Idealty's Domain: Let's Talk Tech

     Now that Nintendo has jumped the gun and announced their next generation game console called the Wii U, there is a ton of speculation as to when Sony and Microsoft will follow with their next gen systems. In past console generations, the average time of a console cycle was about 4-5 years. This does not mean that in 4-5 years a system would stop being manufactured and disappear. Rather this means that there was typically a gap of 4-5 years between new consoles from the same company even if they would sell concurrently for some time (i.e PS1 -> PS2, SNES -> N64). This fall, the Xbox 360 and PS3 will be 6 and 5 years old respectively which is well past that established life cycle. Yet, both the PS3 and Xbox360 are still enjoying healthy worldwide sales, have plenty of games coming in the next 12-18 months, and still have not reached the magical price point of $199 (max price for all Skus) which is traditionally when most systems see their large...

After several months of speculation, Sony finally confirmed the successor to the PSP (PlayStation Portable) codenamed NGP (Next Generation Portable) in January 2011. Later at E3 2011, Sony confirmed that the final name of the device will be PS Vita ("Vita" is Latin for "life"). The new handheld will be a powerful one, featuring a Quad-core ARM CPU and PowerVR graphics processor generating near PS3 quality graphics. It also features a camera, 6-axis motion controls, front multi-touch screen with a rear touch pad, dual analog sticks, Wi-Fi and 3G all for the amazingly price of only $249/$299 (non 3G/3G model). That is the same price as the recently released Nintendo 3DS but with much better technology and some intriguing games in the initial lineup. Could the PS Vita be the slam dunk Sony hoped for with the PSP and finally dethrone Nintendo's lock on the handheld market? Like the PSP But Better While Nintendo has taken the approach of creating unique handhel...