Xbox 2 - the Arrogance of Gaijin

Slashdot reports that Microsoft will release XBox 2 later this year.

Rushing the next generation is a risky move. Not only does Microsoft risk being slammed by PS3 looking better than XBox2 when it's released, but they risk alienating the XBox1 market by pushing them to upgrade before the console has reached maturity (and I'm sure they will push).

XBox1 games -- such as MechWarrior2 are just starting to test the limits of the XBox capabilities. Sony realises how to pace their machines -- letting developers make the most of the console, exhausting it, and then releasing the next. Even still, they've supported and released new games for PSone (which has only recently penetrated markets like India).

The 2-3 year timeline is still a bit fast at that. Loz and I often reminisce about how at the end of the 6-8 year reign of the Atari 2600 and Apple II -- games came out that were unimagineable at the start. On the Apple II, developers learned to push the limits of the extremely primitive sound capabilities and make amazing music in Bruce Lee.

I hope Microsoft fails in this experiment to "blow by Sony" because if not we'll be looking at a new console every year.

Besides, and console-maker knows the profit is not in the hardware, but in the games -- perhaps why European Nintendo MD questioned if their motive was profit.