which non-M$/sony/nintendo company will be next to release a console?

suggest ban for all mentions of apple

Virgin

Phantom

Lidl

Cape of Good Hope

gazprom

rsc

Mr. Coffee

the Daily Mail

the Vatican - the controller's D-pad is shaped like a crucifix...

prada.

Hammond

BOB

serious answer: I don't think there will be another major console released, because none of the big three are in a weak enough position to be usurped by a newcomer. And the console market seems to be mostly split between three major players, with a ton of smaller console manufacturers fighting over the rest.

2nd gen: Atari, Coleco, Mattel
3rd gen: Atari (7800), Nintendo (NES), Sega (SMS)
4th gen: Nintendo (SNES), Sega (MD/Gen), maybe SNK? (we were starting to get into serious PC gaming by now)
5th gen: Nintendo (N64), Sega (Saturn), Sony (PS) (Atari fall behind with the Jaguar)
6th gen: Nintendo (GC), Microsoft (XBox), Sony (PS2) (Sega fall behind with the Dreamcast)
7th gen: Nintendo (Wii), Microsoft (360), Sony (PS3)

None of the current big three show real signs of weakening. And the time and cost of developing a new console today means that there isn't going to be a new company suddenly entering the market like Coleco or Mattel did.

I actually think Apple is a pretty strong contender. What if they put out an iPhone Gaming Edition or some such thing?

sb

Well portables is one area where things could be a lot more wide open, but only if manufacturers start really taking it seriously. I don't know why Apple don't push the gaming side of the iPhone/iTouch a lot more.

And the mobile phone companies aren't pushing games anywhere like as much as they did a few years ago. Maybe after the failure of N-Gage and the success of the DS, other firms are waiting for someone else to make a move first?

Anyone who could bring "casual gaming" like Bejeweled or even fucking Uno to tv gaming w/o buying an expensive console like a 360 could make it---maybe even a tv manufacturer like Philips who could build it into the tv? Because even with low cost games, if you control distribution channels you can deliver these digitally at low cost and puff up your margins. All people would have to buy would be a controller (could even be the remote control). I expect the suggest-bannable-company will try to push into this market too.

Sky do this in the UK but I've never really tried them, they look a bit shit. The UK iPhone ads seem to be pushing the games side I think but I don't pay a lot of attention.

The iPhone ads are just "hay u can play games on ur iPhone", but aren't specific as to actual titles. In comparison with the DS ads which are always centred on a specific game rather than the DS itself.

I think that most other companies are assuming that Nintendo has portable gaming wrapped up with the DS. So instead of competing against Nintendo, they're concentrating on the "casual gamer" market. But I don't believe that such a group of people really exists. Because if you play games, then you're a gamer. There are people who don't play that often, but that's not the same thing as "casual gamers". It seems basically to be a marketing niche that's been invented mainly because it allows companies to fool themselves into thinking that they're big players in the games market. They can hire some developers cheaply, get them to turn out a game in a few weeks, and then market that game ("you can drive a SUV around the place by tilting your iPhone!!!") to a group of people who don't exist.

My wife and my mother are casual gamers, I think. They play games like Hexic and Bejeweled and Spades and that's all. They'd never bother with an AAA title that costs $60.