It's taken its sweet time in coming around, but it looks like this month we're going to finally get our first proper look at the next-generation of consoles.
We'd love to include the Wii U in that statement, but apart from Nintendo's usual flourish in the control department, their innovative new console only just about keeps pace with the current-gen offerings from Sony and Microsoft in so many key respects. That the Wii U has yet to be widely adopted is proof of the relatively small shuffle forward made by Nintendo.
Happily, it now looks like our seven year itch is about to be scratched, and with Sony's press conference just around the corner (February 20th), a first tantalising glimpse of what's in store for us is about to roll over the horizon.
It means we can start genuinely looking forward to the next offerings from the major platform holders, and not just read gossip columns and dream about what might be under the hood of the new machines, whatever they end up being called. Soon we'll be able to stop speculating. Soon we'll know.
As far as the rumours go there's plenty flying around at the moment, and they're too numerous and disparate to call out on an individual basis. Just trawling through the news on Gamereactor will reveal a couple of tasty morsels (whilst we always try to avoid getting too caught up in all the unsubstantiated hype, sometimes that's not always possible) regarding the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft, and on February 20 we'll finally get to see just how close the guesswork actually is/was (at least on Sony's side of the fence).
Let's be realistic though, the rumours already served are likely fairly accurate. Devs have long received their development kits and the pool of people "in the know" grows larger by the day. It's just a case of crossing the T's and dotting the lower case j's, as well counting up the cores and waiting for final confirmation of what speed they're to be clocked at.
But at the end of the day, all of this is just window dressing, this next round of consoles isn't just about RAM, multiple cores and graphical capability. In just a couple of weeks we'll finally start to see how Sony (and later Microsoft) are planning on dominating our living rooms. The process has already started; towards the end of this cycle we saw the introduction of apps that'd try and tie us to our respective consoles. Television channels, social networkng, music and radio; all the things we consume on the various devices dotted around our homes started popping up on our dashboards. It's here that the next round of console wars will be fought. The differences between the hardware will likely be negligible, but the arrangement of the surrounding trimmings will define the next-gen.
It's the importance of apps and social connectivity that inspired Nintendo to come to market with such a (relatively) simple machine. They don't see this generation as being defined by hardware either (although perhaps they've underestimated the importance of processor power - for all the innovation present in the Wii U's Gamepad, it isn't going to stop the console from aging badly), and have basically bet the family silver on this assumption.
Whilst Nintendo has decided to go one way, we can also expect the next Xbox and Playstation to pack a significant punch when it comes to performance. In essence we'll likely be looking at two consoles capable of keeping up with the top-end gaming PCs currently on the market. Not new tech, but certainly more affordable than it is at the moment. Textures will improve, frame rates will rise and, as new screens catch up with these machines (we saw a glimpse of 4K tech at this year's CES), we'll see tangible improvements in terms of visual quality. One exciting word that's been doing the rounds in recent days is "hyperrealisitc". Yes please.
Gaming aside, it's not just music, sport and Facebook that'll feature prominently this time around; the next-gen equivalents of Move and Kinect will be key for Sony and Microsoft as they snipe at Nintendo's casual crown. There's been talk of AR headsets and things like Illumiroom, and it's here we're going to see the most risk taking. For every Blu-Ray there's a HD disc drive just waiting to be forgotten.
Sony and Microsoft have been staring hard at each other for some time now (with occasional glances at Apple and Nintendo in order to keep things fresh), but we can't help but wonder if the main threat to both companies and their next-gen offerings might not come from left field. Android powered consoles are popping up left, right and centre and the charge is being led by everyone's favourite PC studio, Valve. All of the things that the new consoles are aiming to achieve can already be done on PC, so success for the platform holders will come down to accessibility and affordability. It certainly makes for an exciting landscape, full of uncertainty, but plenty of choice.
On February 20 it looks like Sony are going to reveal the next generation of PlayStation to an eager crowd in New York, and if you ask us it's about bloody time. This console generation has gone on far too long, elongated by dropped balls in early hardware iterations and a desire to squeeze every last drop out of the current cycle. It's news likely to cheer retailers desperate for a shot in the arm, and publishers looking for new IPs to launch on an eager public.
In a recent teaser trailer Sony invited us to "see the future" on February 20. This is one invitation that we're more than willing to accept.