THQ: New consoles would be "horrible"

By Robert Purchese Published 19 January, 2011

"It's bad for everybody," says Bilson.

What if Sony and Microsoft were to turn around tomorrow and announce the arrival of PS4 and Xbox 720 within three years? For THQ core games boss Danny Bilson, that would be a disaster.

"It would be horrible," Bilson told Eurogamer in an exclusive interview published today. "But I think they all know our model's broken anyway.

"It still costs us a fortune to make games on this platform. If they're going to up the scale, up the art, up the content, I don't know how to make that and sell it to anybody for under $100 a game.

"Who wants to do that?" he asked. "It's bad for everybody."

We're past merely understanding the consoles and on to being creative with them, Bilson argued. Look at World of Warcraft, he said - a game that bypassed face-melting graphics with stylised cartoon art and inventive content.

"Stability of technology allows for the fruition and the growth of creative," he declared. "We're not having to invest all of our focus, and, oh my god, how are we going to deal with that new technology? We understand it. We still have guys trying to squeeze it to do cooler stuff, but it puts the weight of the mission under creative, which ultimately should get us more interesting and more creative stuff.

"That's the trick. We're not going to get beat by another hardware upgrade like every five years like it was before. There will be little things. It's up to us to compete in graphics and creativity. Sometimes I hope good creativity and style will be able to be more important. It is more important.

"As long as we're creatively satisfied as gamers by what we're getting, I'm really satisfied," he added. "I still see cooler stuff, better stuff. So much is in the software engineering and working with the technology. I look at games and I go, wow, how did they get such great characters?"

THQ has big-league ambitions, and will hope to propel itself towards the EAs and Activisions of the publisher world with the arrival of Homefront, due 11th March.

After that, the publisher has a packed slate of heavy hitters: Red Faction: Armageddon, UFC, WWE, Dawn of War II: Retribution, Space Marine, Saints Row 3, de Blob 2, inSane, Devil's Third and Darksiders 2.

Eurogamer's full, make-or-break interview with Danny Bilson is live now.

Homefront: on the front line for THQ.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (62) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ISmoke #1 1 year ago

    I want a new console. It's been too long since i experienced getting a console on launch day, unboxing it, staring at it for a few minutes and then eventually starting it up for the first time.

  • darkmorgado #2 1 year ago

    I want a new console that can do games in 1080p @ 60fps and full AA.

    Like my three-year-old laptop.

  • Augmentation #3 1 year ago

    I tend to agree. Considering the great games that are still coming out of the current consoles. Just, purely as an example that can be quantified, look at Sony's exclusives line-up for this year - plenty of innovative (more or less) and pretty games. Plus, you can't (no matter how much you try) forget the new motion controls. They've barely had enough time to even become well known, never mind superseded.

    I only want to see a new console range when we need new consoles because we're no longer able to play fun, innovative titles on the current systems.

  • Vermillion3000 #4 1 year ago

    Yeah, he's absolutely right.
    An upgrade would take millions of dollars out of the system for very little gain. Even the plaform manufacturers would probably lose money since hardware is so costly to finalise and ship. I know some consumers love the excitement of new hardware, but it's not worth it for anyone's point of view.
    The only possible exception would be a Wii HD, bring it into line with 360 and PS3 to reduce dev costs on cross platform games, and Nintendo could stick to their model of off-the-shelf parts so minimal custom R+D overhead. Same controller and everything else, fully backwards compatible, just a beefed graphics chip and memory set.

    @TSB - I agree with you that the Sony online infrastructure is weak, but that is a service, and couldl possibly be upgraded without a new iteration of hardware.

  • JBlokeUK #5 1 year ago

    Is TSB on the Microsoft payroll?

  • Jolly_Armadillo #6 1 year ago

    As ps3 has now been hacked and inevitably the online scene will deteriorate. I think a new console is in order as to my understanding this is only way to get round the hack.

    I would have quite happily waited years for a next generation of consoles but now the hack has come up I can't help but feel that the consoles online will be full of cheats which will just ruin it.

    Hoping this is wrong!

  • Augmentation #7 1 year ago

    @TSB - almost all of your arguments there sound very... 2006.

  • kongzi #8 1 year ago

    hahah....creativity? Is it that was holding back all those space marine/modern warfare games on previous generations?? Hmm..now THAT IS news to me, good to know.
    If there's one thing this generation absolutely sucks balls at, it's innovation on anything but graphics. For most developers it's enough to add a half assed co-op mode and some barely functioning cover-mechanic. Tactical games are dead, it's all linear scripted nonsense. There hasn't been a really new kind of game for years and I for one have stopped buying games that don't do anything new. And i stopped buying THQ games long before that, making really crappy unoriginal titles, releasing them untested bugged to hell and localized for my language in google translator will do that. We didn't even GET to 'creativitiy'

  • JBlokeUK #9 1 year ago

    Fanboys calling others fanboys.

    Priceless.

  • chris_ace #10 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 11:55:13 13-12-2011

  • SG #11 1 year ago

    I agree, and have always said this. I have to buy a new console which costs, if it's not backwards compatible it's extra space and wires, and the games will take longer to come out because of the console. I think when the last generation was about, it should have stayed there longer. If all the games I'd played were new GC titles, I wouldn't be bothered - the graphics look pretty enough.

    But this is much more the case now - the PS3 has blue-ray discs so the media it takes doesn't need upgrading, it's super powerful so I don't see what extra power could do for it, making better graphics just takes companies more time and money - they look amazing anyway. Couple that with the networks which are an integral part of the system as well - it would just make everybody's job harder. The same is true of the 360, except it doesn't take blue-ray but that's not a reason to create a whole new console. As for the Wii, if it was given a graphics upgrade and maybe a proper surround audio out (and a proper controller with enough buttons), that would do nicely but once it's got a successor up there with the PS360's graphics there'd be no need to go further for a very, very long time. I'm a Wii only owner by the way v- I'm not biased. TBH I think the console is a joke in comparison to MSony, but you only get Nintendo games on Nintendo consoles.

    In fact even though it's a very new and innovative idea, I'm surprised that the 3DS is coming out so soon when the DS is still coming out with hit after hit, and I won't be getting one until I've exhausted my DS library.
    Edited by SG at 19/01/11 @ 12:12

  • IronGiant #12 1 year ago

    Nice to see TSB is on form. Fanboys are bad enough but bitter fanboys really are something else..

  • arcam #13 1 year ago

    @kongzi

    THQ still do some good tactical stuff, e.g. Company of Heroes, Dawn of War, but they're on the PC only.

  • JBlokeUK #14 1 year ago

    Well if the PS3 will have a 10 year life cycle like Sony has been saying, then we won't see a PS4 until 2016.

    I can't see a new MS console anytime soon either, not if Kinect continues to sell well, then MS can ride that gravy train for a while yet.

    Will be interesting to see if/when Apple release a console though.

  • Darren #15 1 year ago

    I can see why publishers are against new consoles when the current hardware is still expensive to code for and learning more complex hardware means it takes developers time (which equals money) for the games to get up to scratch. The best games tend to take several years to appear as developers master the platforms and squeeze more out of them. There's only so far you can go though and I'm sure there are many developers who welcome new challenges and hardware as it means less restrictions/compromises in future games.

    As a PC gamer I find it frustrating that the current console technology is holding back PC games development because the lead platform tends to be the ageing 360 or PS3. Personally, I think the new Xbox and PS models can't come soon enough as the current hardware is definitely showing its age now, has been for a couple of years now. Both consoles have struggled to deliver 30 fps @ 720p with AA and no tearing as a minimum standard, nevermind 1080p with gimmicks like 3D which Sony are keen to push!

  • Azilis #16 1 year ago

    @zandergrin - Not only do most games look much better on the PC, they run a good deal more smoothly at higher framerates (on good PCs at least). It's pretty obvious that games are somewhat hamstrung by the hardware. What this guy seems to be talking about is pushing the next iteration of consoles to the absolute limit, which shouldn't be necessary right away.

    I couldn't care less about the minor hardware-related differences between the 360 and PS3. Why do people like to have these arguments anyway? I own a PS3 over a 360 because there are far more PS3 exclusive games I'm interested in. Having a high-end PC makes the 360 pretty much irrelevant to me.

  • arcam #17 1 year ago

    Apple will never make a console, Sony's "ten year plan" for the PS3 will overlap with a new PS4, and Microsoft will release a new console within 2 years.

    These things shall come to pass.
    Edited by arcam at 19/01/11 @ 12:14

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #18 1 year ago

    The main thing I'd like to see from new hardware is increased processing power for physics and AI. So you could make a new Syndicate game where you tool around a city GTA-style, blowing buildings up left right and centre. Or a Star Wars game where you run around Mos Eisley in third person, walk inside the Millennium Falcon, blast off, fly into space, dock with the Rebel fleet, then walk around a space station, all without loading/pausing, etc.

    Graphics, etc, I'm happy with. It's scale I'm after now.

    Having said all that, I'd still rather stick with the current hardware for another five years or so. I wanna enjoy what I've got, not spend time and dosh on something new.

  • Dizzy #19 1 year ago

    I think the industry is going down the wrong street with these mega games. The indie scene or XBLA is pointing in the right direction IMHO. New consoles would hopefully also have enough processing power to do procedurally generated stuff much faster/easier. Oh... and drop optical storage plz. Old junk.
    Edited by Dizzy at 19/01/11 @ 12:23

  • spongebob #20 1 year ago

    I have a feeling that Sony could be stupid enough to launch a new home console. Why? Well, they seem to think that consumers only want the latest in tech. Just think of all this 3D nonsense (awfully heavy on the hardware) or the PSP2 (who needs PS3 in their pocket?)

  • Anciegher #21 1 year ago

    I think the console manufacturers will start panicking in 2 years time when a mobile phone will be more powerful than their console... dual core phones are coming this year. I'm betting iPhone 5 will already outpower ps3. It will not be long after that that "consoles" will be built into TVs - if Sony / MS don't want to be overrun by LG and Samsung they better not rest on their laurels!

  • DozyKipper #22 1 year ago

    What a load of crock. If it was up to the game companies, we'd still be on Amstrad CPC464 graphics or similar. We need new consoles by 2013 as the Xbox/PS3 are already stumbling over frame rate problems.

  • arcam #23 1 year ago

    I think the industry is going down the wrong street with these mega games.

    Codblops hit a billion dollars. Don't expect companies to stop chasing that kind of cash anytime soon...

  • Golgo #24 1 year ago

    I've still got classics on PS2 that I haven't played, like Persona 4 and Psychonauts, as well as stuff on GBA and even earlier. I think I'll be content form now on lag a couple of years behind the next gen curve and catch up in my own sweet time, if/whenever it happens.

  • TonyHarrison #25 1 year ago

    Wait... there's actually a game called Space Marine? Okay then...

    Anyway, that he's complaining about games being expensive enough already is quite telling. I've always thought the industry went for a little bit too much of a power jump with this round of consoles, forcing devs to build expensive new engines and try to scrape a profit somehow with the sunk cost mentality. This interview just backs that theory up.

  • Skooch #26 1 year ago

    "I think the console manufacturers will start panicking in 2 years time when a mobile phone will be more powerful than their console... dual core phones are coming this year. I'm betting iPhone 5 will already outpower ps3. It will not be long after that that "consoles" will be built into TVs - if Sony / MS don't want to be overrun by LG and Samsung they better not rest on their laurels!"

    WTF! I want what you're smoking....LOL

  • darkmorgado #27 1 year ago

    Wait... there's actually a game called Space Marine? Okay then...

    It's a Warhammer 40k game. The real Space Marines.

  • arcam #28 1 year ago

    "forcing devs to build expensive new engines and try to scrape a profit somehow with the sunk cost mentality."

    A new console doesn't force devs to do anything. Fact is, those devs (or publishers) made a decision that they would make more money building expensive games.

  • hiddenranbir #29 1 year ago

    I'm fine with consoles sticking to 32-bit. Let the PC establish 64-bit resourced gaming.

  • gillri #30 1 year ago

    @Darren....and any other PC elitist lackey

    I have a good PC (mostly for indie games like amnesia) but RDR and GOW3 won most of the best graphics of 2010 awards......huh..whats is....on 5 year-old hardware!?
    that for me makes PC gaming pretty much redundant, there is just no need to upgrade your PC anymore, Uncharted 2 is the closest thing gaming has come to a PIXAR movie and has a visual design exceeding anything on PC. BECAUSE it the talent that makes the game not the tech! console gaming has amost of the money these days and so can afford the best talent

    oh and its not console holding back PC development, but pirates and developers, typical PC gaming elitist, blaming console for PC's failings when you should look elsewhere....I get it...it easy for you guys to lay the blame there, it fits your narrative

    You know the devlopers have a choice to make an exclusive PC game you know, but its the pirates that have put any hope of a big profit in the bin and the developers that make the games...so why are you blaming consoles for 'holding PC gaming back?' think about it

    for me people that upgrade their PC are FPS and resolution counters who concentrate on this, rather than consistent and finely tuned game design, which is bad for industry as a whole

    I can tell that because you talk about 720P and teh 60FPS as though as it is actually important! really you care about that? look at RDR! all that detail and scale and hardly a FPS hiccup, now thats an achievement!

    PC gamers dont realise that this generation arent going anywhere soon but still blindly upgrade there PC anyway. Sorry I prefer my hardware to actually be utilised to something near its maximum, not upgrading to the latest hardware that shouldnt need to be upgraded as it hasnt even had a good run yet

    I prefer my developers to learn the architecture intimately and really get as much juice out of it as possible, thats when you get games like Uncharted 3 and The Last Guardian
    Edited by gillri at 19/01/11 @ 13:07

  • Murton #31 1 year ago

    TSB doesn't seem to get. The PSN is software and can be upgraded without replacing the console. The hack can be patched out, several methods of doing this have been discussed on this very site and his beloved Digital Foundry. The features that he quotes as being missing from the PSN are either nice but not essential (cross game chat isn't a biggie really) or do actually exist where developers choose to make use of them such as ingame music or join during session which exists in dozens of popular titles.

    As for the hardware, Wireless N, faster blu-ray drive, these would be nice but last I checked the 360 had no built in wireless and no blu-ray drive at all, so by your logic the PS3 is ahead of the 360 in this area or do you have another bullshit 2006/7 comment to spit out in response to that?

    "over 130 games are better on 360" how do you quantify that? All of the sites that do these comparisons are biased in their assessment, DF always attribute differences down to the alleged "weakness" of the PS3 when in fact it's all down to developers, if you write your code on one machine and then copy/paste to another of course the first machine will see better results, it's properly optimised there, how can the hardware be at fault if the software isn't coded properly for it in the first place? But assuming that you're talking about pixels and frame rates answer me this: GT5, full 1080p, solid frame rate above 30 even in stereoscopic 3D, Forza sub-HD resolution, lower average frame rate, far (far) less content. How does your fanboy logic explain that particular fact?


    TSBs illogical and factually bereft raving aside, I tend to agree with Bilson. New hardware isn't needed right now, developers are still improving upon past effects with this set of hardware and it looks like there's still plenty of room to go higher. The key difference in this gen compared to previous is the abundance of first party developers, on the PS3 at least. There seems to have been a shift this gen away from merely collection cert fees and royalties towards active publication and development, this puts the platform holders on the same field of play as third party devs and will keep things in the here and now. To jump into the next gen would be to waste a hell of a lot of capital investment and could prove disastrous to whoever tries it first.

  • makeamazing #32 1 year ago

    Is TSB on the Microsoft payroll?

    No he is just a dick.

  • inutaihanyou #33 1 year ago

    In my opinion, while i doubt 360 and PS3 are going anywhere for a few years yet,this kind of talk by Bilson scares me. I mean, what...are developers actually arguing for not having a new console because they're too used to what they have already? That's crazy talk! If that's the case we'll NEVER get any new consoles because its "too expensive" or the developers "won't know what to do with all of the new content". That's not something i want to see, within the next 5 years certainly, that about covers a decade in itself.

    For me, a new console generation is just not about tweaking small things here and there like less tearing or a higher framerate or whatever. Its about actually opening doors, to do things that the last generation would have no possible way of doing, how PS1 evolved with PS2 and the advent of PS3. All of those systems having games in which the last generation clearly could never replicate in any form due to an expanding of the imagination of the developers.

    It'll be a sad day when complacency and cost cutting goes above that.

  • darleysam #34 1 year ago

    I'm with Bilson.

  • LiveForever #35 1 year ago

    They are really being creative with Homefront

  • linksdad #36 1 year ago

    Warcraft - great example of 'cheap' development, would only cost a cool billion to replicate.

  • Rack #37 1 year ago

    Certainly Sony will be wanting a new format now, but I see it as bad for most everyone else. A 360 HD that can run existing games at 1080P 60fps would be really nice though.

  • arcam #38 1 year ago

    people that upgrade their PC are FPS and resolution counters who concentrate on this, rather than consistent and finely tuned game design

    PC gamers dont realise that this generation arent going anywhere soon

    Maybe those PC gamers have been around longer and can see that this generation is not different from the rest. Consoles will be upgraded in a couple of years, just like they always have been.

    You talk about Uncharted 2 like the "good enough" graphics have finally been reached, but people said that about the PS2, and consoles before it, and they are never right. The public will call for bigger and more beautiful games just like they always have, and hardware manufacturers will respond.

    You call PC gamers elitist but talk about how PC gamers don't realise the one magical fact that console players do - graphics don't matter, it's all about the gameplay - like this is some revelation no one's heard before. The simple fact is that graphics and gameplay go hand in hand, always have done, and while saying resolution and framerate isn't important might make you feel like a 'true' gamer that knows what it's really about, history has proved you wrong time and time again.

    Your unreasonable post shows you consider yourself far more elite than "people that upgrade their PC", yet you have the balls to use that phrase as an opening to your post.

    Instead, trying looking at a situation from more than your own perspective and realise that games are not the same thing to everybody, and that enjoying the artwork and technical prowess of a beautiful game and looking forward to improvements is not some kind of crime against the industry. If everybody thought like that, those awesome Uncharted graphics you spent so long praising wouldn't exist, and neither would the even more beautiful Uncharted 8 graphics that I've no doubt you'll be amazed by in a few years time.
    Edited by arcam at 19/01/11 @ 13:40

  • romelpotter #39 1 year ago

    Because of the convention to release games on multiple platforms, it strikes me that game design would be margionalised to run averagly well on all mediums. A game released on one medium only could focus on making the best game for that platform without consideration for alternate architecture either currently, or at some point in the future. Because the majority of games these days are multiplatform, I am guessing that there is a decreased requirement within the industry to technologically advance to new hardware. Costs, content blah blah blah; all just excuses designed to promote an opinion that suits some developers within the industry.

    I believe that the recently released "add on's" for both Sony and MS, are a reaction to the shift in familly populariy to gaming; that has completley missed the boat. Potentially, they (MS more than sony) are driving Kinect in the same vein as a new console release to try and recover some of the development revenues. I wouldn't blame them for that but I dont that the public will be fooled.

    Technolgogy is driven by consumer demand and I believe that there is enough demand for next gen hardware to create an opening for a new manufacturer to enter the console market. Who that may be is anyones guess, it at all anyone chooses to do so at all. Apple is changing the way it thinks about gaming, it is starting to understand the potential for growth within their business if they can incorporate games within their corporate revenue streams.

    I am happy with the current consoles, I own a decent gaming PC, xbox and ps3, I believe that technology should be driven forward and if it stagnates then the gaming industry is truly lost.

    Just my two pence!

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #40 1 year ago

    Games are already being released with higher graphical quality on PC

    No PC game I've ever seen has graphics that look a generation better than the current crop of consoles. The best they can seem to do is the same graphics at smoother frame rates and higher resolutions, and that isn't going to sell people new consoles.

    There has been no 'Half Life 2 moment' when it's clear that a new generation of graphics and gameplay is waiting in the wings.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #41 1 year ago

    Wait... there's actually a game called Space Marine?

    Yes, it's a board game that came out in 1989...

    http://twilight40k.blogspot.com/2008/12/...

  • Stratix #42 1 year ago

    Well, there are some games today that run on PC that look a lot better than they do on my Xbox. Last time I checked, most PC games cost less than console ones.

    I would love a console with a bit more RAM and processing power to play with, and a slightly faster graphics card. I can imagine at the moment that would be rather expensive to produce, even mass produce. I know the PS3 was meant to be higher spec than 360, but in most cases the games look similar at best. That was a fair bit more expensive than 360 when it came out.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #43 1 year ago

    Apple will never make a console

    They already do, the iPhone4-spec Apple TV, all it's missing is an app store (and probably a better controller unless they want people to play it with their portable iDevices), and that could come via a software update over the internet any time they want.

    I'm betting iPhone 5 will already outpower ps3

    It won't (although it sounds like it might use much the same chipset as PSP2 with fewer GPU cores), but iPhone 7 probably will.

  • Lord_BeeJee #44 1 year ago

    Huh, you might try making games at 1080p and a decent framerate before you want to add all you say.

  • gillri #45 1 year ago

    @Stratix

    in the UK PC games come out roughy £10 cheaper, after a couple of months they drop to around the same price

  • Subquest #46 1 year ago

    For people interested in playing in 3D, PC is the only platform capable of doing it right. The PS3 is pushing itself to just render one image, it simply doesn't have the horsepower to render two images required for 3D without major sacrifices to quality.

    3D is certainly pretty niche and expensive at the moment, but if we're not going to see new consoles for another 5 years or so - then as 3D TVs become more affordable, the audience for 3D gaming will grow. PC will be the only way to go for these people.

  • chris_ace #47 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 11:55:13 13-12-2011

  • JamieR #48 1 year ago

    I don't think if a new console come out they have to max it as long as the next consoles finally get 16xAA i'm sick of games with just 2 or no AA

  • YoctoYotta #49 1 year ago

    Does anyone expect next-gen consoles to offer 1000x performance increases like we saw with the previous generation transition? I think the console makes would be well served to rev with a 4x-8x increase in processing power using similar CPU/GPU infrastructures. Like others mention here, games these days would look utterly incredible if they could just be rendered at 1080p60 with quality AA. Maybe Gran Turismo could finally do their thing and have realistic looking shadows, trees and people (not that I notice that stuff when I'm racing anyhow). The important technology curve for games at this point is in the middleware powering animation and physics.

  • Timbercottage #50 1 year ago

    PLEASE!!!!! PLEASE!!!!! DON'T call it the XBOX 720!!!

  • DiamondIce #51 1 year ago

    I'm happy with the consoles I've got. Long gone are the days when I got worked up over graphics.

    If I wanted to make myself think I was a superior being I could buy a brand-spanking new PC but I spend all fucking day using the things and want to be far away from them in my leisure time.

    Edit:

    AI is something I want to see improved, though. Smarter baddies and not so many useless drones.
    Edited by DiamondIce at 19/01/11 @ 15:27

  • Anciegher #52 1 year ago

    @YoctoYotta Console generations have typically been an increase in power by x10-15 times. I'm expecting x100 if we wait 10 years between 360 and "720". Remember that with moore's law technology speed roughly doubles every 18-24 months.

  • DarthMartious #53 1 year ago

    Apple will never make a console

    They already did. It was called the Apple Pippin.

  • darth_paul #54 1 year ago

    i wouldnt buy a new console any time soon... hope Bilson is right. What we have is enough for the next years. Graphics are not the main thing

    @ JBlokeUK
    Apple has already 2 consoles out. The Iphone/Ipod and the Ipad.... those are "consoles"! Who is actually expeting a old-school games console from apple, really? that device design is dead

    @ ALL
    who is TSB? noones here with that nick... im missing something, right?
    Edited by darth_paul at 19/01/11 @ 18:09

  • TheMitch #55 1 year ago

    The current generation is great and it's amazing how far we've come; and we can appreciate that in most regards.

    But, we're only 3.5 to 5yrs in now and the rough edges are showing.

    Very few games are really pushing the boundaries and of course a few more will come along, but there will be a need for a new console generation in 3-4yrs.

    Most games run at 720p, with a few running as low as 576p, the 1080p @ 60fps we were made to believe would be possible is practically non-existent. 3D is also another factor that makes a massive impact.

    People complaining about having to spend another £400 is ridiculous, having to spend that much every 6-8yrs is perfectly fair for new technology.; and you're not forced to buy into it.

    1080p @ 60fps 2D and 720p @ 120fps 3D (60fps per eye) with decent AA/AF, v-sync and minimum drop should be the minimum within a few years and that will take a new piece of hardware.

    Sony can minimise financial issues by going with an advanced, expanded version of the Cell/XDR architecture. All it would take is scaling up and some expanded dev tools, it would also benefit the nm of the chip and in turn the efficiency, yield, the speed and expense of manufacturing. Backwards compatibility with PS1 and PS3 would also be a piece of pie. Experience would already be in place and can be expanded upon on the devs' part.

    I expect to see a new Xbox before November 2013 and a new PlayStation by March 2014.

  • msimplay #56 1 year ago

    The need to upgrade isn't the same as before because before you always had the Arcades to show you what was possible with new hardware. But now people are buying devices such as the Ipod touch , Nintendo Ds, Nintendo Wii that are not at the top in terms of specifications. It actually shows that the general public doesn't care that much an whatever performance enhancements they can do for the next generation in terms of game play mechanics I doubt that there is much they will be able to do in the next generation that they can't already do now.
    As far as I'm concerned the next generation would have to be something pretty special to warrant the update.

  • Spekingur #57 1 year ago

    To all those hating on the PC...
    Minecraft is on PC. It is not very graphically advanced. It's not even released yet. But we can still play it... on a PC/Mac/Linux.
    Also, had RDR and/or GOW3 been released on PC then I am pretty sure that those version would have gotten the 'best graphics' vote.

    I like my consoles. I do. They are easy. I don't have to upgrade the hardware (other than buying additional HDDs, memory sticks or a completely new console). I can just sit down in front of the TV and play. However, I also like my PC. I get to play diffirent types of games there - one of them being Minecraft, another being Starcraft 2 and soon Diablo 3. Is PC gaming dead? Only to people who have no interest in PC gaming in the first place.

    I guess that Eurogamer could publish an article called 'Is PC gaming dead?' and set the comments on fire! :-o

    New consoles? Yes, it will happen. We technically have new consoles with the Slim versions of XBox360 and PS3. The question is, what console company will release their next console first. I'm pretty sure that Nintendo is basically just sitting on a new Nintendo Wii and waiting for the right time to release it. We all know that development for the next consoles have begun a long time ago. My guess is that we will see some dribble of news of either a new Xbox or PS next year. Announcements at E3 in 2013, release in 2014 or early 2015.

  • kanishou #58 1 year ago

    PCs are terrific, as a home to indie games, modding communities, etc. Also when it comes to advanced strategy or virtual worlds style of gaming, the PC is hard to beat (EVE Online being one of my favourites, if just I still had the time for it).

    When it comes to "console-style" gaming though, the PC is also a good example of how a hardware arms race does not lead to better games. I am convinced that the situation is a lot better now not despite, but _because_ the benchmark for most high-end games is set by the 360/PS3. In addition, PC gamers have the luxury of being able to spend a bit more cash for higher resolutions or more FPS. The important thing though is, that at least for the time being, you don't have to. This creates some amount of stability for both gamers (who are worried about constantly having to upgrade new hardware), and developers.

    During the worst parts of that arms race, a big problem for developers was that by the time their game would be released, it could already be outdated for state-of-the-art hardware, which meant that quality games mainly came in two varieties: Grand scale games with outdated graphics (sometimes in the form of independent games or mods), or rushed, run-of-the-mill genre games with state-of-the-art graphics. I don't believe that games like ME2 or RDR would have been developed in that climate. In fact, one thing I remember very clearly (because I am a fan), was the severe absence of quality RPGs during that time. If somebody had told me that in a few years everyone would be making epic RPGs and open-world games, and they would not just be competitive, but often set standards in terms of graphics and quality compared to other AAA genre titles, I wouldn't have believed a word of it.

    Anyone who is saying that they just want higher resolutions and framerates: This sounds nice, but it is not going to happen. Games could run at 1080p and 60 FPS right now with ease. The reason they don't is that in the eye of the public, a game that effectively uses all available resources for more detailled graphics is going to be more impressive than a game that sacrifices detail for performance. As soon as a stronger console come out into the mainstream, some developers will want to use all of its power to dazzle the viewer with additional polygons and effects, and then everyone will have to rush to follow suit if they don't want to appear obsolete. That would indeed be terrible news for anybody working on a game of epic scale.

    Also, additional computing power would be unlikely to go primarily into AI or physics, because those are areas where CPU is already not the main limiting factor, but manpower and human ingenuity. Add more power and it will be used for visual gimmicks, if anything detracting from the available resources to improve AI and other less obvious aspects of gameplay.

    Those are some reasons why I don't want to see a new high-end console anytime soon. As long as graphics are capable of impressing us through artistic brilliance, I would much rather see everyone focusing on gameplay quality, innovative interaction mechanisms, and content. The next generation of consoles should be a major milestone. A faster CPU and graphics card is not going to cut it.

  • Raider2k #59 1 year ago

    I have to agree...P33 & 360 have alot more potential before they bring out a new generation of consoles. Give it a few years, maybe 2016/2017 or maybe slightly earlier but for now i'm content with what we have. Anyway, Sony have introduced Move & Microsoft just brought out Kinect, so i think they'll be sticking with the current consoles for a long time to come.

  • mtb2k #60 1 year ago

    PS3 doesn't do everything. It doesn't do any more than the 360, and often times slightly less. I'm tired of both consoles. I'm selling my 360 this week because my PC games are practically a generation ahead in visuals and performance now. I've heard some people that work for developers expressing their boredom with the old technology (PS3 & 360) and beginning to desire more freedom and power in order to realize their ideas without the restrictions that are present right now. It's a natural cycle and even though MS and Sony would love to extend the life of these consoles to ten years, people are going to demand something new sooner, and it isn't just going to be the consumers.

    Anyway, this generation is a joke. It wouldn't be so bad if they had never called it the HD generation, because it isn't. The best this gen can do is 720p unless the game isn't demanding graphically, and even so, we have tons of games on both systems that aren't even running at the lowest HD res. That means it isn't HD. This isn't a true HD generation, not even close.

    Once we have every console game running at 1080p and 60fps rich with detail, then come to me and tell me you have an HD console. As it stands, the only system I can get that from is my PC, which left the consoles in the dust a few years ago.

  • mtb2k #61 1 year ago

    These consoles are tapped out. Both of them. If you think that bologna about the PS3 only being 75% tapped is true then you are kidding yourself. The only way to get more out of them now is innovative programming and engine design. But even then, you normally are sacrificing somewhere in order to focus attention on something else. Look at GT5 for example. They moved all their resources into building fantastic car models, for the premium cars anyway, but the non premium cars suffer a bit, and look at the backgrounds.... they are still using paper cutout trees!!! Two perpendicular planes for trees, that was a PS1 thing!

    Introducing a new console isn't just about better graphics. It's about not having to sacrifice so much in one area to make another area acceptable, such as animation, AI, scripting, physics, etc..

    I"ve ripped on the PS3 but I can't leave the 360 out. Reach was disappointing visually. Sub HD.. the game isn't even an HD game. That really hurts and I cringe every time i view the game in all its jagginess on my 24 inch monitor. This game could have looked amazing. To be fair though, this really wasn't a hardware issue as much as it was an inferior engine and inferior artists. Bungie lost key employees right after the amazing Halo CE was released (they left the company), and the rest of the Halo series suffered from it visually. I'm glad Bungie is out of the picture now and MS has the reigns for the next Halo because maybe it will be done right, and maybe, just maybe it will actually be a visual showcase for their system like the first Halo was.

    Aside from my ipod touch, my PC gets all my playtime now days.

  • kanishou #62 1 year ago

    As long as year after year games manage to visually improve on their predecessors, it's hard to call the consoles "tapped out".

    Also, if Gran Turismo doesn't have the resources to upgrade all of it's four million car models to premium versions, that has nothing to do with hardware capabilities. Quite the opposite, the faster you spin the hardware upgrade wheel, the harder it is for mammoth projects like GT5 to catch up with expectations.