It's probably going to be more than 5-7 years this time around. Neither Sony nor Microsoft want to go through another round of big losses any time soon. I have

It's probably going to be more than 5-7 years this time around. Neither Sony nor Microsoft want to go through another round of big losses any time soon. I have no inside knowledge of our next console plans, but I can tell you that it certainly feels like Natal is that next "console" for us as far as investments go. Sony has publicly said that they intend the PS3 to last a full decade or more. Furthermore, graphical capabilities have just gotten to a point where the game developers are begging the hardware producers to stop for a while. They simply can't afford the art costs to do anything higher definition than they already are. Sure, the devs would like some extra CPU cycles. And the designers would love a faster medium to remove loading restrictions. And the list of wants and asks will never be satisfied. But making AAA games cost boatloads of money. Every new console is a new burden on developers and they have spoken, loudly.