The 7th generation of video gaming included three major consoles(Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony Playstation 3, and Nintendo Wii) and one Lesser known one(Zeebo). The 8th generation will include four new competitors(Valve Steambox, Nvidia Project Shield, Boxer8 Ouya, and Playjam Gamestick). Five will be major competitors(Nintendo Wii U, Sony Playstation 4, Microsoft Xbox 720, Valve Steambox, and Nvidia Project Shield) while two will be minor(Boxer 8 Ouya and Playjam Gamestick). However all new competitors have cloud/android based consoles wheres veterans Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft retain the present structure of home consoles as of the 2010's.
The newest entries marks a milestone in video gaming the same way as the fifth generation. Arguing Steambox, Ouya, Project Shield, and Gamestick aren't 8th generation consoles is like saying Phillips CD-I wasn't a 4th generation console. However, consoles should be judged based on mass market just like the 5th generation. The 5th generation classifies consoles by mass market status including major, minor, and non-mass. The 6th however had only four major ones compared to 15 total for fifth generation. The 7th would have roughly 5-7 total with there being three major, two minor, and other non-mass ones.
However, the future of video gaming includes cloud computing out normalizing disc drive consoles like the 32-64 bit era did when Sony Playstation outsold it's competitors. Sony Computer Entertainment acquired Gaikai in August of 2012 and Playstation 4 will be taking advantage of that. I wonder if Playstation 5 will be run like Steambox considering Valve and Sony both have cloud computing digital download programs Steam and Gaikai respectively. Gaikai could rise as the Steam of Playstation series. Future Playstations could be like cloud computers instead of disc drives where games would be downloaded more or less the same way as Steam. Sony already has android based software called Playstation Mobile which plays some past Playstation series titles and some others on your smartphone/tablet or Playstation Vita. Likely by the next generation, Sony will be ready to make Playstation 5 an android/Steambox based cloud computer home console.
Microsoft and Nintendo have the least involvement in android technology though Microsoft has Windows Phone and Windows Tablets. Nintendo however has no involvement with androids and judging on past game consoles, everyone of them since Nintendo 64 has lagged behind most or all competitors on technology. N64 was the last game console to use cartridges instead of discs like Playstation. Nintendo Gamecube and Wii both has tech weaknesses compared to competitors Sony and Microsoft. Although the Wii U has more competitive hardware, it will still be one of the weakest home consoles compared to competitors Sony, Microsoft, Valve, and Nvidia while being able to outrank only Boxer8 and Playjam. Microsoft does have a vast PC market and also has Windows and android software built into Windows Phones and Tablets. However, Microsoft doesn't seem to have much of a plan for expanding into the android market like Sony. Wonder what Xbox 720's successor will be like?
Development costs have been an issue in developing games. The reason Playstation was so successful was because developers could develop more to their games as discs had more power and space compared to cartridges the Nintendo 64 used. With the sixth and seventh generations, you couldn't see much of a difference with the exception of some Wii games vs. PS3 and Xbox 360 ports. With the fifth generation, you could notice the difference between a PS port and an N64 port, noticing Playstation ports have more advancement to them due to more data space while Nintendo 64 ports had less due to less data space. It actually cost less to develop a PS game than an N64 game. Development costs will lower with digital download technology while having security with Steam, OnLive, and Gaikai account based cloud computing. Sony considered making Playstation 4 digital download only but decided against it due to slower internet speeds in developing countries. If Ouya and Steambox become major success, Sony could make Playstation 5 Linux based.
Linux technology has changed computers since 1991 and hasn't gotten much attention since few to ten years ago. Steam is one such program to make Linux more recognized as the former is a digital download software developed by Valve for PC and Mac computers while extending to iOS, Android, and even Playstation 3 in some cases. Keep in mind that while Linux is a company of it's own, it also has a technology in computers after it, inspiring the touchscreen androids of our time. With Steambox, Project Shield, Ouya, and Gamestick coming to the console market, Linux must be given credit for inspiring androids and cloud computing.
If Apple, Google, and Amazon were to join the console wars in the ninth generation, it could see some of the most advanced technology in game consoles to date, discarding the discs used by veteran companies. In fact the fifth generation had only two cartridge based game consoles(Atari Jaguar, Nintendo 64) and both were veteran companies. It's quite possible for there to be a record for most major mass market consoles in the Ninth Generation should Apple, Google, Amazon, Sony, Microsoft, Valve, Nvidia, and Nintendo have consoles released. As for Boxer8 and Playjam however I can't really say much about successors to Ouya and Gamestick respectively since they haven't been released yet.
Based on history of video gaming, Sony will change media type from disc to cloud(Gaikai) with Playstation 5 the same way Sega did with Saturn and Dreamcast. Microsoft and Nintendo probably won't get on the same boat as their other anticipated competitors Sony, Valve, Nvidia, Apple, Google, and Amazon. Nintendo is the most successful gaming company in history but along with Microsoft is likely to have the last disc based consoles that are of traditional format now. All these major companies I've mentioned have their own digital download services with the exception of Nvidia. Nintendo however remains the only major company in the console wars to not have any Linux technology in their products. Microsoft however doesn't seem to be into any Linux technology in their gaming consoles considering Microsoft could make OnLive part of future Xbox consoles the same way Sony is trying to do so with Gaikai. Gaming PCs are expensive now but in the future their costs will be lowered much enough so that PC hardware could be made into many home consoles. Size will be reduced and performence will be better. When Xbox 360 came out, systems failed somewhat often with the red ring of fire.
Developers will find it easier to develop games for digital downloads since the limit on data will be how much hard drive space it will occupy. Xbox 360 games of enormous size such as La Noire require multiple discs but with a high end gaming PC and Steam you just need some hard drive space of the game's size. Bioshock Infinite will require 20GB hard drive space. Grand theft Auto V is intended to be larger than Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption, and Grand theft Auto San Andreas combined. Sadly enough, GTA V is only confirmed for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 and BOTH versions could have more than one disc. Playstation 3 discs are blu-ray so PS3 is for those larger games but gaming PCs as of now have the best system specifications. Although Wii U has more advanced graphics than it's predecessor generation consoles(Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Wii), it has already been outmatched by Playstation 4, Xbox 720, Steambox, and Project Shield.
Could Xbox 720 be the hardcore Wii U? Xbox 720 could have enhanced gaming features such as Kinect 2.0, illumiroom, and PC hardware.
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