The gaming industry is an ever-changing one, thanks to companies that always want to gain the upper hand on their rivals and introduce new and exciting things just so they can get the customer's attention and, of course, money.

In an effort to shed some light on what things might happen in the next few years, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter talked with GameSpot and offered his insight on the plans regarding the next generation of consoles and the HD upgrade of the Nintendo Wii.

“We do not expect the 'next' generation to begin before 2013, if at all,” Pachter said, referring to the On Live cloud gaming concept that, if everything works out, might eradicate the need for other platforms. “We remain convinced that the publishers will resist the introduction of any video game hardware technology that requires a refresh of software, as the publishers have as yet to capitalize on the immense investments made in being competitive in the current cycle. We therefore think it is likely that the 'next' generation will begin after 2013, meaning that software sales are likely to grow by a compounded annual rate of 6-10 percent for another five years.”

Pachter then tackled the subject of an upgrade to the Wii, made by Nintendo, which would render its hardware on par with what its main competitors, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, have today. He said that next year we would see the “the long-rumored high-definition Wii, which is likely to upgrade the Wii to current console technology.”

So there you have it, straight from one of the most respected analysts in the gaming industry. We've already heard quite a lot of people talk about the next generation of consoles, but it is still quite far away in the opinion of a lot of them, so you'd better buy a console these days.