The writers on this site spend a lot of time chatting about random game related topics. Fortunately, a lot of the behind-the-scenes discussions work their way into articles, but sometimes they don’t. In this particular case, we decided to go ahead and publish a chunk of our chat transcript to give you guys an idea of how our conversations go sometimes. In this chat session, we were discussing the Xbox 720 and Sony PS4. Feel free to comment at the end and keep the discussion going…

Kezins:

Personally I feel as if the current generation of consoles should last much longer than previous generations due to the amount of money invested. I’d also like to see the consoles actually hit a peak instead of being pulled off the market prior to reaching their potential) Basically is the standard 5-year cycle enough anymore? I don’t think it is when you consider the costs of the consoles, peripherals, games and downloadable content

Somewhat:

5 years would almost seem too soon with the current generation, and I for one don’t feel like spending 750$ each on both of those new systems when they drop anytime soon. I’ve bought and used cars for more than 6 months for cheaper than the last consoles cost me. But on the flip side, what are the developers looking for? I mean 3 or so years down the road, I don’t believe they will have reached the limit of our current consoles, but what if a leap in technology comes along and they need much more power? What then? It’s sometimes very important to be the first company on the block with the latest gee-whiz do-dad, and if you are first, you can sometimes corner a market. Just look at XBox Live at the moment, definitely better than Sony’s version (at this moment in time), and the fact that they were first has certainly helped them at this stage in the game…

mrjuandrful:

The Gaming Industry will continue to grow and with growth you will need new technology to back that up. If you think about this, the 360 right now is already capped at 9gb per disc that it can play. I see most games that will be made for the PS3 will be over 25gb’s, and that’s even those boring Madden games everyone is playing. Also, with DLC’s the 20gb hard drive is already obsolete. I give you the Xbox Elite.

Kezins:

I see your point with certain console models being obsolete. When you think about it, should we be considering the Elite a brand new console that should have it’s own life span? I bought a launch 360 that bricked and upgraded to the Elite about 4 months ago. I’m just wondering if upgrades are the way to go for a while instead of coming out with an entirely new system.

Two examples that come to mind are the GabeCube and the original Xbox. I feel as if neither system hit it’s peak/ By the the time developers finally get accustomed to programming games for one set of consoles, it’s off the shelf and they are working with a new one. I think if system shelf life were more like 8-10 years, developers would be shooting us games that have finally met the potential of a system. I also think it would make money for Sony and Microsoft, considering they often lose profit in the beginning with the high cost of creating and manufacturing a system.

Xper:

This console generation has been really interesting, because the PS3 and Xbox 360 are essentially PC’s. And if this is a trend, with multiple SKU’s and five-year life cycles, consoles are not paving any new way in terms of how we approach gaming.

The PC has suffered because of consoles turning into PC’s. It’s ironic, really. But true.

Somewhat said he didn’t want to spend $750 on a next generation system, yet alone spend that on maybe three different machines. And here is where consoles are in the risk zone of becoming PC’s.

If upgrades of SKU’s are the new school of keeping up with technology, then, as 1pstart said, there is a bigger chance for a generation to be around longer and for developers to maximize those systems potential.

But eight to ten years? Ten years without a new system? The technology is just gonna whoop those consoles asses and you’ll have all the kids screaming for a new system when they see Crysis 3.

Somewhat:
Unless of course you ‘upgrade’ your older console with the newest bits. Sorta like why I stopped PC gaming for the consoles, and now they’re just turning into branded PC’s. Embarrassed

Xper:

In terms of console life cycles, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are three vastly different companies. And their strategies differ a lot.

Microsoft seems to favor software before hardware, but at the same time they’re a really marketing driven company. Just look at the brand that is the 360 now. It would be foolish if they phased out the 360 within 2 years, because the 360 is such a powerful brand.

When the hardware that the 360 is built on is utter shit, branding and software is everything. Soon that will catch up, and Microsoft will be forced to address that. Maybe they’ll continue the 360 brand with next generation consoles, or they’ll ride this 360 wave until 2010/2012. Branding is hella important to Microsoft, so this is interesting to take into consideration.

…………….

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written by Will Snizek on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 5:04 am \\ tags: Brand, Elite, game, gaming, Generation, life, lot, Microsoft, Somewhat, Sony, system, Technology, time, way, Xbox