That's the claim coming from a digital marketing company which insists that there is no innovation on consoles and as such, they are working on borrowed time. The company, known as Clickz, is claiming that the PS3, Xbox 360 and even the Wii are a "giant step backwards."

"We are entering a future that many in the game industry are still denying and fighting against. We are watching the icon of gaming, the console, quickly and ungraciously bow to the Internet," claims Clickz on its Web site. "As difficult as it may be to lose our cultural icon of game play, we must. Gaming is undergoing a major transition.

"Those who have spent time in the game industry are very familiar with the five-year cycle. Every five years, console manufacturers release the next-generation systems. Historically, we have embraced the console's definitions of next-generation gaming and quickly adapted. But this time, the cycle is much different: the consoles are facing competition and extinction.

"Don't you see the innovation, the rich graphics, the evolution that Xbox 360, PS3 and the Wii are facilitating? I can't either. Arguably, the consoles have taken a giant leap backwards."

The rather arrogant and smug prophecy goes on and on and on, but the basic message is that consoles will die, while the online games with which Clickz deals shall live forever. Apparently, nobody wants to to switch off their computer and go play a console game, despite the fact that console games are still able to sell millions and rake in a ridiculous amount of cash each year.

If consoles are rendered extinct by "casual" crap like Second Life, I will eat my own trachea in amazement. That is simply not going to happen.