First there was Nintendo, Xbox, and Playstation. Through the great minds of Alex Kipman, Satoru Iwata, and Kaz Hirai to name a few, these systems evolved into the powerhouses they are today. The reigning platforms Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii have dominated the gaming industry since their respective releases in 2005-2006. These past five years have been filled with many memorable moments in video game culture as well as a redefinition of what a platform should and can be.
The Nintendo Wii for example, shattered the traditional medium of controller game play in a way that made gaming much more accessible to the unconventional gamer. Motion-sensitive controls added a completely new dimension to the capabilities available to video game consoles as did enhanced online multiplayer, high definition graphics, customizable avatars, live internet, video and music streaming, and even PC connectivity.
Gaming platforms have become the key component to a complete entertainment system instead of only a hub for video games as its predecessors were. As the seventh generation of consoles comes to an end, their successors from Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are beginning to surface.
While Sony has already admitted to "thinking about" the Playstation 4 and Nintendo most likely developing their next generation Wii 2, Microsoft too has hopped on the new console bandwagon with their Xbox 720 (what we call it until the official name is released.)
On June 13th, 2008, Robbie Bach — the President of Entertainment & Devices Division at Microsoft — mentioned the next Xbox by saying: “Our view is we will be selling Xbox 360 for a long time. We are always working on new technologies. We have people working on those. People ask me how many people I have working on the next generation. On the one hand, it’s everybody. On the other, it’s nobody. People are continuously working on new technology.
We started thinking about the next generation before we shipped the Xbox 360. It doesn’t start with a date. It starts way upstream with silicon development. From that comes a series of data points. You start making early technology choices. It’s an evolving thing. Stuff doesn’t become concrete until you get inside a window of when you have to ship, more than 18 months or so out.”
In an EGM interview with Microsoft's head of Interactive Entertainment Business division, Peter Moore, some news pertaining to the next video game console was released. EGM magazine asked him when their next console would come out, and also asked if they’d drop support for the Xbox 360 like they did with the original Xbox. According to Moore, Microsoft will support it "as long as it sold." Meaning, as long as the sales stay in Microsoft's favor, even with the release of a new console there will likely still be new additions for the Xbox 360.
