Now that we are hearing that Microsoft and Sony are likely planning an announcement ahead of GDC in March, it stands to reason that we are starting to ferret out what it is going to cost the consumer. In discussions with our sources, the news isn’t good. Most that we talk with agree that the low-end version of the new consoles is very likely to cost between $350 to $400, with an upgraded or full-featured model to be north of $500.

The prices are not really that shocking when you look at where we have been in the past with the pricing of new consoles. The PlayStation 3 first arrived with price points of $499 and $599, which made the Xbox 360 with a 20GB hard drive at $399 (that was released ahead of the PlayStation 3) a steal from a price stand point.

Our sources claim that the PlayStation 4 will arrive in October, with the Xbox 720 to follow with a November release. The PlayStation 4 is said to be built using a number of off-the-shelf, high-end PC components. The Xbox 720 components, on the other hand, are a bit more unknown, with some sources claiming that they will be moving from IBM to an Intel-sourced chip this time around. Neither company is said to be investing crazy amounts of money in custom-designed chips.

We have heard so much conflicting information regarding this new generation of console hardware with claims from people being in the know as to what these two companies have planned; we just find it very hard to believe that we have waited this long for a console that is basically a super high-end PC. No question, it would be possible to show some great next generation results over the current consoles of today. We just don’t know if that is enough console innovation for tomorrow.