[[PhiberOpticks]]

Originally Posted by Celestin

Solidstate drives will probably still be too expensive and a console should be cheaper than a PC, not more expensive. That said, there needs to be some kind of internal adapter inside to accept a SATA2 harddrive. They can package one if they want, pref. a 10k rpm Raptor, but if they don't, that's fine too. I'm afraid they'll take it as an opportunity to unproportionally jack up the price.

True, but I don't think we'll see the next-gen for the few years. Hell, back last generation, we heard about the PS3 and 360 a couple years after the release of the previous generation. Right now, we haven't heard anything. And all three companies have made it clear they want to ride it out. Sony went so far as to say they want a 10-year cycle. I don't think it will be that long though.

Regardless, I'm sure we'll have some good MLC and SLC SSDs by the time the next gen comes around. Dell's already in the process of getting 80GB and 160GB SSDs for their PCs.

Originally Posted by Celestin

I honestly prefer the 360 controller over the Dualshock 3. I just really don't like the L2 / R2 buttons on the Dualshock 3. The 360's trigger shaped L2 and R2 is much more intuitive with pressure sensitivity. With that said, both the current PS3 and Dualshock 3 controllers need to be thrown out the window and completely redesigned. Both controllers put way too much emphasis on the thumbs. I would like to see the other fingers get more in on the action. At the moment, controllers will never pass keyboard in efficiency because with a controller, you only use two of your fingers, maybe three whereas on a keyboard, you can use all your fingers.

I like the DualShock. It's practically a Sony trademark. And I do agree about the shape of the controller. It's not ergonomic at all. The 360 was good because it had an analog stick in the upper left portion and the directional pad below it. The L2/R2 buttons I hate. I had my worst experience playing FEAR on the PS3. It just didn't work very well at all. Maybe if they oriented the L and R buttons more towards the back on the controller and contoured it to your fingers. The L2/R2 buttons could be more like push-down buttons as opposed to triggers that way. And the L1/R1 could still be plain bumper buttons. The fact that the DualShock3 was Bluetooth and rechargeable just made me a happy person though. There is a lot I liked about it.

MXM motherboard for standardized and interchangeable GPUs. Sure the company can make it propriety if they want as long as I can upgrade my GPU without having to wait for the next generation of consoles. The current consoles GPUs just aren't comparable anymore. With MXM, companies could release multiple levels of consoles too. Instead of the elite version just having a bigger harddrive, the elite version can also now feature a better GPU. Now that I would pay for.

I don't know if that would be a good idea. Maybe there could be, hypothetically, 3 models. A low-end, midrange, and high-end model. The GPU and SSD size and power would be relative to that. Perhaps other features could be left out or added in depending on the model. And you could either order the upgrade parts from the console company, or send it in an have them upgrade certain parts. It's similar to how Apple does business, 'cept more handy people could order the parts for a little less of the cost and put it in themselves.

But that would essentially make it a dedicated gaming PC. In order for the companies to really embrace it, I think they would want to control the hardware that is used.

I would really like to see the Broadband CPU by IBM / Sony get more in on the action. It's an incredibly powerful design very well suited toward driving graphics. Unfortunately it's very tough to program for, almost requiring custom written code to have run smoothly. But I have no doubt in my mind that when it's potential is revealed, it will be a beast. Hopefully, Sony's new devkit will let this happen.

Given the success of the Cell CPU, I would like to see a progression of it for the next console. I don't understand what in the hardware makes it different to code for, but I know that the PS3 required totally different coding because of its unique hardware. For the second generation of the CPU, I think the kind of coding should remain the same.

Watercooling or some kind of improved cooling device. Sony really deserves kudos on the PS3 here. The PS3 has far superior design to the 360 in that it sucks air out from the bottom and lets hot air, that rises, naturally escape from the top of the machine. So a constant flow of fresh, cool air is being driven into the PS3, as long as your PS3 isn't in an enclosed space, by taking advantage of room dynamics. The 360 on the other hand, is just designed like ****. If you don't stand it up vertically, hot air is trapped inside the console, frying your components. If you do stand it up vertically, the drive evidently sucks and destroys your disks. Half the people I know who own 360s have reported having game disks destroyed when playing upright.

I definitely agree. And the feeder disk drive allows the PS3 to stand vertically and not destroy the disks. Something like the LCLC would be great for a console. It's tried and true. It doesn't require replacing the liquid. And it's cheap by today's standards.

But I do think that the PS3 is kinda ugly. I mean...it does look better than the PS2, but it needs a better aesthetic touch. It reminds me of a George Foreman grill, honestly.

Realistically, I think Sony is going to make a cheaper console. They aren't going to push the hardware anymore than they already have. If anything, we'll probably see all the same features, but not much more. Microsoft will probably go with a midrange console again. And Nintendo will make a cheap console. That's basically been their formula for success to this point.