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Eurogamer: New Xbox & PlayStation 4: What to Expect



 
 
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Old August 2nd 11, 04:28 AM posted to alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati,alt.comp.hardware.amd.x86-64,alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video
Natas MacGregor
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Default Eurogamer: New Xbox & PlayStation 4: What to Expect

On Jul 20, 10:44*am, parallax-scroll wrote:
Video game graphics achieved using the DirectX 11 standard provide a
solid indication of the visual power of the next Xbox and PlayStation,
Eurogamer has been told.

Eurogamer has also been told that visuals on a par with Hollywood
blockbuster movie Avatar are a genuine possibility on the next
generation of consoles =96 a claim first made by graphics technology
company AMD and now backed up by video game developers.

As part of an investigation into the next generation of home consoles,
Eurogamer has learnt from developers what gamers can expect from the
next Xbox and the PlayStation 4.

"It's going to depend a lot on when Sony and Microsoft decide is the
right moment to announce and launch things," Crytek UK principal
programmer Pete Hall tells Eurogamer, "but it does feel at the moment
that the hardware we get in next generation consoles will be about the
sort of level that DX11 is at - that's where it currently looks like
it's going."

Crytek, creator of game engine CryEngine 3, recently added DirectX 11
support to the PC version of first-person shooter Crysis 2, prompting
some suggestions that it makes the sci-fi first-person shooter look so
good that it provides a glimpse into the next generation.

But Crytek, rumoured to be making TimeSplitters 4 for Microsoft and
Sony's next consoles, reckons better visuals are possible.

"The DX11 support for Crysis 2 was planned quite early on, but while
it was being implemented, we were discovering things about the
production methods we'd use," Mark Tully, Crytek lead programmer,
adds, "If we'd done it slightly differently, we could have achieved
even higher results. Those learnings will be going into future Crytek
projects. The authoring processes will be able to still target the
consoles, but be able to produce even higher results on DX11 than what
we were able to achieve with Crysis 2.

"That in itself is exciting."

Earlier this year Epic released the Samaritan tech demo =96 a real-
time
video designed to provide a glimpse into what the next generation of
consoles will be capable of. But is Samaritan a realistic expectation
for the next-generation? Will we really see graphics on that level?
Mark Rein, co-founder of Gears of War and Unreal Engine maker Epic
Games, says the answer is a definite yes.

"It is already possible on PCs today albeit very high end ones," he
tells Eurogamer. "Broadly-speaking tomorrow's console is today's high
end PC, whose level of technology eventually trickles down to
affordable PCs, set-top boxes and mobile devices as well. So it makes
sense that this is the kind of thing the next generation of consoles
could power. It is just a question of timing."

And, according to Rein, Direct X 11 is a good guideline as to what
gamers will see from the next generation.

Samaritan debuted at GDC this year. Epic is yet to decide whether it
will spawn a game."Yes I think there is a feature set there that
provides the ability to make clearly-discernible visual improvements
over what can be done on today's consoles. Samaritan was an early
attempt to demonstrate that," he says.

"As a content developer we'll get better at exploiting these features
over time and, as a technology provider, we'll continue to deliver
tools and technology that helps our licensees to do the same. In the
mean time we've already shipped Samaritan's DX11 feature set in the
latest Unreal Engine 3."

"Where the PCs are now compared to what [Sony and Microsoft] are going
to do, I assume will be close," Hall says. This week AMD, which is
rumoured to be providing the graphics technology powering the next
Xbox, said Microsoft's next home console will be so powerful it will
be capable of reproducing graphics on a par with James Cameron's
computer generated movie blockbuster Avatar.

Many baulked at the suggestion, but Crytek believes it may be possible
on future consoles. "One of our rendering guys was looking at that
article and was saying he reckons that's doable now with DX11 on PC,"
Hall enthuses, "I get the feeling it could happen. It could be next-
gen consoles. It does feel like if we're able to keep pushing DirectX
11 into the next generation of consoles we should be able to produce
some fantastic stuff with CryEngine."

While gamer tongues are wagging on the potential power of the next
generation, for developers, visuals are just one facet of the next-gen
battle."It's one thing to have the graphics that look like Avatar, but
you want to move everything else on a step as well," Hall says.

Tully agrees. "We always use graphics as the benchmark for what's
going to be so great about the next game on this platform - but
obviously you've got other aspects. In single-player you've got AI,
and in multiplayer you've got, well, how do we better integrate the
community into the game so it's more of a social experience? There are
all these different areas you can move forward in. It's not always
just about the graphics, although that is a big part of it."

Director of ISV relationships at AMD, Neal Robison, said Microsoft's
unannounced console will allow developers to make every pedestrian in
an open world game such as Grand Theft Auto or Saints Row have a
totally individual mentality so they react to the player in different
ways. Crowds will then act as a group of individuals rather than
predictable mobs.

While this sounds great on paper, the sheer power offered by the next-
gen presents its own set of problems. "There's one thing getting the
raw power to do these things," Tully says. "Another thing is taking
advantage of that in a coherent way, to produce a game. That's the
challenge we'll be looking to when we start working on those consoles.
It's going to be really interesting to work with."

To overcome these challenges, Crytrek will use its own, in-house game
engine CryEngine 3, which it claims is ready for next generation game
development now.

This, coupled with the benefit of having experience using advanced PCs
today, means the studio should be able to manage the inevitable
transition =96 rather than be stung by it.

"Because [CryEngine] is aimed at both the consoles and the high-end
PCs, it means we can add in new features on the high end PCs as we go
along," Hall says, "and then when the console becomes available, we'll
be able to actually pick a level and set it up there and things should
work - although it's never 100 per cent that simple."

Microsoft is rumoured to be preparing a reveal of its next Xbox at E3
2012. Eurogamer has recently had this claim backed up by a number of
game industry sources.

Eurogamer has also heard a 2014 release of the next Xbox was planned
by Microsoft, but this has now been brought forward to 2013 as a
result of Nintendo's confirmed 2012 launch of the Wii U.

Additionally, sources have indicated to us that larger publishers and
developers already have target specs of both the next Xbox and
PlayStation to help them with their development.

Both Microsoft and Sony have refused to directly comment on their next
generation plans, instead pointing to the continued success of the
Xbox 360 and PS3. Last year Microsoft said motion-sensing add-on
Kinect would add five years onto the life of the 360, whereas Sony has
described the PS3's life cycle as "ten years plus".

But is now the right time for the next-generation? Do developers want
the next Xbox or PlayStation?

"I'd like to see it at a time when consumers are going to be ready to
adopt it and jump in whole-heartedly," Rein said. "I'm not in a huge
hurry for it. I'd rather wait until they can bring out hardware that
can do Samaritan affordably than bring out something super high-priced
and the market adopts it slowly as they wait for a price drop. Either
way I'm confident we'll have great a great game engine for it thanks
to the efforts we've already got underway like Samaritan."

Crytek UK is rumoured to be developing TimeSplitters 4 for next-gen
consoles, using DirectX 11 as a benchmark.It's tantalising to imagine
games with visuals on a par with the Samaritan demo, or indeed Avatar,
but for Rein the PS3 and Xbox 360 still have much to offer.

"In terms of something aimed at running Samaritan, I don't think it
would be practical to come out with a new console at that spec right
now," Rein continues, "I think we're a few years away from that kind
of hardware being available at a price consumers would embrace.

"Plus I think we're still getting great value out of the consoles we
have today and we can continue to hone our skills with those for a few
more years. If you look at Gears of War 3 you'll see that we're
continuously getting better and better at making games for the
consoles we have now and you simply have to look at the monthly Unreal
Development Kit releases to see we're constantly delivering better and
better tools and technology for this generation as well."

For Marvin Donald, game director at Darksiders II developer Vigil,
however, developers do want to move onto next-generation development.
"[That desire] just happened," he says. "Now we've got comfortable. We
run into situations where we'd love to use bigger textures. We'd love
to have more memory, and we'd love stuff to run faster. We're ready to
grow. We're definitely ready to move on.

"But that's just starting to happen for us as a studio, where we want
more horsepower to play with. So yeah, next generation, bring it on.
We're very excited about that."

US retailer giant GameStop last week said it does not expect new
consoles from Sony or Microsoft until 2014.

"2013? I think that's about right, actually," Donald offers. "That
sounds about right, because another year-and-a-half and from the
consumer point of view it's going to start to feel stale.

"It's like, OK guys, I'm no longer impressed by the graphics. My
friend's PC, games like Rage, some of the stuff they're doing, oh my
God. Seriously, clearly my Xbox can't do that."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...nd-playstation...
t-to-expect-article


While I am predominantly a pc gamer I've been considering picking up a
PS3 solely for the latest mortal kombat. Kind of glad they aren't
pushing the PS4 just yet, otherwise I certainly wouldn't bother buying
one.
 




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