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Hello, inter-dimensional time travelers! Welcome to the future! Please remember that failure to comply with the laws of Our Supreme Overlord will result in free cake, followed by death via an unstationary scaffold.

Okay, so perhaps we're not quite in that future just yet! But we are in another future-- the next generation of video game consoles.

It's pretty exciting, to say the least. We've played the heck out of our 360s, PS3s and Wiis, for at least seven years. We've stomped goombas in space, fought deranged addicts in an underwater city, and recently, traveled across America with a twelve-year old girl while surviving yet another zombie apocalypse.

We've been around. And now,we're straddling the fence between generations; trying to get as much out of the current gen as possible while anticipating the next technologies to grace our televisions.

And tomorrow at E3 2013,and throughout the week, the next generation will truly reveal itself.

Already, people are betting their money on their system of choice.

Right now, the Xbox One has just over 2.4 percent of the preorders that the Playstation 4 does, which I guess makes it the leader of the next generation so far, right? Some analysts, on the other hand, are already dooming the system to be a failure due to it's strict online requirements and seemingly-unfair used game restrictions.

The Playstation 4, while extremely similar to the new Xbox, could also be incredibly different. As of today, none of the controversial "features" on the new Xbox are present on Sony's device, or if they are they haven't been formally announced.

Both of those platforms have immense horsepower, and are set up for tons of exclusives. And then we have the Wii U, which, unfortunately has neither. Yet.

While the Xbox One and PS4 are both in a great position, much like their predecessors, the Wii U, well, isn't. It's not revolutionary towards the gaming industry, or at least not significantly. It doesn't have any really strong exclusives that are Killer Apps, and has had little support from third parties. I'm not saying to count it out just yet, because Nintendo will certainly have plenty of 1st party titles in the pipeline, but as of right now, it's the elephant in the room; it's around, but nobody knows how to deal with it.

But do you know what I think? I don't think any of it matters. The console wars. The criticism. None of it.

What really matters right now is mobile gaming.

Now before you go off on some wild tangent, let me explain. I'm not saying that home consoles aren't important or good quality or cool or whatever. They are. But right now, your iPhone and iPad are more important.

Mobile platforms such as smartphones and tablets are very appealing to developers. For small teams just starting out, the App Store or Android Marketplace is a great place to share your ideas and coding prowess with little to no risk. For major publishers such as EA, it's an opportunity to experiment with new technologies, rake in tons of cash through in-app purchases, and try to make franchises appeal to a. larger audience.

The games are accessible. On the road and need something to do? Download Angry Birds or Cut the Rope. Want a full-fledged retail game but are sitting at the airport or on a bus? Pick up a new Dead Space experience for less then 10 bucks. There's tons of choices, and many are under a dollar to purchase, or even free.

It's cheaper for developers, too. Publishing behemoths can use all of their fancy programs, sure, but indie developers can use Unity or a cheap open-source platform to work on.

It's clear to see why this is so appealing, right?

You can even get console quality titles. Why pay sixty bucks for Dark Souls when you can download Infinity Blade, a beautiful RPG, for less than 10 percent of that?

Hell, remember when you could only play Snake or brick-breaker on your old dinosaur of a cell phone? Well now you can play Grand Theft Auto on a device thinner than your wallet.

So if we have all of this, where does console gaming fit in? If the new Deus Ex: The Fall game on iOS is as immersive and full-fledged as the developers claim, then home consoles could gave a hard time selling their flashy new boxes.
-journey