Too early to call it as we do not even know any details, Sony got off to a slow start this generation and let Microsoft get ahead. Sony will have learned from their mistakes and Microsoft will have to step up their game if they do not want lose out badly this generation. I think there is enough room for consoles by both manufacturers, obviously one is going to be ultimately more profitable but both could share the market with Nintendo. In fact I hope both do find room because the competition is good for us, if ever there was a monopoly it would be terrible for us gamers.
Microsoft and Sony can be damn lazy and exploitative and take any and every opportunity to screw us and our wallets, as long as both of them are around they have to behave themselves to an extent out of fear of losing to much to the competition. The rumored anti used games feature does not bother me as much as other gamers, I understand why people have a problem with it and I am not dismissive of that. It just doesn't bother me much because I do not buy many console games and usually pick them up new and cheaply from online retailers after they have been out a few months and I do not trade them in.
In terms of the "Durango" itself I would like to see a better UI to begin with because the current 360 dashboard is horrible, to many adds and its to slow and nothing seems in the right place. It is to much to hope for but I would like to see non propitiatory hard drives, Microsofts Xbox drives are overpriced and cost to much per GB and considering how digital distribution is becoming more and more important and games are going to get larger in terms of data size this is going to be important. The PS3 uses standard 2.5" SATA drives and its great when you want to upgrade it, this means you can use a huge selection of standard HDDs or even fit a SSD. I would like to see more USB ports and have them more accessible, the ones on the rear of the super slim 360 are very difficult to use. Only leads and devices the exact width of the USB connector fit. Built in connectivity for wireless headsets would also be nice and other dedicated ports for audio in general, no need for transmitters/USB dongles and things for wireless headsets. Stereo outputs and a mic input for wired headphones/headset would be better, the current super slim only has an optical output and if you use a wired headset you end up with a spaghetti string of wires plugged into AV output lead (which you dont need when using a HDMI) and into the controller. I don't know why neither MS or Sony have built in bluetooth the same for headsets as they do for the controllers.
Service wise Microsoft needs to hang their heads in shame over Xbox Live, not only do Sony offer networked multiplayer for free they have a far superior subscription service thats slightly cheaper. With XBox live gold all you get is the ability to play multiplayer and thats it, you do not even get less adds splattered all over the dashboard or anything. Playstation plus gets you discounts on stuff from all PSN platforms including iOS & Android games, you also get to download full games to play for free. Not any old crap either, stuff thats only been out a few months and big titles like Little Big Planet 2 and Wipeout 2048. You get to play them as long as your subscription is active and the subscription is tied to the account not a device this means you can go and buy a PS3 and a PS Vita, pay once for a 12 month PS+ sub and never have to buy any games for either and play the instant game collection.
I will not be buying either a PS4 or a nextbox early in the generation though, I will wait for the cost to come down and the library of games to grow. Until then the money I might have spent on the consoles and all those extra £10-15s the console games cost will go into my PC budget instead.
