I think the next 3 years are going to be great for console users and developers because the consoles are older and the hardware is aging. It means most devs have caught up with the latest hardware and their games have a good chance to sell well with large install bases. I want this generation to last another 5 years without Sony or MS releasing new hardware.
Actually it's not that simple,you should read this article.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-10-23-hard-numbers-article
Some interesting stuff
NPD fully admits that it is redacting its data because it has shown an ongoing decline - thus causing negative coverage and arguably unwarranted headaches for the industry as a whole.
So NPD has now turned into some gaming industry PR...good numbers(report),bad numbers(hide them,post spin)
Games like GTA,Halo,Mario,Fallout,COD are still selling great,but "middle class" games like(Castlevania,Enslaved,Vanquish,etc) are selling like shit...Castlevania is gone from UK top 40 charts in its second week...and to be in the top 10 UK you only need like 8-10k now...extremely low numbers
People know that they will be able to buy those games at 50% original price in few weeks...so they wait,plenty of other games to play...
Casual shovelware is fine,no problems there.
Btw,I'm talking about games perception among masses,not how good they are.