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EA: Xbox 360, PS3 "still very capable"

"Will be around for quite some time."

The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 will be around for "quite some time", mega publisher EA has said.

Both consoles remain "technologically advanced" despite having been on the market for half a decade, EA's European boss Jens Uwe Intat told Eurogamer.

"All three first party manufacturers do have interesting platforms out there," he replied when Eurogamer asked for his assessment of the current generation of hardware.

"360 certainly will be around for quite some time. As will the PS3. The PS3 with the price drop should hopefully get some acceleration for the Christmas business.

"The Wii U is certainly a platform we like and will support going forward."

Microsoft is rumoured to be preparing to launch its new Xbox in 2013, with a reported E3 2012 announcement planned.

Sony has insisted its focus is on the PS3, which recently enjoyed a price cut, and the PS Vita, due out in Europe early next year.

Nintendo has shown its hand with the Wii U, scheduled for release next year.

"All I can say is we do see healthy sales of hardware," Uwe Intat said on the next generation issue.

"We do see healthy sales of software into those existing hardware platforms. It's the first-parties you have to discuss with when a, they think they can afford to come out with a new platform, but even more important, b, when they think a new platform will really offer something meaningful to the consumer.

"The existing generation of consoles is actually technologically very advanced. They're still very capable machines. It's their call."

Uwe Intat's claim about the power of the current generation of consoles comes despite the call from a number of developers for more RAM to help create games.

But it does tally with comments made by Sony's worldwide studios boss Shuhei Yoshida, who told Eurogamer that the PlayStation 3 manufacturer will launch its next generation home console when developers are unable to improve the games they make.

When that happens, Sony will have to "seriously consider" launching the PlayStation 4, Yoshida said.

Meanwhile, Uwe Intat gave Sony's PlayStation 3 price-cut, announced at Gamescom last week, the EA blessing.

"For us it's nice," he said. "The cheaper the hardware gets the more people buy hardware, the more money people have left to buy software. So it's generally a good thing.

"Retailers are out there to judge whether it's a good price point or not, but lower is always better.

"Overall it has never been more interesting times for the consumer in terms of how many different ways there are to play games. At the core the consoles are somewhat similar, but the whole value proposition of an Xbox versus a PS3 is already very different, versus a Wii and a Wii U is different. Not only do you have different interfaces but you also have different online concepts.

"Also, all the other devices you can play games on today, I find it fascinating. It's just amazing."