Jan 5, 2008. A new year and here's what we think will happen in the tech world.

In the PC world, the quad core AMD Phenom is finally here to battle the quad core Intel chip. We don't know why they called it Phenom since it doesn't even measure up to the Intel chip, but it's here. This will mean another battle for better looking PC games with realistic physics because the PhysX physics card by AGEIA isn't selling. Hopefully, this will force companies like Microsoft and Sony to make even more powerful consoles.

Microsoft and Sony are already in trouble because Intel has demonstrated an 80-core chip that will make the next consoles by the companies obsolete. This monster chip will be massed produced in five years, which means it will be produced during the prime years of Microsoft's next console.

Sony has some serious problems now that Ken Kutaragi is gone. They may call him crazy, but the guy knows hardware. We expect Sony to follow Microsoft's design of a general purpose multi-core chip unless they can find another hardware guru, but considering the PS3's weakness, which is the overpriced blu-ray player, this will be the last time we see another mass storage attempt by Sony (hopefully).

Speaking of gone executives, Bill Gates will also leave his everyday job at Microsoft in 2008 for just the Chairman position. Basically, he'll be the guy that makes all the big decisions, but not execute anything. Thank you God, because Windows is past being bloated, and in the realm of whale-like.

Another thing gone from Microsoft is Bungie, which has decided to go independent to make more money as a big third party player. Now that the Halo trilogy is complete, it makes sense for them to leave. Or course, there will still be Halo 4, 5, and 6, but it won't have the Bungie name on it. Let's hope Bungie makes some great titles and won't get swallowed up by EA like other companies that go independent.

By the end of 2008, we're going to get a glimpse of the replacement for the 360. You might be saying it's too soon, but the lifespan of the 360 is four years which means 2008 is the third year and 2009 is the last year. With Ken Kutaragi gone, we expect Sony to follow the same pattern. Intel has stated it expects to be selling 8 cores by 2010 so the next consoles will need 8 to 16 cores just to compete.

2008 will be a very interesting year for hardware plans. Microsoft is already working on the next console, but the news from Intel and AMD will change their plans. Sony will need to find a quick replacement for the PS3, which isn't selling very well. We expect much more powerful processors with better software-based physics libraries in the next generation of consoles.