Xbox 360 here to stay

Are you already fed up with your collection of current-gen consoles? You could be in for a long wait for the next batch of top-flight gaming machines, according to recent comments by Microsoft's entertainment division president Robbie Bach.

As Bach said in an interview with the Mercury News, "The life cycle for this generation of consoles -- and I'm not just talking about Xbox, I'd include Wii and PS3 as well -- is probably going to be a little longer than previous generations."

Conventional wisdom gives game consoles a five-year lifespan before they're replaced by entirely new models, although Microsoft's original Xbox only racked up four. The Xbox 360 itself will mark its fourth birthday this November, so under normal circumstances we'd be expecting to hear Bach dropping hints about its next incarnation any time now.

Not Going Anywhere

But unlike previous years, no console maker seems in a rush to put a period to their current flagship machine. Microsoft has the cheapest machine on the market, and -- if you believe the rumors -- is eyeing further price cuts this year. Sony is also thinking about cuts rather than new products, although perhaps of a rather different kind. Nintendo, of course, seems to be on track to sell a Wii to every household in the developed world by sometime in March, and doesn't exactly have a great deal to gain from changing the game at this point.

Bach also hinted at the effect that global economic woes are having on Microsoft's product development plans. "[Consumers] are going to be more value-conscious. We want to make sure that as the economy does start to recover, that we're positioned well," he told the Mercury News. In other words, who's going to want to launch a new console until the recession's over? Don't pack up your 360 any time soon.

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