14 DAY TRIAL // Console generations come and go, and most of the average consumers have gotten used to this for quite some time, especially after they found that their recently bought PlayStation 2 or Xbox was already being replaced by a new and better product.
But things won't be the same this time around, as the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii are here to stay, at least according to Microsoft executive Robbie Bach, who talked about the console generation with The Mercury News. He went on to say that his company was quite confident in the Xbox 360 and that, despite some nasty rumors, it would continue to back it up with new games and content for quite a while.
“Just coming up with something that's faster and prettier isn't going to be sufficient,” said Bach. “The life cycle for this generation of consoles — and I'm not just talking about Xbox, I'd include Wii and PS3 as well — is probably going to be a little longer than previous generations.” This statement is in tone with the one made by another Microsoft representative, Chris Lewis, who stated that this generation of consoles would be the longest, due to the fact that the systems were very powerful and would remain so for quite some time.
Although this piece of news might be great for those who already bought their consoles and can make sure that they won't replace them with new ones anytime soon, a lot of people might be disappointed. Some were counting on the fact that Microsoft would release another Xbox, presumably the 720, given that the original Xbox had just a 4-year life cycle, which is extremely short, in comparison to the PlayStation 2's 8-year one.
Hopefully Bach's statement means that Microsoft will keep on bringing new and varied content to its console, entertaining gamers for a long while. Until we'll hear any other official reports, let's just put those Xbox 720 or PlayStation 4 rumors to rest.