GameStop Believes Only One Next-Gen Console Is Coming Next Year, Pachter Says It's PS4

I don't care which one comes first, because I have the feeling that neither of them are going to live up to my expectations.

My expectations are pretty modest also. The PS3/360 generation hasn't been looking good for either of them. They've both failed to make a net profit on their systems, and over a hundred game developers went out of business because of the high cost of developing HD games. I really doubt MS and Sony are dumb enough to push the envelope two generations in a row after it backfired on them so badly this time. I think the next generation is going to be a battle of features rather than power.

It may have been a different story had the economy not been so garbage, not the main problem but you can't disregard its impact.

True, that certainly had an impact, but the impact was to exacerbate the problems that were already there. When the PS3 launched, the economy was still good enough not to discourage shopping, but the $600 price tag was still too high for most people. And the 360 had the Red Ring of Death debacle which, at first, MS refused to even acknowledge, let alone resolve. Both of those moves really hurt both companies' brands and cost them a ton of money. And while both the PS3 and the 360 are profitable now, the profit they've earned so far hasn't even come close to filling in the holes they dug for themselves in the first couple of years after launch.

Launching a new system in the spring is a bad move. Not only is that almost always a low sales time for video games, it also means skipping the huge buying season that goes from about Thanksgiving to about New Year. I find it hard to believe that MS would make that mistake.

You are right... therefor only sony would be dumb enough to do something like that. My money is on the PS4 (the bet, not the console itself).

i agree that THANKSGIVING - NEW YEAR is a huge buying season but...
you fail to remember 1 important fact...
most people get large income tax returns in the spring, & from what ive seen most also splurge on things they've been wanting when they get their return...

so while nov - dec is a huge buying season, people are more likely to have extra money in the spring after tax returns...

That may be, but it still tends to be a slow time for video game sales. That was part of the problem with the 3DS launch, for example. It wasn't just the $250 price tag, it was also the spring release date.

If the graphics match that of BF3 at launch, everything is fine in that department.

I just want better games.

isn't microsoft using a very dated gpu in their new console? i guess they're going for the vintage style when they launch it in two years

I just want the PS4/720 to be able to run games that are equivalent today at 1080p and 60fps.