F.E.A.R technology to drive next-gen console FPS?
Monolith is working on next-gen consoles and has a version of its F.E.A.R engine running on them, the dev admitted yesterday.
Developer Monolith is working on a next-generation console title using the hugely impressive technology behind its PC first-person shooter F.E.A.R, director of technology Kevin Stephens more or less admitted in Paris yesterday.
Speaking to Eurogamer yesterday afternoon, Stephens revealed, "We do have a version of this technology that's running on next-generation consoles," when quizzed about the engine side of the game.
When pressed as to whether that meant Monolith had next-gen dev kits and were working on games for future consoles, Stephens joked, "You'd think so!" When we said yes, we would, he elaborated a little further still.
"I should just mention we do have multiple game teams, and there is a game coming up that hasn't been announced yet that, er, will be announced. And that'll answer your question," he told us.
That game is not likely to be a port of F.E.A.R, however. Having been restrained from answering a lot of specific questions about the PC version by a PR minder throughout the interview, it's extremely unlikely that a comment potentially joining the dots between next-generation console development and currently PC-only Vivendi product F.E.A.R would be allowed to slip out in the same discussion.
Far more likely is that it's another franchise that has nothing to do with Vivendi-Universal Games - either one of Monolith's own IPs or something made-to-order.
Judging by a job ad on Monolith's website seeking a senior game engineer to work on a next-generation console title, it's some sort of first-person action-adventure game. The ad asks for experience with Xbox, PS2 and/or GameCube architectures and under preferred experience lists "Developed 1st-person action/adventure games".
We fully expect to hear more about it in the coming months.
As for F.E.A.R, which is one of the reasons we were in Paris in the first place - it's looking exceptionally interesting. We'll have more on it later this week including a fuller interview with Kevin Stephens and impressions of both single and multiplayer.