I was thinking about this on the way to work the other day. It's not really overly interesting or intriguing, but it made me think non the less. With consumer trends as they are at the moment, what colour are we going to see the Next Gen consoles in? I would say silver, to match the many similar coloured TV's, DVD Players and other various home theatre equipment.
When you look at the current consoles, the PS2 is black, the Xbox is black and the Gamecube is purple (yes, I don't know either). However each manufacturer has produced other colours of their console. Though in the Western World non can claim as many colours as Microsoft. It seems that they have to produce a new colour of their beloved Xbox with each promotion they do. Now this isn't a bad thing. So far I think I've seen, Green, Clear Green, Crystal and Silver, so you have a few choices and I'm sure I have missed some others. I don't mind black, it goes with all my other gear and looks fine. The thing is these other colours are only around for a limited time, and though you might not want a clear green Xbox, a silver one would be quite nice. Also in Japan Microsoft have produced a large range of colours for the Xbox that I can only assume is to try and gain more interest in their product.
Now with Sony, they have currently released a phenomenal range of colours for the PS2 in Japan. This isn't anything new in Japan though, as the Gamecube enjoys as many variations to it's colour scheme also. There are so many variation to the colour of the PS2 in Japan it just makes the mind boggle. The strange thing is the only other main stream colour I can rammer being released in Australia is Silver. I'm pretty sure the US may of had other colour as well, I kind of recall something similar to the picture above.
The only company to offer a multitude of colours in their console at launch is Nintendo, with their Purple, Black and Orange Gamecube. Though these days I rarely see anything other than the Purple one. Also in Australia I'm fairly sure we didn't get the Silver model.
I don't think I have ever seem so many variation to a product, ever. Either way I digress.
Back to my original thought regarding new console colours, I would have to go with something that's sleek and sexy, probably silver. Something like the current Sony PSX (their hybrid PS2/DVD Recorder). I'm sure we will still enjoy a myriad of colours from attention starved console manufacturers. However, I can only assume that companies like Sony and Microsoft who are trying to make their Next Gen consoles more Home Theatre integrated and become more of a main feature in the Home Entertainment realm with want the console to match all the current displays people are buying. This being things like plasma screens, the new LCD TV ranges that are appearing, silver coloured TVs and also a lot of other silver coloured appliances.
