Well, it finally happened...again...

[marurun]

Yeah, there's no way Apple will get into serious gaming. Gaming is a profitable tangent for them, but ultimately a tangent. No, the question would be whether or not there is an electronics company out there willing to throw down. I could see Via or AMD stepping in to try something, but I wouldn't hold my breath for their success. Companies like Toshiba, NEC, Matsushita make too much money making components for Sony, Nintendo, and MS consoles to be bothered to try and go it alone.

[Flak Beard]

Haha, oh my god, just give up already. By remaining a 360 user all you're doing is telling the world that this kind of production quality is satisfactory. Stop it.

That's a good point, but what choice do I really have? I'd rather have to send my 360 in once in a while (covered free by warranty of course) than be stuck without a next-gen system. The PS3's library is just too limited and the Wii is plagued by shovelware. The whole RROD issue sucks, but the fact the system's library is becoming what it is, is a testament to the fact it doesn't matter. A minor inconvenience compared to all the play time I get out of it.

[MrPopo]

NEC

Turbografx revival!

[marurun]

I'd be happier to see a TG-16 TV game. Then it could be hacked to play ROMs

[Niode]

And Niode, you should have learned your lesson after the third time. You know the saying of fool me once, fool me twice I'm sure..

Well a few of those were bought around the same time so I had no idea they were going to break. The consoles... well. Just look at my sig. All those consoles I've had at least 1 iteration of since launch. I buy every console whenever they are released. So the Playstations don't really factor in to the argument since I would buy them anyway.

When all the Sony stuff started to crap out one me I knew that I wouldn't bother with the brand ever again.


As for somebody replacing Sony, I don't know. Apple aren't really interested in the gaming side of the iPod/iPhone. It's an interesting platform and there are is a lot of games available for it. However the problem it has is the same reason the Wii is failing amongst the hardcore. Too much shovelware. Most games for the iPhone/iPod Touch are just throwaway trinkets. With most games priced at the sub £1.99 bracket, it's hardly surprising. There are quite a few decent games out there for the system such as Trism and Enigmo but these are few and far between. The lack of longevity of the games are slightly concerning but when you look at the battery life of the iPhone you begin to understand that no matter what game you play, it's going to drain your battery flat. Leaving it a useless paper weight in your pocket. The 3D graphics are some of the best on a mobile device in this category ever but when you can only enjoy them for a couple of hours max before having to charge it becomes nothing more than a fancy "ooh look at what my phone can do" before having to quit the app just to preserve precious battery life for y'know, using it as a phone.

I love my iPhone but it's just not a gaming device. Same as all my previous mobiles have been. The games are a quick distraction when I don't have access to any real gaming device.

As for any other competitors, I have no idea. Other than Sega making a comeback but that's never going to happen.

Perhaps SNK might take another stab at the handheld format?

[Ack]

Perhaps SNK might take another stab at the handheld format?

Nifty dream, but I just don't see them trying it. At least not for a while. They simply don't have the money, and people tend to prefer software to hardware in bad economic times.

Still, it would be pretty cool.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

i couldnt see Atari either but that would be cool

[corn619]

I wouldn't put a large gaming company "cough"Squareenix"cough" out of the realm of possibility of a next gen console release. I mean, they have a good rep with gamers, they have the games most people want and Japan loves Dragon Quest. Not to mention Squareenix have been in the games business for a quarter century. Thats not to say EA boo or some other large gaming company wouldn't take a stab at it. I'd love a Capcom console "goosebumps". To tell you the truth though you'd have to be fucking crazy to release a new console in this economy. Also I don't think Sonys going anywhere anytime soon, despite peoples factless speculations. If Nintendo pulled through the dark days of the N64 and GC, Sony might be able to as well. Although Nintendo owned the portable market at the time which I suspect helped them keep afloat. Sony doesn't own any market, especially the portable one.

[Ramatut4001]

I wouldn't put a large gaming company "cough"Squareenix"cough" out of the realm of possibility of a next gen console release. I mean, they have a good rep with gamers, they have the games most people want and Japan loves Dragon Quest. Not to mention Squareenix have been in the games business for a quarter century. Thats not to say EA boo or some other large gaming company wouldn't take a stab at it. I'd love a Capcom console "goosebumps". To tell you the truth though you'd have to be fucking crazy to release a new console in this economy. Also I don't think Sonys going anywhere anytime soon, despite peoples factless speculations. If Nintendo pulled through the dark days of the N64 and GC, Sony might be able to as well. Although Nintendo owned the portable market at the time which I suspect helped them keep afloat. Sony doesn't own any market, especially the portable one.

But like Microsoft, they do have all their profitable businesses to back them up. This sets them apart from Capcom, Sega, etc.

[Niode]

Yeah, I think Sony and Microsoft will still be battling it out for many years.

I read somewhere that if Microsoft stopped making money from everysingle part of their business they would be able to survive on liquid assetts alone (I.E. Raw hard cash) for 10 years. A company as big as Sony would likely be the same.

As far as factless rumours. It is common knowledge that Sony are going to be letting at least 8,000 employees go, due to economic slowdown. The rumour part is that they are going to be closing a major division of their business down as well. They haven't commented on the speculation but the rumour has to have come from somewhere. It's not hard to put 2+2 together and come out with 16, So who knows. The way I see it is it's just bad business sense to keep a struggling division of your company afloat in tough economic times. Especially one that is hemorraging money like Playstation is. There's only so long they can keep the division going. I reckon people are safe with their PS3s for this generation but IF Sony make a PS4 they are going to have to make sure it is successful because if the PS4 has the same start in life the PS3 had I'd put money on it going under.