Auron234 said:
So the longer the console is actively strong the better. Makes sense
Right, or so it would seem. You see, for example in Sony's case, it's perfectly reasonable to desire a long lifespan. What this does is allow extreme and further profitability from the same old unit. Whereas entering a new generation is "unproven" even though sometimes presumed. Money will most definitely be on the line at the entrance of a new generation, thanks to the concept of loss-leader-hardware.
HOWEVER, if one is to look at this from Microsoft's viewpoint: their agenda is to gain market share, not to do well with X Box. X Box is a toy. Fake money to be thrown about the virtual marketplace in an attempt to gain the mindshare of users. The same could be said of the 360 or any subsequent hardware, depending on how well it does. From their standpoint, that is to say an extremely rich company which focuses on mindshare for market infiltration, the best line of movement would be to make each generation come about faster. This allows them to do exactly what they are
attempting to do right now. Whether or not that succeeds or not depends on a variety of factors, such as Sony's in house decisions (price, price, price, eck) and other third parties (like Nintendo), not just what Microsoft does or desires.
If Microsoft were to supercede Sony in place of home console popularity, you would probably expect to notice an
increase in the life of Microsoft consoles from that point thereon, as a decrease would, as Sony in the previous "round", possibly be derogatory to their existence whereas the current market is proven.
Tada..

Good?