Next Xbox already in planning News

O_o

But of course.

if Vista is anything to go by then we might get it by 2015 :P

catch ur breath. Ahhhh no. Work godamn Harder

"Xbox 720 ???"

@ stevencole7
ha gud 1

/ponders if they'll drop the Xbox 360 in the same manner as the Xbox.

....Nah!!

Now With HD-DVD AND a 3D wand like remote to contole the games!

@smoison

Nah, games will NEVER need to be bigger than a DVD. Some gamers told me so. ;)

Fuck me that's quite a silly statement to make,the 360 has been out less than a year they really shouldn't be talking about its successor already,even if it is only in very early stages of planning,the average consumer is fully aware of the original xbox's fairly short lifespan when compared to the PS2,Microsoft don't want those same people thinking that the 360 will be killed off within the next 2 years or so.
Stupid bastards...

Fair enough, sure Sony & Nintendo are planning the next ones too. At least MS has made the 360 hardware profitable unlike the Xbox which is why they dropped it completely. I expect them to go the route of Sony and make a smaller one near the end.

Still, absolutely idiotic thing to say. A lot of consumers favour the Playstation brand over Xbox because it lasts longer.

Isnt Sony planning on a PS4 already (they are showing so by thinking on how it will handle storage). Businessplans don't stop once your machine rolls of the belt.

Agreed that Sony has made playstation lifecycles very longlasting. But is that the norm? What were previous gen lifecycles? In my mind a lot shorter then Sony's (Wii is my fifth nintendo console in 18 years 18/4 = 4.5 year cycle on avg)

I expect Nintendo already has plans for the Poo :)

This is part of Microsoft's plan to make Sony shit their pants. You can bet that as soon as the PS3 becomes profitable, they'll start announcing details on the next Xbox. They're just trying to continually make Sony play catch-up, whereas Sony like to draw out profitability over a long life span.

It's a very shady strategy, but unless Sony can make the PS3 profitable in a very short space of time, there could be trouble for them on the horizon.

Let's just hope they build HARDWARE backwards compatibility into the next Xbox, eh?!

Why is it an idiotic thing to say? What do you do with all the engineering resource that has suddenly got time on its hands following the consoles release? Pay them to drink coffee? Sack 'em?

All manufacturers do this - whether we are talking about consoles, computers, washing machines or cars. Or if they didn't then they should. As soon as one product releases you start work on the next. In fact some manufacturers will probably have several future projects in various stages of development at ony one time.

With regards to the lifecycle of the 360, Peter Moore has recently stated that the lifetime of the 360 is expected to be 6-8 years. But that doesn't mean the next console won't appear for 8 years. Could be be sooner. 2010 maybe.

Let's just hope they build HARDWARE backwards compatibility into the next Xbox, eh?!

Next time BC is likely to be a very different story to Xbox -> Xbox 360. With the 360 MS own the IP for the processor and the GPU. Hardware BC will be much easier for them next time around.

In two years when the PS3 has crushed their market share they'll be able to bring out a new console a 'reasonable amount of time' after the 360 but too soon for Sony to respond and try take the market that way.

NeXt Box

Man, I hope they don't try to force the next-next gen early again like they did with this one. The old consoles still had plenty of life in them.

@woohoo:
360 hardware is not profit making in its own right.

According to the Kikizo article:
Asked whether preliminary work had begun on the next, next-gen, Lewis nodded in agreement with the view that "as soon as you develop something, it's old", and said: "Of course we're thinking about that... we're constantly thinking about the next thing, we have to. It's my point about complacency - you can't sit back on your laurels in this business - the consumer won't let you, the developers certainly won't let us. So that's happening right now."

In other words, Lewis doesn't talk about a successor; he answers a question and says they have to be constantly think about the future, in order to stay in business. What's so peculiar about that?

"Why is it an idiotic thing to say?"

Because the last Xbox proved to be a bad investment in terms of lifespan, and that coupled with the 360s 'weak' hardware caused a lot of people to be dubious about it's ability to last before MS replaced it. So even though they're only doing what any manufacturer does, it was a bad idea to tell everyone.

I remember people getting all worked up about Ken Kutaragi talking about Playstation 3 before 2 was out.

Of course they're working on the next Xbox. Do you think MS just sack all their hardware engineers when their product is finished?

"I remember people getting all worked up about Ken Kutaragi talking about Playstation 3 before 2 was out. "

He didn't say they were working on it though. It's a big difference and a very foolish thing to say in front of the consumer.

@ratso

I think he meant from a design aspect, where as there wasnt much room for redesign and cost cutting in the original box because everyone else had the control of the parts. Here M$ contracted the likes of IBM, ATi to make parts for them, of which they'll be able to cost cut over time themselves.

---
As for the short life span of xbox 1, part of that is it was a black hole, never getting much cheaper. Therefore i would guess they'll run a bit longer and support this further into the future seeing as how they'll be able to eventually run costs down alot.

--
Backwards compatability all depends on the hardware they go with nxt time round. Another good reason to kill off xbox 1 is to kill ties with Nvidia and thus is the reason BC is shambles on the 360. Hopefully good relations with IBM, ATi will make BC for Xbox 3 a little easier.

I jumped on the Xbox bandwagon relatively late and I'm happy with what I got out of it. I mean, there's still a bunch of games I need to buy, let alone play. Four years was a little short for the Xbox, yes, but it was about time the industry let go of the PS2. If it was up to Microsoft to kickstart next-gen, so be it.

"I expect Nintendo already has plans for the Poo :) "

/snigger

@yellowtruck

"In the press today: Sony don't plan on a Playstation 4 until 2016. Thats how long the PS3 will keep Playstation followers happy for. "

Or... the next 360 will come out around 2010 (say a console has roughly a 5 year lifespan) and every PS3 owner will start wondering why they have to stick with a obsolute machine for the next 6 years and jump ship..... not that that i believe for a second the PS3 will last till 2016.

"In two years when the PS3 has crushed their market share"

Is that the latest estimate of when the PS3 will be out in Europe.

I don't find anything surprising about this statement at all. All hardware manufacturers have extensive research and development for future products and I'm sure both Nintendo and Sony are considering their future consoles too. Only a completely naive person would think otherwise and it isn't like Microsoft have announced specific details or said when this new Xbox will be out. LOL

I'd hazard a guess at the next Xbox coming out by 2010/11 though based on the lifespan of the Xbox. Personally I'm happy with that as consoles do have a tendency to date rather quickly in comparison to PCs due to their fixed hardware specs. The PS3 and Xbox 360 might be impressive now but will they still appear so in three years time when the latest state-of-the-art game hits the ever-evolving PC?

Sony seem to have added Blu-ray, DD7.1 and 1080p compatibility to pre-empt this dating of hardware but I'd guess at its measly 512MB of memory and current-gen graphics card being the things that dates it far quicker that its specs might otherwise suggest. That's not a problem for Microsoft and its Xbox 360 though as I'm sure they have a five-year product cycle in mind for their hardware but it might be a problem for Sony as I distinctly remember them quoting a ten-year life cycle for the PS3. That might mean ten-years for machine overall rather than ten-years before they introduce the PS4 but I get the impression from what I've read that they want the PS3 to last a long time. I might be wrong though.

@yellowtruck
Get a brain upgrade, troll!

Before the 360 launched, Bill Gates said that Microsoft are in this for the long haul, even if the 360 is not successful there will be a new Xbox to follow. So this announcement is actually very old news indeed. At the time Gates stated that the lifespan of the 360 would be 5 years. He also stated that they would have to look at what technology would be around by then and how it would change in order for the new console to benefit from the new technologies..

It's obvious that this work would have to get under way now. Sony announced a 10 year life for the PS3, but I expect they will also be looking at their next console already.

jlaakso: "Four years was a little short for the Xbox, yes, but it was about time the industry let go of the PS2."

Uhm.. what? I'm still waiting for the next Singstar to arrive. We're having a blast with it as a party game. I think there's also a few other titles left to be released for the Playstation 2 before it's officially announced dead. Isn't God of War 2 supposed to be out soon, for example..?

Didn't Ken already outline in his keynote at the TGS what he expects from the PS4?

Was that the "plug into the Matrix" speech? LOL

"Because the last Xbox proved to be a bad investment in terms of lifespan, and that coupled with the 360s 'weak' hardware"

My Xbox = a very worthwhile investment thank you, I got my money's worth from it.
My 360 = A very enjoyable experience thank you, hardly what I would describe as weak.

Oh wonderful. I just bought my xbox 360 and they're already talking about the follow-up? That's just great...

I can bet you somewhere in a deep dark corner of MS somebody is working on the one after the next one too! You can't halt progress guys and Gals. R&D is a never ending constantly evolving process.

now do you see how pathetic ps3 is? :D
muahaha

The 360 has a lifespan of 5 years at the most. I personally think we'll see a successor a even sooner knowing MS.

I've put everybody on ignore.

First. \o/

Obviously...lets hope they don't break down in 8 months like mine did...

Sony should turn over a leaf, and change the name of the PS3 to the Playstation 4. This way all that bad publicity will no longer matter cos it's sooo last gen!

the next xbox won't be out for another 8 years, trust me.

This is part of Microsoft's plan to make Sony shit their pants. You can bet that as soon as the PS3 becomes profitable, they'll start announcing details on the next Xbox. They're just trying to continually make Sony play catch-up, whereas Sony like to draw out profitability over a long life span.

It's a very shady strategy, but unless Sony can make the PS3 profitable in a very short space of time, there could be trouble for them on the horizon.

Exactly what I am thinking - it might lead to hardware generations that are entirely asynchronous, or Sony could fold under the pressure, or gamers start boycotting the Xbox because the lifespans get too short. Who knows. :)

bloody hell, i think i will wait for that one!

The technology is getting better and better every month,your going to see the lifespan of consoles being half what it used to be.
I know a sales rep who worked for Nvidia, and he says they have already finished new graphics cards for pc which wont be hitting retail until 2008.
They are always a good few years ahead,when you buy the latest graphics card chances are its a good year old before it hits retail.
This is just the way it is.

"t might lead to hardware generations that are entirely asynchronous"

I can see this happening. Sony want a 10-year life-cycle with PS3. There's no way the 360 will last anywhere near that (5 years max). But even with pressure from a new MS console, I seriously doubt Sony would drop their PS3 strategy.

Am I the only person who thinks it is a good thing that we'll only have to wait around four years before we see the 'next gen'?

I personally couldn't give a shit who makes it as long as i don't have to wait until 2016...

yellowtruck : that's too much wishfull thinking... Do you really believe tha MS will ever go away, in this buisness or anyone ?
They'll keep on coming, over and over again, until they enter your house like Windows did.

Only old timers and "uncle scrooges" want to have an electronic device for ten years. Not even a coffee machine is worth owning for that long. Imagine a computer, a mobile phone, even a car with ten years...!

"In the press today: Sony don't plan on a Playstation 4 until 2016. Thats how long the PS3 will keep Playstation followers happy for."
- It's the other way arround, Sony will lauch PS4 when they feel PS3 stopped selling, don't be naive to think that PS3 will (eventually) exist because you were tired of your 7 years machine, they'll start selling it (eventually) because there is a 360, if not PS2 would continue, happy ever after (read until it was selling).
Sony does not exist to make you happy, it exists to make money.

Maybe they'll put a decent disc drive in the next one.

You comments boys have really outshown yourselves with this one :D