When does 'next-gen' become 'current-gen'?

[SuperLuigiBros]

Simple question...perhaps a not-so-simple answer.

There are a few possible outcomes that I can think of...

1. We are there now. The first next-gen console - the Xbox 360 - is out and thus we are now in the next generation of gaming.

2. It will happen when the next console arrives, making the ratio of next gen consoles realsed to next gen consoles not released 2:1. (I think the PS3 is coming out before the Wii, so that and the 360 will be out and we'll be waiting for the Wii).

3. Only after all three next-gen consoles are released will we refer to the 'next-gen' as current gen, and demote 'next-next-gen' to the simple yet, once again, more exciting 'next-gen'.


I suspect it will be a combination of 2 and 3. We (I) still refer to now as current gen and next gen (360, PS3, Wii) as next gen. The release of the next console will start the gradual change, but even when the last console is released I think we will still be getting used to current gen.

Maybe we'll only start calling it current gen when we start hearing things about the next-next-gen, but thats probably the most extreme case.

Which generation are you living in, and when did/will it change?

[the poe collector]

I believe that next-gen will be current-gen only after all three systems are out

I am living in the current gen, because I still play my gamecube, ps2, and xbox regularly

[Ethan]

We're in mid-gen.

I still play my SNES regularly. Is that current-gen?

[gljvd]

Na.

Next gen has been current gen since Nov 2005.

However marketing people will continue to call it next gen untill the early adopters and those who most likely read at ign and other online sites start to move over in mass , which will be in mid 2007 , So i'd say 2007 is when the marketing switches to current gen

[venomv]

I say when 2 of the 3 have launched.

[Boggy700]

When does 'next-gen' become 'current-gen'?

When does the future become the present?

When it happens.

And as soon as it happens, it immediately becomes the past.

The future is only the future while it hasn't yet happened.

The present is anything that is currently occurring in the instant we are experiencing, in which we exist.

So I would say that a console is only "next-gen" when it hasn't yet been released.
The XBox360 is this-gen because it isn't the next generation of Microsoft consoles, and it certainly isnt the previous generation either.
To say I am waiting to buy the "next" Microsoft console is to disregard the 360.
(As far as that sentence is concerned anyway.)
To say that I am waiting to buy the "current" Microsoft console is to refer to the 360.
To say that I am waiting to buy the "previous" Microsoft console is to refer to the original XBox.


I... am sorry.

[Phoenix]

When the Wii and the PS3 are out.

[Shade Valkyrie]

1. We are there now. The first next-gen console - the Xbox 360 - is out and thus we are now in the next generation of gaming.

I go for this one, partly at least. When I refer to Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii together I refer to it as the current generation, if I just refer to a console individually, for example the Wii, then I use it's current situation which is Next-gen.

Personally I don't think there is any right or wrong answer on this question though.

[venomv]

Personally I don't think there is any right or wrong answer on this question though.

I second that.

[BahnNZ]

Walk into a games shop and 9/10s of it is Xbox, PS2 and Gamecube.

I'd say November 2007 before next gen really takes hold.

[koten]

When 90% of games are released for the next-gen consoles, then it will be current gen. As it stands now, far more games are being put out for PS2 than Xbox 360, so obviously, that hasn't happened yet.

[gljvd]

Yes but on the same token allmost all of the big devs have moved onto new platforms.

The only big games are the ones that are behind schedual or from smaller devs (Save a ff i think and gow 2)