Reveal of 8th Generation Consoles & Decline of 7th Generation Consoles

Sony, Microsoft, & Valve are set to reveal their next Generation consoles as early as Feb. 25-28 & as late as June 11-13. Nintendo has already released the Wii U as of November 2012 while Sony & Microsoft's current gen consoles are aging. Proof includes price cuts such as Xbox 360 being only $99-$199 now, Sony is caving into PS4, & Valve has shown disgust over the "flawed" Windows 8.

Sony Playstation 4 Orbis
Sony is set to have a special event in Scottsdale, Arizona open by invitation February 25-28. It's titled "Destination Playstation" & Playstation 4 Orbis could be revealed at that time. Should Sony reveal PS4, it would get a lot of attention & Sony needs more attention given Playstation doesn't get as much attention as Xbox & Nintendo consoles. Should it not be reveal at Destination Playstation, either PAX Boston 2013 or GDC in March could see reveal & even if that not the case, it will most certainly see reveal at E3 in June.

Microsoft Xbox 720
Xbox 720 has gotten even more attention than PS4 & it hasn't seen a reveal yet. Earliest it could see reveal is in March at either PAX Boston or GDC in March & at very latest E3 in June. The 720 might be the best selling console of this generation but this console wasn't overall as familiar to me as Sony's Playstation 4. I predict Microsoft will outsell it's competition here with Xbox 720 & due to the situation with the aging Xbox 360, the 720 is more than ready to be released by the end of the year. The 360 looks much older than PS3 & Wii. The Wii U is only making Xbox 360 look older in everyway. 360 is over 7 years old & my 360 is almost ready for classic archive status. Even when Xbox 720 is released, the Xbox 360 will still keep living until 2016 & the same could be true for the Nintendo Wii while Sony Playstation 3 could see retirement a year earlier in 2015. Anyway, the Xbox 720 could blow away the competition the same way Playstation One blew the sales record of 102 million, exceeding Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn, Atari Jaguar, & 3DO combined? Only time will tell, especially after the last 7th gen. console retires.

Valve Steambox
A new contender in this race includes Valve, creator of Steam. Steam is a gaming program online which is a cousin of Linux technically & founder of Valve Gabe Newell has hinted the Steam Box will be the first hybrid(PC/Home Console) console to hit markets by the end of this year! He also shown disgust over the "catastrophic" Windows 8 which I presume must be unfit for gaming. PC gamers have no need to panic when they have a computer that functions like a PC but is convienent as the competing home consoles. It's like merging technology from Windows & Xbox systems. It's like being able to use a personal computer & also at times a home consoles packaged into one. Earliest reveal could be March but if not, must be E3 in June. Valve could hold an event of it's own sometime thus giving itself more attention to it's introduction. Sony's having their own event. Valve could really use some attention with it's introduction to home consoles considering Steambox will be it's first home console on the market. Not only will Valve enter home console markets for the very first time but it will also be the first to release a hybrid console. CD-I was the first console to be CD based that was not just add-on while Playstation was the first successful CD based console. Valve says the Steam Box will be Linux based but hopefully it will be able to function like both a PC & Home Console combined. For Grand Theft Auto 5 fans dying to have Rockstar make a PC version of the game, Valve has an even better idea where Rockstar could make a Steam Box version instead. Forget about Windows for gaming when you could have something more advnaced & convienent. Hope Steambox can be better than both a PC & Home Console combined & hope you can be able to play games like Grand Theft Auto 5 & Need For Speed Most Wanted 2012.

The current consoles on the market here are Playstation 2, Xbox 360, Wii, Playstation 3, & Wii U. The first one here is 6th gen, the middle three are 7th gen, & the last one is 8th gen. The PS2 was discontinued on December 28 in Japan & I assume 2012 was the year the last 6th generation console retired. However, PS2 still sells in other parts of the World & I'm seeing it's final game was released in late October. What about the 7th gen? Xbox 360 & PS3 do not have successors yet but Wii is now as of November 2012 a predecessor console. But when will these consoles cease to be in production? It's likely the 7th generation will be officially retired by 2016 while it feels like 6th gen has already retired in 2012. I assume Sony Playstation 3 will be retired by 2015 & Microsoft Xbox 360 & Nintendo Wii retired by 2016. However, these consoles could still be produced afterwards but only on a smaller scale. PS2 is not producing any more games after Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 & I expect the last games to be released for PS3 will be in 2015 & last Xbox 360 & Wii games will be released in 2016. What it really comes down to is if games are still being produced. For new games, October 25, 2012 was the date the last Playstation 2 game was released.

What does the future hold for video gaming? Shall there be other competition from Apple, Google, Amazon, or Dell? It would be nice to see even more competition come up to the plate. If Apple, Google, & Amazon were to make home consoles, they would be android based though Apple in my view would be the only one to make a Tribrid(android, PC, home console) that would be part Ouya, Mac, part home console. Imagine if we had a combination of an Android based, Mac Computer, & home console in one. A great name for that would be iGamac & Apple has computer games for it's line of Mac computers. Why did I mention Dell? Dell also manufactures Alienware which is like a gaming PC but is disqualified from being considered a home console like the ones made by Nintendo, Sony, & Microsoft. With Alienware, Dell could also compete with Valve in making their own hybrid console. If only Alienware could be a home console yet be as functional as a PC.

Anyway, it would be great to see TRIPLE the amount of consoles in just the leap of one generation. Example of what I mean would be there being only 3 in 7th generation to 8-9 in 8th.

Release dates for Microsoft Xbox 720, Valve Steambox, & Sony Playstation 4 will be in 2013
Release dates should Apple, Google, Amazon, & Dell enter would be 2015 at the most but probably no earlier than 2014. Think this isn't possible for same gen consoles to be released three years after the first? Sega Dreamcast was released in 1998(JP) with Microsoft Xbox & Nintendo Gamecube joining competition alongside Sony Playstation 2. Dreamcast & Xbox/Gamecube have a 3 year gap in release dates & despite Microsoft's hesitation in 6th generation, the Xbox became a reality in 2001.

Anyway, the 8th Generation of Gaming will be a game changer & set the most amount of milestones than any other generation before it.