"It will have more power than 360 does today, with technology like Kinect built right in. Imagine walking into a bar with some friends, propping it up on the table and playing games like Dance Central or Kinect Adventures anywhere you go. Then when you get home that same device will use technology like AirPlay or wireless HDMI to connect to your big screen, you'll pick up a wireless controller, or use your phone as controller to play games like Gears of War."

Rein, whose company's Unreal Engine 3 is the bedrock technology to hundreds of 360, PS3 and PC games, said there's no stopping the momentum of mobile gaming. Epic is currently building a mobile version of Unreal engine 3 for iOS devices. It recently released a mobile tech demo, Epic Citadel, on the App Store - a free application which demonstrates how graphics quality in mobile devices has already surpassed last-gen home consoles. But crucially, said Rein, the rapid increase of mobile hardware sophistication will soon reach that of today's home consoles. He said Epic games, as a future-technology focused company, should build on this.

"A lot of gaming is going mobile and I believe that console-style gaming is going there as well," Rein said. "It feels like there's a great opportunity for game consoles to cease to be something you plug into the wall and rather become something you take with you. Of course it will be more than just your game console; you can have your productivity apps, your documents, and your media collections on it as well."