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In the history of video games, the eighth generation includes consoles released since by Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony Computer Entertainment. For home consoles, the eighth generation began on November 18, 2012 with the release of the Wii U, and continued with the release of the PlayStation 4 on November 15, 2013, and Xbox One on November 22, 2013. These video game consoles follow the seventh generation: Sony's PlayStation 3, Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360. For video game handhelds, the generation began in February 2011 with the release of the Nintendo 3DS, successor to the Nintendo DS, in Japan, followed by a North American and European release in March. Nintendo released the New Nintendo 3DS XL in North America on February 13, 2015.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=What is New Nintendo 3DS? )〕 The successor of the PlayStation Portable, the PlayStation Vita, was released in Japan in December 2011, and in Western markets in February 2012. The generation was predicted to face competition from smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Mobile Gaming is Dominating the Gaming Industry )〕 Due to the proliferation of these devices, some analysts speculate the eighth generation to be the last generation of home consoles. In 2013, gaming revenue on Android overtook portable game console revenue, while remaining a distant second to iOS gaming revenue.〔(【引用サイトリンク】author=App Annie, IDC )〕 In FY 2013 (ending early 2013), Nintendo sold 23.7 million consoles, while Apple sold 58.2 million iPads in FY 2012 (ending late 2012).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Apple Hardware Sales In FY 2012: 125.04M iPhones, 58.23M iPads, 18.1M Macs And 35.2M iPods )〕 All three of the eighth generation home consoles use AMD GPUs, and two of them use AMD CPUs. Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony were not aware that they were all using AMD processors until all their consoles were announced. Both AMD and Nvidia are optimistic for the PC market, as the unified CPU/GPU processors in the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One use the same x86 programming architecture found in PCs, with AMD planning to introduce similar processors to desktop and laptop PCs in the near future.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=The Verge )〕 Nvidia claims that game consoles will no longer be able to compete with PC graphics due to massive R&D funding by Nvidia and AMD, and stricter size and power requirements of consoles.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Nvidia Interview: The Sky Isn’t Falling )〕 The multimillion-dollar pre-sale success of Ouya, an Android-based microconsole initially founded through crowdfunding has raised open-source development and the free-to-play model as key issues to be addressed by eighth generation consoles. The microconsoles like Nvidia Shield Console, MOJO, Razer Switchblade, GamePop, GameStick, Ouya, and PC-based Steam Machine consoles are attempting to compete in this market; however these are seldom referred to as "eighth generation" consoles or even as "seventh generation" consoles. == Transition == Though prior console generations have normally occurred in five to six-year cycles, the transition from seventh to eighth generation has lasted more than six years.〔 The transition is also unusual in that the prior generation's best-selling unit, the Wii, is the first to be replaced in the eighth generation.〔 In 2011, Microsoft had stated they began looking at their next console, but they, along with Sony, considered themselves only halfway through a ten-year lifecycle for their seventh-generation offerings.〔 Interview with Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America.〕 Sony and Microsoft representatives have stated that the addition of motion controllers and camera-based controllers like Kinect and PlayStation Move have extended these systems' lifetimes.〔 "The Xbox 360's recently unveiled motion control technology will help extend the console's life span into 2015, according to Microsoft executive Shane Kim."〕 Nintendo president Satoru Iwata had stated that his company would be releasing the Wii U due to declining sales of seventh generation home consoles and that "the market is now waiting for a new proposal for home consoles". Sony considered making its next console a digital download only machine, but decided against it due to concerns about the inconsistency of internet speeds available globally, especially in developing countries. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Eighth generation of video game consoles」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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