't a new Microsoft machine coming in 2014, why do they have a studio in Seattle casually called "Kudo's NextGen Xbox team". Why did MGS Vancouver move from development for Kinect to development for the next gen xbox? This thing will land in 2012 if there aren't any delays. We're going to see some sort of transition period for sure but Assassins Creed III, Halo, Battlefield moving on to 'new' and 'updated' and scalable engines should be enough proof that new machines are coming.

 

[1-D_FTW]

These guys are far more reliable than Edge:

THQ hints at imminent Wii 2 reveal (Feb 17, 2011)

EA Hints at Wii 2 (March 15, 2011)

THQ: We don't expect new hardware any time soon from either Microsoft or Sony (Feb 17, 2011)

Take - Two: We still have plenty of room to push the limits of creativity in the current console generation (June 3, 2011)

Avalanche Studios: New hardware in 2014 (June 20,2011)


Gearbox: The Wii U as a "really cool stop-gap" between this generation and the next generation of consoles (July 7, 2011)

GameStop: Xbox 720 and PS4 not out until 2014 (July 15,2011)

Epic: no "huge hurry" for next gen,we can continue to hone our skills with PS360 for a few more years (July 20, 2011)


Epic: Wii U is early,one can certainly envision a future a couple years down the road where we have some significantly leapfrogged generation (Aug 4, 2011)

Skyrim boss: No PS4, Xbox 720 before 2014 (3 Aug, 2011)

EA: What would PlayStation 4 even do? (Aug 31, 2011)

Irrational Games: There's A 'Ton of Juice Left' In Current Consoles (November 7, 2011)



-Sony cannot afford to launch new hardware anytime soon (PS Vita is more than enough)

-Luckily,since the PS3 is the best worldwide selling console of 2011,publishers and developers are happy,and the system has not even hit a mass market price point yet,Sony doesn't need new hardware anytime soon

-Moreover, in these situations,the price is always the most reliable source

-Microsoft is in an a similar position: home consoles have lost Microsoft literally billions of dollars;however Xbox 360 sales right now are fantastic in the U.S., publishers and developers are happy, Microsoft still has plenty of room to cut prices and the global economy is very sick


-I understand your point of view.You need something new and exciting,however the industry needs to make sound decisions to keep going: several manufacturers,publishers and developers have lost billions of dollars, lot of studios have been closed,lot of talented people get fired...now the PS360 business is at the peak of its power and people want to start from scratch? From a business point of view it would be madness.That's why I believe those rumors are fake,but we'll have to wait.

Somebody else compiled a bunch of denial quotes and he included a recent Epic quote where there was a marked switch in their company line. So if you're going to quote, you should probably include everything or not even bother.

It was all the more revealing seeing a ton of Epic quotes and then suddenly having a 180 degree turn in tone.

 

[bgassassin]

It hurts Nintendo, it forces Sony to move quicker than they would like, and more than likely MS had some version of this scenario planned out all along.

Personally I don't think Nintendo had any affect and they already had this planned. No need to talk about a new console when the old one finally got things going. That could have just taken away potential sales.

Somebody else compiled a bunch of denial quotes and he included a recent Epic quote where there was a marked switch in their company line. So if you're going to quote, you should probably include everything or not even bother.

It was all the more revealing seeing a ton of Epic quotes and then suddenly having a 180 degree turn in tone.

Same poster. He's posted it at least three or four times. Like it's saved on his desktop or something. Sounds like he trimmed the one that didn't agree with the others and recently added the Wii U stuff as support.

 

[1-D_FTW]

Same poster. He's posted it at least three or four times. Like it's saved on his desktop or something. Sounds like he trimmed the one that didn't agree with the others and recently added the Wii U stuff as support.

LOL. That's too funny then.

 

[-ImaginaryInsider]

By jumping the boat early, MS may leave Sony in the dust... for a while. But Sony may be able to build a more powerful console for an equal price, and also copy/improve any new features the Wii U/neXtboX brings along.

Sony had better tech this generation, and eventually copied achievements and some Live-features, but that didn't make the 360 suddenly irrelevant. Also the early launch might put MS in the position to become the defacto "base-platform" on which developers base everything, which could help negate any strengths the PS4 hardware has ala what happened this generation.

Hopefully MS is smart enough to build the Xbox-Next to be powerful enough to be in the same ballpark performance and feature-wise to the PS4. If it was up to me, I'd eat losses for the first year and go 3gb of ram just to split the difference between what the WiiU and PS4 might have.

 

[itsgreen]

Sony had better tech this generation, and eventually copied achievements and some Live-features, but that didn't make the suddenly 360 irrelevant. Also the early launch might put MS in the position to become the defacto "base-platform" on which developers base everything, which could help negate any strengths the PS4 hardware has ala what happened this generation.

Hopefully MS is smart enough to build the Xbox-Next to be powerful enough to be in the same ballpark performance and feature-wise to the PS4. If it was up to me, I'd eat losses for the first year and go 3gb of ram just to split the difference between what the WiiU and PS4 might have.

Also it would be too late to make radical changes in their plans... maybe some fine tuning here and there...

 

[Raistlin]

Also it would be too late to make radical changes in their plans... maybe some fine tuning here and there...

That's a good point. There really haven't been any leaks regarding proposed PS4 specs. It would be somewhat surprising for MS to go in completely blind.

 

[dragonelite]

lol @ people asking for more higher specs, you want to pay for a $599 machine?

Yeah !!

 

[Synth_floyd]

2012 is too soon. 2013 please.

 

[DonMigs85]

2012 is too soon. 2013 please.

I agree. These machines are expected to last until at least 2018 and beyond.

 

[duk]

2012 is too soon. 2013 please.

i don't really need a uber machine next gen in terms of h/w pls... i dont wanna pay $400+

true 1080p with good effects and 30fps is good enough for majority of games

 

[Synth_floyd]

Wasn't 2011 the best year in the history of the Xbox division anyway? Why step on the toes of their own success? They should wait and see on the WiiU and only launch if necessary. Nintendo has had a pretty bad record lately with the Wii running out of steam and the mediocre success of the 3DS.

 

[HocusPocus]

If Microsoft released in late 2012 that would put them in a 7 year cycle (2005-2012). That's not unheard of to do.

 

[woodsey1982]

Nintendo has had a pretty bad record lately with the Wii running out of steam and the mediocre success of the 3DS.

3DS sales on par with DS

The DS didn't have the hottest of starts either, yet it went on to become the best-selling portable game system of all time worldwide, and the best-selling game system of any sort in the United States. While it's no guarantee the 3DS will follow in its footsteps, Nintendo has delivered word today that first-year sales of the 3DS are on track to surpass those of the DS.

1.65 million 3DS systems have been sold in the United States since launch, according to the NPD Group.

 

[bgassassin]

Wasn't 2011 the best year in the history of the Xbox division anyway? Why step on the toes of their own success? They should wait and see on the WiiU and only launch if necessary. Nintendo has had a pretty bad record lately with the Wii running out of steam and the mediocre success of the 3DS.

If they want to integrate Kinect to the level we seem to get indications about, then they don't need to wait till people are sick of it.

 

[Synth_floyd]

But the DS didn't have the iPad, iPhone, iPod touch and Android, as well as a more competent competitor in the PS Vita.

 

[elrechazado]

2012 is too soon. 2013 please.

In 2018 we'll all be living under the ocean and there will be no games. Also, we'll breathe underwater.

 

[Rad-]

Wasn't 2011 the best year in the history of the Xbox division anyway? Why step on the toes of their own success? They should wait and see on the WiiU and only launch if necessary. Nintendo has had a pretty bad record lately with the Wii running out of steam and the mediocre success of the 3DS.

Maybe that's the thing. They want to use their current momentum for the nextbox.

 

[Shaneus]

In 2018 we'll all be living under the ocean and there will be no games. Also, we'll breathe underwater.

No games? You can already get that now.

 

[Shtof]

Maybe that's the thing. They want to use their current momentum for the nextbox.

That's probably what Sony thought about PS2 -> PS3. Didn't work out that well.

 

[BurntPork]

That's probably what Sony thought about PS2 -> PS3. Didn't work out that well.

Also what Nintendo was thinking for DS -> 3DS...

 

[Graphics Horse]

Wasn't 2011 the best year in the history of the Xbox division anyway? Why step on the toes of their own success? They should wait and see on the WiiU and only launch if necessary. Nintendo has had a pretty bad record lately with the Wii running out of steam and the mediocre success of the 3DS.

As you point out with Nintendo, it's better to launch a b/c successor before you run out of steam.. it worked for Sony the first time anyway.

 

[Shtof]

Also what Nintendo was thinking for DS -> Wii...

Eh, no?

 

[ZeroRay]

Those leaked specs are a joke. lol at them updating it after they got laughed out the first time.

In 2018 we'll all be living under the ocean and there will be no games. Also, we'll breathe underwater.

I know, I know, oh, oh, oh.

 

[Psychotext]

2012 is too soon. 2013 please.

Anywhere past March 2013 and it will be the longest ever gap between consoles for any of the big four (including Sega from back in the day).

I'm really struggling to see how it's too soon. These machines are old at this point, and for the graphics whores amongst us, arguably too old.

 

[BurntPork]

Eh, no?

I mean DS -> 3DS obviously...

 

[statham]

in five years every console should look out-dated. thus the reason for new consoles.

 

[brain_stew]

it's plausible. however GDDR5 doesn't exist in that speed afaik

that's operating at the same bandwidth as the EDRAM in the Xbox 360 (iirc) which would mean... this thing would absolutely slaughter PCs without blinking

There's nothing plausible about that "leak"

It's nothing other than high fantasy.

 

[bgassassin]

*a wild brain_stew appears*

Am I reading too much into you saying "high fantasy"?

 

[east of eastside]

2013 will be the year of Super Slim PS3 and Kinect integrated 360.

2014 next-gen console release.

Too much profit left in this gen to abandon it.

 

[itsgreen]

2013 will be the year of Super Slim PS3 and Kinect integrated 360.

2014 next-gen console release.

Too much profit left in this gen to abandon it.

How does that work? You are not the only one who posted such nonsense, but seriously how would that work?

Also Nintendo is proof that you can't wait indefinitely... at some point everyone who might want your console has one...

 

[duk]

Wasn't 2011 the best year in the history of the Xbox division anyway? Why step on the toes of their own success? They should wait and see on the WiiU and only launch if necessary. Nintendo has had a pretty bad record lately with the Wii running out of steam and the mediocre success of the 3DS.

don't rest on ur laurels... having a high end and low end xbox makes a lot of sense.

low end for those that didnt jump in just yet and having a huge s/w base, cont to make money for MS

while top end expands user base, kicks starts upgrade path for 360 users

i still want 2013 launch tho

 

[Waaghals]

Generally PC's are made with some of the cheapest run of the mill RAM out there. You can buy a lot of it for very very cheap. It's shit, but cheap.

Consoles tend to go for much faster, but much more expensive (comparatively) RAM. This RAM lets call it GDDR5 can do a workload much faster than the other lets call it DDR3, meaning you don't need as much to do the same job.

It's not quite like that though. If you have 512mbs of really fast ram you still can't store more than 512mb of information. Sure, performance would be much higher than normal PC RAM, but this wouldn't negate a lack storage capacity, they are two different things.

EDIT: Wow, that was a reply to a 2 days old post, oh well.

 

[dragonelite]

How does that work? You are not the only one who posted such nonsense, but seriously how would that work?

Also Nintendo is proof that you can't wait indefinitely... at some point everyone who might want your console has one...

Haha a 360 with kinect integrated is a stupid thing i heard people and press say. Kinect already has problems within a certain distance(less then 30 cm kinect can make good readings) and unless everybody can place their xbox in the right position then the integrated kinect is as good as useless.

 

[Mr_Moogle]

I'm hoping for 2013/14 release.

Microsoft should go the Nintendo way of scaling back hardware and making an affordable, reliable console. The 360 was a piece of shit when it came to reliability. In the end poorly designed cooling cost them millions. If they can make their new console rock-solid it would go a long way to building a better reputation.

Surely they wont be willing to release an over-priced console, given how much of flogging Sony have gotten with the PS3. Id imagine the next Xbox is going to be more affordable than the previous round.

 

[duk]

For the dual core gpu, i wonder how it will split the vram, how will all that work. Centrailized vram and each core can access whatever it wants or more compartmentalized. hmmmm, very intriguing... just like xenos was

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Do you have any link or article on that?

any article on what? the amount of RAM current top-tier PC games use? Google it. It's common knowledge amongst PC gamers.

Theres always more things you can do with more RAM... like having more steps between high poly and low poly models which could help eliminate pop in completely and/or increase the amount of perceived detail because no polygons are being wasted at a subpixel level. Or support for LA Noire style MotionScan capture at a higher resolution and with full bodies instead of just heads.

Also, Skyrim is an example where they save a lot on texture space and memory because they heavily recycle textures and make use of tiled textures. Whereas RAGE goes for unique textures but 512MB on the consoles was not nearly enough to support that technology and make it look good when turning fast nor when looking up close at the textures. If you want those textures to look good when turning fast, and up close at 1080p instead of 720p I could see that using more than 1.25GB.

Oh, I don't disagree, really. My only point was that the suggestion that any nextGen console "needs 4GB" is hyperbolic at best. Current consoles barely have 512MB, and the 2GB PC cards out there aren't getting pushed at all*. 2GB (4x the ram of today) is fine, and 3GB is probably perfect. 4GB is overkill, as we'd never see that much used in the console's lifespan...and you know these manufacturers aren't into adding so much that stuff is never taken advantage of.

*heavy mods and poor optimization notwithstanding.

 

[DonMigs85]

The 4GB RAM might come in handier if the consoles start doing more PC-like stuff. Also might come in handy for games like GTA but only if the GPU/CPU isn't more bottlenecked.
Still even on PC 8GB RAM is still kinda overkill so 2-4GB is fine for consoles.

 

[See You Next Wednesday]

in five years every console should look out-dated. thus the reason for new consoles.

Thankfully the technology has evolved to be more than just having extra ram & a faster CPU.
It was unfathomable to think the 360 would be able to push Gears 3, Crysis 2, Witcher 2, Tomb Raider, Hitman 5 years ago, but there you have it.

 

[itsgreen]

any article on what? the amount of RAM current top-tier PC games use? Google it. It's common knowledge amongst PC gamers.



Oh, I don't disagree, really. My only point was that the suggestion that any nextGen console "needs 4GB" is hyperbolic at best. Current consoles barely have 512MB, and the 2GB PC cards out there aren't getting pushed at all*. 2GB (4x the ram of today) is fine, and 3GB is probably perfect. 4GB is overkill, as we'd never see that much used in the console's lifespan...and you know these manufacturers aren't into adding so much that stuff is never taken advantage of.

*heavy mods and poor optimization notwithstanding.

I'm also thinking that 3GB combined is the magic number for 2012...

But don't forget that basically games are designed for (up to) X memory. Expand it and developers will do cool stuff with it they couldn't do with less...

 

[DonMigs85]

Thankfully the technology has evolved to be more than just having extra ram & a faster CPU.
It was unfathomable to think the 360 would be able to push Gears 3, Crysis 2, Witcher 2, Tomb Raider, Hitman 5 years ago, but there you have it.

Yeah early games weren't much of a leap over the OG Xbox other than resolution. Tomb Raider Legend for instance.

 

[DonMigs85]

I suspect that each GPU might have 512MB VRAM so yeah, 3GB altogether.
Hope that each GPU still has a fast chunk of eDRAM though.

 

[test_account]

lol @ people asking for more higher specs, you want to pay for a $599 machine?

Personally i wouldnt mind to pay that It would mean that it would take longer before the graphics looks outdated. But no console manufacturer will launch a console for that price again.

 

[east of eastside]

How does that work? You are not the only one who posted such nonsense, but seriously how would that work?

Also Nintendo is proof that you can't wait indefinitely... at some point everyone who might want your console has one...

I don't see what the big deal is? The technology cost an estimated $56 when it was released, it's likely that not only the cost will go down significantly by 2013, but that a new version of it will exceed the technical limitations, as far a distancing and positioning and size and packaging, of the old one.

For Microsoft it will make a lot of sense to have an "everybody has Kinect strategy for 360" as they are incorporating it into Windows and likely using a future version of it in 720.

It makes sense from a retail perspective even after 720 arrives to have one 360/Kinect integrated SKU to serve the bottom end of the market.

360 slim was essentially a brand new system made compatible with 360, I don't see why Microsoft wouldn't do the same drastically redesigning Kinect?

 

[Shtof]

Yeah early games weren't much of a leap over the OG Xbox other than resolution. Tomb Raider Legend for instance.

Well, I just played through Gears of War for the first time, and in some aspects it looks rather impressive even today.