Microsoft fires the first shot in the "NEXT" generation.... - Page 94

I've bought a lot less games for the last year and a half. Switched to PC and mostly rentals. I was considering getting a new S console, but not unless my current machine dies again. I'm half boycotting (there are some games I don't want to avoid, like RE6 and GTA5, Last Guardian and a couple others maybe) until there's a new console.

Because everyone else is making predictions I will too!

Nextbox will come out in 2013 period. MS had a HUGE advantage coming out a year early and just because they have the market lead right now doesnt mean they wont lose it next round, just ask Sony how it feels.

I can agree that 2014 makes sense and I believe Sony will follow that timeline.

AAA titles take a very long time. Correct, that is why launch games mostly suck.

Taking money away from the 360. Yea, kind of makes sense but people will still buy 360's when the nextbox cost 400-500. And I will be able to sell my 360 with all the games I have accrued over the years online for a good chunk of change.

2015 is just shenangins! 2014 more realistic but not when MS NEEDS to be first.

Glad you said 2014 is more realistic. That's called hedging your bet a tad. MS is a realistic company. It's like a big aircraft carrier that can't just change course on a whim. MS needs to be profitable more, than they need to be first in 2013. Windows 8 better be profitable for them in 2013 or Hellfire will rain down from Redmond and Wall Street. XBox 360 better be profitable for them or lightning bolts will strike from near and far. Halo 4 better be profitable for them in 2013 or heads will roll. Bottom line...the last thing they need to do in 2013 is relaunch XBox with a big expensive, money hogging, new console launch. Especially when the X-360 is galloping full stride. Nintendo WiiU may even start to reclaim some lost market share. It won't change very much in Xbox World, in 2013, IMO.

Good point about AAA titles. Others on this thread have also shared that opinion. My take is this. Just because that's how it was in the past...doesn't mean it has to be that way in Next Generation. MS has been working on NextBox since 2006. I highly suspect a few of their most trustworthy studio partners have been kept abreast of their direction. I wouldn't even be surprised to see them launch a complete Gold Edition makeover of Halo 2 to launch the Next Console...followed the next year (2015) by Halo 5. IMO that would be really neat. It wouldn't take much for them to do something like that. It would be a great familiar Launch title that gamers could compare with the XBox 360 compatible & Original XBox version. Saber Interactive may have already done it as part of the Halo CE Anniversary project.

In the end...your guess is as good as any on this thread. Let's face it. No one is going to be angry or ashamed...regardless of who is right or wrong.

Something that doesn't get enough consideration - almost everyone in the market for a nextbox already has a 360. These people are hardly interested in purchasing another one, so a nextbox wouldn't have too drastic an effect on 360 sales. I bought a 360 in 2007. They've had nothing to sell me for 5 years. Theyd probably increase their overall hardware sales by widening their market. The only sales they'd lose are double dips from people that would have purchased a 360 in 2013 but bought a nextbox instead.

The whole "360 is doing fine so they shouldn't release a nextbox" simply isn't as airtight and unassailable an argument as some are making it out to be.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...gine-evolution

Smells like 2013.

If you follow that logic, PS4 is coming out in 2013 too.

Neither is happening.

It could. I hope it doesn't though.

Epic is just preparing for an eventuality. It's not like MS and Sony are going to adjust their entire R&D, production, and marketing schedules just to suit Epic's timetable. It may be common, but it's far from the only engine in town. Many devs still make their own.

That said, 2013 still seems reasonable. Where there's smoke, there's fire.

And besides...this release window has probably been decided on for quite some time now. Probably 2-3 years in advance. No way they can accurately predict sales that far ahead (ask Nintendo about that). So current 360 sales can't be the primary influence here. Not unless they'd let their tech sit on a shelf and languish while giving a big middle finger to the devs who were going to support their launch.

There's still every reason to believe in 2013.

I read that article and I just don't see the sense in it. If they can shrink the chip and save more money, they may as well come out with a fully capable "ultra slim" 360 that has a disc drive. Why deliver a half @ss version that has a lot less features, and doesn't save much money over the current slim 4GB. I don't get it. Why would you sell a device that can't take advantage of years of disc based games.

They can market a super slim 360 anyway they want (Apple TV competitor) but still leave it fully functional. I would imagine they could get the form factor down to something very minimal so it doesn't look like a game console. Just reselling to current owners may drive sales through the roof.

Get the size down to PS2 slim levels. That remains my favorite console redesign yet, the 360s and PS3 Slim just didn't cut it as a size reduction in my book.

I agree. I just don't see the sense in it. Thought it's perfectly conceivable that MS has been prototyping boxes like this "just in case," I don't see this as coming to market anytime soon. But stranger things have happened.

No kidding.. When the PS3 Slim debuted and they had the audacity to call it slim when it's nowhere near the size of a PS2 slim, I couldn't stop chuckling.

The PS2 slim was amazing. that's how you shrink a package.

Playstation orbis....and I thought vita was a bad name.

Still a rumor of course, but the way the orbis.scedev.net actually exists...that is pretty damning.

Interesting how the rumors suggest that devs were complaining that the ps4 was too weak compared to the nextbox.

These rumors are swirling like crazy now. 2013 seems more and more likely every day. Cant wait to see a select few eat crow over how 1) it's not coming out till 2014-16, and 2) they're going to just be minor upgrades.

Nice to know you, Nintendo.

The 2014 year was more about discussion for the next box than the PS4. I still doubt next year for either system. Microsoft played the price game perfect with their system. They are not concerned when the PS4 is released more than making money in that department. They have successfully done what Apple has yet to do with Apple TV with a game console. People are buying 360s for streaming purposes only. Price point alone shows me 2013 is doubtful. Too much money to be made to take a chance with a new system when the current one is still selling healthy quarterlies are in the black.

man, this isn't a competition. eat crow? O_o

I know you desperately want a new console to come out. But making a ton of speculative posts isn't going to make it happen.

And yeah, orbis is an awful name. I kept thinking of ogg vorbis when I heard that. I mean, is the next playstation a music codec?

When we get right down to it, what consoles didn't have a stupid name? Never did like the Playstation or Xbox as a name. I think the Nintendo 64 might've been the last name I could say I liked, but even that was borderline.

At least it will be easier if it actually was the name (Although I can't imagine getting something so concrete about the PS4 at this point in time) to get used to than Wii has been. Console brand names don't get much worse than Wii and how horrible that name is has never been far from my mind when discussing it even 5 years later.

If the name sucks but can at least quickly be relegated to the back of your mind and be used as if it was second nature, such as Xbox and Playstation have been, is about the most I think we could hope for in the naming department. Hopefully whatever they go with eventually doesn't suck so much that people will still be discussing the name 5 years after release like in Nintendo's case.

Yeah...in the end it doesn't really matter.

IMO dreamcast was a great name.

I'm not the one speculating, just mentioning the increasingly plausible rumors out there. But I want more than just a new console. I want to see some signs of life in this market. The kind of upheaval we had 6 years ago with the wii. I want to see apple rip the bottom end out from under nintendos feet, and show everyone how casual gaming, media and digital distribution is done. I want valve to make the PC relevant to a couch and consistently raise the bar on hardware. I want MS and Sony to have to struggle to justify their existence by providing a product we desperately want, and not just the bare minimum they can get away with. I want to see them struggle to keep us happy because we now have options, instead of trying to figure out ways to screw their captive audience (killing used games, raising game prices, ridiculous accessory prices).

Next few years should be interesting at least. Hope at least one of the big three bites the dust or gets into serious trouble.

Looks like Sony and Msft might be making a suicide pact on locking out used games...

Lots of interesting implications if true.

I wonder if that could be considered illegal collusion/price fixing. Seems to me like both of them coming up with the same idea at the same time like that is kinda fishy.

Sucks for consumers though, but apparently they don't need to consider that because they have no fear of extinction...yet. This is exactly why we need a shakeup. They take their audience for granted.

The Microsoft TWAPGO.
Thing We All Play Games On.
So will all next gen devices have basically the same design inside? AMD everything. Only need to develope for the Wii U and port over to Loop and Orbis.

I don't mean this to offend. But this reads like you are yearning for the XBox 360...which pretty much converged all of the elements you described and does pretty much everything you said you want.

This is honestly just a ridiculous reply. It may do some of those things, but it doesn't do ANY of them well anymore. It's gaming tech is 6 years old and has zero extensibility beyond what is now a very basic experience that can't keep up with tech released years ago (1080p). It's digital marketplace has high prices and a high barrier of entry. It's barely passable as a video device, it can't play bluray, has sub par streaming and has outrageous power consumption and noise levels for such a device. it's impressive how far they've come with what they've started with, but they've stretched this box to the limit.

2013 isn't happening. Sorry to break it to ya. No matter how much you want it, just you wanting it bad enough isn't going to make it happen.

Just look at Halo 4. It is coming out this X-Mas. Do you seriously think NexBox will launch without its own Halo version at launch? Do you think MS is going to release Halo 4 and Halo 5 in successive years?

If you answered either questions yes, you are delusional.

Yes they will launch without Halo, it worked out just fine for the 360 after all.

Yep. Completely a non-factor.

Halo ain't the force it used to be anyway. You know what would move a TON of nextboxes? A cross compatible call of duty, so you could play with your 360 friends, just with way, way better graphics and sound, maybe even controls. Count on it.

1080p 60fps with 16x AA vs 600p 60fps and 2-4x AA, Oh yeah, that would convince a lot of people to make the switch. (especially if they have some massive maps where distance would be a factor and an increased resolution is very helpful)

Problem is Infinity Ward would be in charge of that one, and it will be a new setting and with the old team almost completly disbanded (and at Respawn), I don't know what to expect from a new CoD title next year (this year is pretty much a shoe in for Blops 2) Who knows, maybe 2013 will be when Respawn's new title comes out...

I'm sure activision will throw enough money at it to make it work. MW3 took 3 studios to make. Cod 3 was a launch title for the wii, even. Starting a new subseries in that franchise with the launch of a new console isn't a problem...it's perfect timing.