The Art Of The 8th-Gen Console Prediction With EpicGhosty

On October 21st, 2007, YouTuber Luc Magwood uploaded a video titled “The next gen consoles PS4 XBOX 720, WII 2.” The video, which perfects the classic early-YouTube Windows Movie Maker format over Drowning Pool’s nu-metal banger “All Over Me,” consists of a number of supposed images of the then-upcoming 8th generation of consoles (the successors to the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii) and grammatically questionable text-blocks making various predictions about the upcoming consoles.

Interestingly, some of Magwood’s predictions came at least partially true. He correctly managed to predict that the “Xbox 720” would use a motion-tracking camera (the Kinect, although not built-in and arguably not a success) and that the “Super Wii” or “Wii2” would look like a Wii on its side (which the Wii U kind of does). Also, he correctly guessed the name "PS4," but that one was kind of obvious. At the end of the video, Magwood hints that Apple is getting into the gaming market too and that they might even kill one of the big three companies (like those companies did to SEGA). That one didn’t end up coming true, but hey, you can’t win ‘em all.

Magwood’s prediction video is one of many that came out prior to the 2011 reveal of the Wii U and 2013 reveal of the Xbox One and PS4. Fourteen years later, and the videos haven’t held up well in any traditional sense, but have aged like fine wine in a comedic sense. Magwood’s video has collected over 3 million views in that time and acts as the starting point for the whole subgenre of console prediction slideshows.

Over a decade later, these videos remain on YouTube, and despite their age, they haven’t collected much digital dust. Instead, they continue to gain views and fans, and are the continued subject of parody, showing something more than a simple outdated 8th-gen console prediction.

In 2008, mratomdude, whose real name is Christian Graham, uploaded a very similar video (seen below) to Magwood’s, this one featuring Drowning Pool’s memorable song “Let The Bodies Hit The Floor,” and showing an even more unforgiving flurry of 8th-gen console images.

Beyond the staple PS4 and Xbox 720 offerings, mratomdude also predicts a number of offerings from Apple, including the "iPhone 2" and "i box," a console clearly infringing on Microsoft’s Xbox. From Nintendo, they predict the “Wii Phone,” which basically looks like a cordless landline phone with a screen and Wiimote buttons, a virtual reality headset called "Nintendo On," and the "Gameboy Omega," some bizarre, snap-apart Gameboy that kind of resembles the Switch if you squint hard enough and use your imagination.

This is the most popular 8th gen console prediction video, with a whopping 5.6 million views and counting. Even stranger, the video is still getting recommended by the YouTube algorithm as of 2021, according to the consistently fresh comments section, which is filled with confusion and jokes about the video. Stumbling on this without any context in 2021, many first think it’s a master shitpost, but Graham, who now works on the Fortnite team at Epic Games, insists to us that’s not the case over Twitter DM.

“A lot of people think the video was made as a ‘meme’ or a ‘shitpost,’ but it was 100% made in earnest. I was around 12 years old at the time, and I remember wanting to make a ‘next-gen console video’ ahead of E3 2008. I was hoping the video might get more views with people looking up E3 videos and predictions. I remember stumbling onto a lot of these ‘next-gen console concept pictures’ through Google Images, but at the time I thought they were 100% real. I didn’t quite grasp the idea that these were ‘concepts’ that someone had drawn or modeled. I thought I had found legitimate prototype video game consoles that might actually be shown at E3 2008.”

Being a 12-year-old boy and stumbling upon what must have seemed like buried treasure, Graham did what any young gamer would do: he opened Windows Movie Maker and got to work, eager to spread the word.

“What a lot of people don’t know is that the original audio on that video was ‘Kryptonite’ by 3 Doors Down, but it got copyright claimed way back in the day. I’m not sure if you can still do this now, but back in the day when your video got copyright claimed YouTube let you replace the music with a selection of preapproved music from different record labels. One of those tracks was ‘Let the Bodies Hit the Floor” from UMG (Universal Music Group) – which I selected, but was never able to monetize that video.”

Glancing through the comments, you’ll find a lot of nostalgic re-watchers and newcomers alike agreeing that the video comes off as a top-tier shitpost in 2021. Every prediction seems patently insane now that we’ve lived through the 8th generation of consoles, but some are so close to being real that they’ve only become funnier, like the Gameboy Omega and the “Final PS4” being nothing but a white internet router, an object many people compared the latest PS5 to only months ago. These hardly correct predictions play a big part in the video’s success over the countless other 8th-gen console prediction videos that followed it.

Another key factor in the successful aging of Magwood and Graham’s videos is how far from the actual launch of the 8th-gen consoles they were. The 7th generation was still going strong when these videos came out: the 360, PS3, and Wii were all released between 2005 and 2006, and these videos were released in 2007 and 2008. Most of the major hits for each 7th gen consoles hadn’t even come out yet, and the hype around their systems was still very real.

Gamers aren’t exactly known for their patience though, as proven by the whole phenomenon of fan concept art to begin with. They’re always looking forward to the next big leap in graphics or gameplay, and they’re always trying to guess what the next step might look like.

What’s more, the jump from 7th to 8th gen held a lot of promise in gamers’ heads. Each prior jump had been astronomical as well. In the span of little more than a decade, we went from the N64 to the PS3, offering numerous obvious improvements from graphics to online capability. Considering this, I asked Christian what the initial reception to the video was like.

“I think it got 400-500 views in the first year or so. By 2014 I remember it had nearly 40k-50k which was crazy! I checked it, probably 2016 or so, and it had over a million It’s really skyrocketed in the last three years […] I don’t remember people liking it [at the time], and a lot of people thought it was dumb because it was just pictures set to music. But sometime in the last 4-5 years, people started to like it. I think reception on the video changed because people stopped watching it for its intended purpose of ‘facts/news’ and started watching it as a time capsule of early YouTube. Which it certainly is.”

It’s interesting to note that Graham’s video was mostly hated when it first dropped and only became popular shortly after the 8th generation of consoles came out. The video was a joke in waiting that nobody could understand until shitposting became a more well-known phenomenon. As an informative piece of content, as 12-year-old Graham intended it to be, the video is straight-up fake news and was rightfully downvoted. But with the passage of time making the video moot and vanishing all context, the video has taken on a beautiful new meaning to viewers new and old, the latter of which can enjoy it from pre-shitpost- and post-shitpost-era lenses.

Gamers still make console prediction videos to this day, but they’re much more transparent. The internet has come a long way since 2007, especially in detecting and calling out fake news, and honest attempts at console predictions have just never been as exciting or hilarious as the eighth generation’s when a little bit of DeviantArt concept art could result in a 5-million-plus-viewed shitpost masterpiece. These days, console predictions are met with more than a few grains of salt when they pop up. Videos like Graham’s have helped us adjust our BS detectors to do just that, and we’re all better off for it.

You can follow Christian Graham on Twitter @EpicGhostly.

---

Meme Insider is a Know Your Meme publication and the world's leading internet culture magazine. Find out how to get your first print copy for free, and check out the Meme Insider website for more info.