found out as much first-hand in an interview with Sony VP Shuhei Yoshida. According to Yoshida, Sony is only going to introduce new hardware when developers reach the limit of what they can do with the PS3. Off-hand, we can attest at GamePro that most video game developers consider the PlayStation 3 a hassle to program with because of the system's difficult-to-use hardware.

From the interview:

"Looking at the platform cycle, when the platform becomes something game developers are not able to improve their creations with, that's the time we have to really seriously consider shifting to the next generation," Yoshida said.

Game publishers, generally, agree that the introduction of the next generation is not needed. In January THQ core games boss Danny Bilson told Eurogamer the introduction of new hardware now "would be horrible".

A number of developers, however, have told Eurogamer they are reaching the limit of what the current generation can do in terms of technical performance, and would love the opportunity to work with more RAM.