"But let's say in ten years time what we traditionally call 'console games' simply won't exist," Wada told Develop. "The exact timing at which it will go away is hard to determine, but somewhere around 2005 the console manufacturers' strategy shifted."

In the past, he continues, the platform was hardware, but now it is network. "So a time will come when the hardware isn't even needed any more."

But won't this hurt game companies and platform holders? "First of all the distributors and sales firms will see a big negative impact," said Wada. "But as I say the format holders knew that this shift was coming."

Square Enix is currently branching out to focus on PC browser games, which Wada sees as potentially big market especially in Asia.

Yoichi Wada's online vision [Develop]

"I think it does hurt them," said Stephen Smith, a partner specializing in entertainment and video game litigation with Greenberg Glusker, tells Variety. As Smith points out, Activision should strive to keep big names like No Doubt happy.

"The music community is notoriously insular," adds Smith. "If you get a bad name with a couple of well-respected artists, you're going to have trouble with all of them." Musicians want to be cool, but bandied about like marionettes on stage.

This year, music game sales are behind 2008's retail pace by 40 percent.

No Doubt/Activision suit raises issues - Entertainment News, Technology News, Media [Variety]

He thinks that Sony could release a new console before Microsoft. Here's his rationale: "The whole jockeying for who's going to release the first next gen console is very interesting and pretty divorced from the technical side of things," he says. "Whether Sony wants to jump the gun to prevent the same sort of 360 lag from happening to them again seems likely. As developers, we would really like to see this generation stretch as long as possible. We'd like to see it be quite a few more years before the next gen console comes out, but I suspect one will end up shipping something earlier rather than later."

Sony has repeatedly stated that the PS3's lifespan is ten years. The console came out in 2006 in Japan, which means that Sony is not expected to release a new console until 2016 or 2017. With the buzz around Project Natal, Microsoft has recently been talking about a longer shelf life for the Xbox 360.

But, all of this is still unconfirmed and merely speculation on Carmack's part. In the rest of the link below, Carmack offers his opinion about more futurey stuff as well.

Carmack talks next gen consoles... and beyond [Digital Foundry via GamesIndustry]

"I don't think it will be next year, but in three to five years it will become dominant on the market," Reeves told industry site GamesIndustry. "The legacy will be that people will see a tortoise and hare situation. In a way, in the end it will be a dead heat. People will say PS3 took a while to get going but it really caught up very quickly and confounded many of the critics from the first year."

So David Reeves thinks that the PS3 will be dominate in 2012 or 2014. Meaning?

Meaning by Reeves most liberal estimate, it could take the PS3 almost eight years to become dominate in the market — leaving the console with a little over two years left in its proposed ten year life-span to rule the roost.

Shame that David Reeves is retiring tomorrow. He has been the gift that keeps on giving.

PS3 to be dominant in 3 - 5 years, says Reeves [GamesImdustry]

According to RE5 producer Masachika Kawata, "We haven't decided whether we're going to make Resident Evil 6 yet... But if we do, it could take anywhere up to eight years, but hopefully only four."

It could take up to eight years, but hopefully only four?! To recap, Resident Evil came out in 1996, Resident Evil 2 in 1998, Resident Evil 3 in 1999, Resident Evil 4 in 2005 and Resident Evil 5 in 2009. And possibly RE6 in 2017?

Expect a gajillion spin-offs and Wii ports in between then.

Resident Evil 5 [FiveFWD via D+PAD via VG247]

Mitsubishi hinted that it was in discussions with one game console manufacturer to integrate the 3D technology into the system. The Wii's not capable of such feats and Microsoft's in the HD DVD camp, so one would have to assume it's Sony and the PS3.

We've got a long road ahead of us. The current gen consoles are finding their footing, stumbling or starting to hit their stride. It's too early to declare clear cut winners, but not too early to forecast the future. Popular Science has a feature called "PPX" (PopSci Predictions Exchange) in which the publication sets forth predictions and lets readers bet on them with fake money for bragging rights. PopSci's predictions are:

• Virgin Galactic will not suffer a passenger fatality in its first year of business.
• 
  
• A human will break the world record for skydiving by the end of 2009.
• 
  
• Gas prices in the U.S. will smash records this year.
• 
  
• NASA will finish building the International Space Station by 2010.
• 
  
• The PLAYSTATION 3 will outsell both the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii by the end of 2009.

Popular Science Predicts [Game Grope Thanks, Anon!]

For a generation of marketers raised on TV and print, the internet is a gray nebulous. What works in traditional media? Getting as many eyes on a new product as possible — that creates buzz. But since the internet doesn't have "Prime Time" per se and is powered by a series of sites (not channels or publishers), focusing those eyes all at one time and one place poses a challenge online.

Hence countdowns.

We've touched on this before. Yesterday, even. We hate countdowns. Lemme reiterate that, we HATE countdowns. They're lazy, unimaginative marketing. The hope is with these countdowns that everyone will be looking at something at the same time — like with TV and print to a lesser extent. It's a way for people in business suits to measure publicity. Thing is, with the internet, more eyes doesn't always mean good publicity. This of course is not unique to the internet, but the key different is that we interact with the internet more so than traditional media. Of late, we've seen the following:

• Super Smash Bros.
• Island of Rhodes? ISLAND OF CRAP
• Bethesda Counts Down To "Please Stand By"

There are of course more. Are the game developers to blame? To extent yes and to an extent no. Developers develop games. That's what they do. The success of these online campaigns should not reflect on the actual game because they don't. Yet, the front office people hire marketers and approve plans. In that regard, they are at fault. What about us? Why do we cover them? That's what we do, we cover gaming trends, news and other stuff. Are we to blame? Yes and no. If we report on them, gazillions of people find out about them. If we don't and actual information is released, then we are not doing our job. But, just for second if companies had a month or a week countdown for a press release. That would annoy every press outlet to no end! But companies have no problem doing this via a game's site, and we have a big problem covering this lackluster marketing.

What works online? From what I can see, snowballing. Take a look at internet memes. They start small and get bigger and bigger. Sometimes they are unintentional, sometimes intentional. But they all start with something being posted. And because that original post is interesting, it gains ground. Companies tried this with viral marketing, but that style is often insulting. So now, these countdowns build up to that original posting. Why don't companies just release that info without announcing that they plan to do so X number of days later? Because it's scary, risky. What if nobody looks at their site? What if nobody notices? How horrible! Having faith in whatever information they are releasing means not hyping up that information. If it's really important, people will find out about it. Put it up on your site, don't lie to us and if it's good, we'll click away and crash your site with traffic. That's how the internet works, and that's how it works beautifully. Wise up, companies. The rules have changed. Brian Ashcraft

Some say the future is one unified console. Others say "bwah?" Put Valve's Gabe Newell in the "bwah?" camp. His two cents:

...as long as you've got Microsoft willing to lose six or seven billion dollars to push a hardware standard, it's hard to see, you know... as long as people are willing to absorb losses on hardware. Sony's doing the same thing. I think they just announced three quarters of a billion dollars in losses. As long as you've got people willing to do that, it's hard to see why gamers aren't going to want to have subsidized hardware from those people, so I'm not sure how soon we'll get to unification.

But, even if these corporations were not willing to lose major money on hardware, would you really want a unified console? Think about it. Brian Ashcraft

Newell Interview [Eurogamer]

Ishaan over at game site Flame War ADVANCE has a two part interview with execs at Exigent, a Noida-based Indian outsourcing company that deals with video game art. The company's founders cut their teeth working on games like Quake and Wing Commander. The company's Chief Creative Officer Paul Steed sits on the GDC's advisory board and had this to offer about the future and India's role in that future:

The future of gaming is really mobile games and PC games. There's more computers in the world, there's more cell phones in the world than there are consoles and that'll never change. India's interesting because the government's really supporting broadband users...

Exigent's VP of Production, Jesse Rapczak, chimes in:

The real question is, what's going to happen to consoles when India and China become world powers in gaming? Because, the console market is strictly geared at U.S., Europe and Japan. I mean, there's not a sizeable console market in China and India. But, China and India together have majority of the world's population, almost...The numbers say that console gaming is going to go down. And PC, online and mobile gaming is on the rise, and all this will happen in India and China over the next five years. Come 2010, some people might not be playing game consoles. Doubtful, but...

Yah, 2010 is a little too close to forecast the end of game consoles as we know it. I mean, I don't think astronauts will have made it to Jupiter by then. Brian Ashcraft

Part I
Part II [Flame War ADVANCE]

Using motion controls is so 2006. Using your brain to dictate game play is teh future. Australian star-up Emotiv created a mind-reading game controller prototype called Project Epoc that's getting over a million dollars in funding from the Australian government. From Emotiv's website:

Project Epoc is a headset that uses a set of sensors to tune into electric signals naturally produced by the brain to detect player thoughts, feelings and expression. It connects wirelessly with all game platforms from consoles to PCs. Project Epoc now makes it possible for games to be controlled and influenced by the player's mind.

Engaging, immersive, and nuanced, Emotiv-inspired game-play will be like nothing ever seen before.

Jacking into the Matrix! We should really strap on Plunkett's head to see what the hell happens. Luke, thoughts? Brian Ashcraft

Brain Controller [Emotiv via Med Gadget]

Now that you've parted with large amounts of cash for a console that doesn't quite have any killer games yet, let's talk PS4. UK developer Evolution Studios boss Martin Kenwright isn't jut thinking about his company's upcoming release, Motorstorm, but TEH FUTURE. Says Kenwright:

I know people are looking at PS3 now, and I'm not being glib, but we're actually looking at PS4. I'm thinking where will it be in five years, how will we get there? What will the marketplace be like, the games, and who'll be buying them?

Oh, yeah? Well not to be glib, but I'm looking at the PS9. Brian Ashcraft

Getting Ready For PS4 [Games Industry]

Gloom and doom tech articles, love 'em! They're like Nostradamus for dorks. And Slate's got a whopper soothsayer piece up, which lays out why the Sony backed Blu-ray and the Microsoft supported HD-DVD are dead out of the gate. Sean Cooper writes:

The movie studios and electronics manufacturers think—wrongly—these new high-def formats will extend the market for home-entertainment media indefinitely. Both formats will fail, not because consumers are wary of a format war in which they could back the losing team, a la Betamax. Universal players that support both flavors of HD should appear early next year. No, the new formats are doomed because shiny little discs will soon be history.

Things like Xbox Live's movie-rental and download service, on-demand cable, pricey new disc players and bigger hard drives seal the formats' grim fate. Smart piece, good points—anyone disagree? Brian Ashcraft

Blu-ray, HD-DVD Dead [Slate]