With the holiday season come and gone all the players are out now.  Every next gen system has been released and each (by which I mean all, yes ALL) has had a successful launch.  HD compatablity and online play are definatly playing a big role in this new console war, but what does the future have in store?  Graphics have pretty much come to where they can go, the only next step would be photo realism, but after that there's nothing else.  Yeah, they're gonna get fast and more powerful, but if you put a new graphics card and more memory into your computer that doesn't make it a new computer, its still the same thing, just with new parts.  Console makers are going to run themselves into a corner if they don't com upi with some truly next gen features to their future consoles. 
    The Xbox360 is basiclly just a suped up Xbox!  Yes, it is an impovement and Xbox Live is fantastic, but Microsoft can't keep doing that for the next console, other wise there wont be any progress.  The PS3 may be the fastest thing with a microchip, but if Sony doesn't come out with a killer app to prove this, whats the point?  Sony went near bankrupt making enough Cell processors for the system, let alone the Blu-Ray DVD functions.  They tried to be "innovative" with the Sixaxis, but that was just a copy of the Wii-mote.  Nintendo has is the only legitamate upgrade from its previous console.  The Wii-mote is a new way to play games! Period!  Microsoft and Sony are still using the tried and true formula, nothing wrong with that (don't fix whats not broken!), but Nintendo is at least trying something new.  But its not perfect.  The Virtual Console is good, but its just a different way to say Xbox Live.  And besides, Nintendo can't rely on their old stuff to sell product, but thats what they do.  One of the top reasons the Wii sold was Zelda as a launch title; it was smart, but the result wasn't surprising either. 
    I think the saying goes "Each general fights the previous war."  Well, we need to stop looking at what the enemy had last year, and look at what the enemy will have next year.  Step it up guys!