As I was saying in the Skyrim thread, I'm 100% ready for a new Xbox. It seems most of the games are sequels now and are pretty much treading over old ground.

I think any new console gives the publishers the excuse to go over that old ground once again, just with more shiny bits. Nintendo are the worst offenders for this by basically releasing some of their old games with very few additions, but you'll still see lots of sequels and rehashes. I'd be quite happy with the no new consoles for a good while to come yet, but I'm rather falling out of love with gaming.

I'ld like it to be a while. As soon as a new console is released then we have to sit through a good year or so of identical-game-but-prettier. Like you say identikit game sequels are starting to grate. This is the part of a games consoles life when the real innovation happens. Skyward Sword, Dark Souls, Bastion arr rxamples that spring to mind. Fresh(er) ideas.

That said I don't think Sony can afford a new console yet, and I think the WiiU will max out around the Ps3 level, so I think Microsoft will wait a few years, it's to suck out extra profit.

I've already got the Onlive console, cheers.

One of the big questions will be: primarily disc-based game distribution, primarily download, or a hybrid? I suspect it'll be the latter. There's not enough fast broadband world-wide to move away from discs entirely yet.

I expect hybrid, but I would very much hope that the option for getting everything digitally is in there. And that the pricing is sensible.

Or have the steam-type thing of being able to put a physical disk in, install it, then never need the disk again.

I expect hybrid, but I would very much hope that the option for getting everything digitally is in there. And that the pricing is sensible.

I don't think we're at the stage where they're waiting for fast broadband to happen.

On a similar note, I expect that the next gen will arrive around the time we get super fast broadband for the majority of the population.

The spherical console is the controller.

...and possibly the table.

Official: The next gen consoles will be the table.

I have tried this on my PC and the lag was really noticeable, I think it was FEAR I tried and it was unpleasant at best but fairly unplayable most of the time. I don't know why that was, but I'm not convinced by it as yet. Seeing a TV programme on the iPlayer suddenly stop and start buffering is maddening enough but to see all my games start breaking up before my eyes if some sort of transient network issues crop up would be horrible. I dunno, perhaps when we get a fibre connection it'll work ok, I think this is currently planned for late July twenty never.

I think Grim...'s point isn't that the next generation of 360/PS3 etc will be like an OnLive console, it's that OnLive already is a next generation console.

One that looks like the previous generation of consoles.

It's way smaller, actually.

The suggestion was that MS and co were holding back next gen until everyone has super fast broadband. I don't think they care because distribution will still be disk based primarily.

I was being a bit facetious, but I meant graphics-wise.

Discs won't go in the next gen, but I definitely think that distribution will be primarily broadband. Add a couple of days early release on XBLA Gold and it could pay for itself.

I think Grim...'s point isn't that the next generation of 360/PS3 etc will be like an OnLive console, it's that OnLive already is a next generation console.

I think the only way you'll sort this out is to quibble for a few pages over the semantics of what is meant by a generation of consoles and when exactly each generation is deemed to have started.

I like your style.

I'd trust the guy that owns them all.

You also own Jesus cables.

I like your style.

You also own Jesus cables.