Predict: The Next Generation Console Tech
- Thread starter Acert93
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Carmack seems to have lost the plot, in more ways than one. I had high hopes for Doom 4 visuals being the pinnacle of this gen...then I saw the leaked screens
If you look at Carmack interviews he barely even cares about graphics anymore for some years...not coincidentally Id games are doing worse and worse.
I am pretty underwhelmed by the UE4 screens. OTOH it was a team of 14 people in 3 months so....and maybe it looks much better in motion.
UE4 is seems to be about dynamic lighting.
John Carmack Megatexture tech is pre-baked lighting.
When I look at beautiful oil painting, the light is in a way is "pre-baked" and comes from within the artist. UE4 is going to soak up all this processing just to have dynamic lighting. The stuff I've seen from ID looks more compelling and dramatic.
On very low power devices, yes. The next xbox and ps won't be.
To play devil's advocate for moment, maybe Unreal doesn't matter so much on the PS3 because the PS3 doesn't matter so much in the market place. If so, it wouldn't exactly be something to celebrate. If the PS3 hadn't been a relatively colossal failure in the market place (1st and 150+ million sales to 3rd and 60+ million sales in a single generation [and colossal, mind-boggling losses to boot]) perhaps that situation would be different.
It doesn't actually matter what your first parties want in terms of hardware - they'll break their backs fine tuning their art and engines for the hardware whatever you put in there. And fanboys will declare it the Best Looking Software Of All Time even if it looks like a dog's arse. It's the crucial multiplatform stuff that really matters - if anything at all still does beyond interfaces and locking people into services and subscriptions and DRM based "ownership" of stuff. (Humbug!).
If Sony let Epic (and other third party devs) influence their choice of hardware it might not be such a bad thing, IMO.
I like what I'm seeing from the UE4 screens though I was expecting a bit more, It would most likely be stunning in motion as I can imagine it right now. The art in this demo looks terrible
though, I can only imagine Naughty Dog making something truly eye poppingly insane with those underlying tech.
though, I can only imagine Naughty Dog making something truly eye poppingly insane with those underlying tech.What I find more interesting is their focus on real time instant iteration. From a gameplay/game content perspective using technologies that allow such are a bigger boon for the gaming experience than a couple prettier pixels at the expensive of slower, more cumbersome game design. See: Trials (shout out to sebbbi / RedLynx).
Your argument is a slippery slope: Try shipping a console which has no exclusive games, just some ports from other consoles, it'd be even worse. None of those extremes are going to happen. The multi-platform games and lower sellers and shovelware will exist no matter what the hardware is. They don't impact hardware sales balance because they're everywhere, they appear wherever there's some quick money to be made with a port, unless the hardware difference is unmanageable.
Even then, look at the Wii. Most successful console of this generation. So underpowered that it couldn't have any ports worth talking about. I don't think Nintendo cared about any third party studios when they designed their console.
The Wii was successful at selling consoles but I bet the attach rate was far higher for 360 systems.
Look, everyone knows that there needs to be a balance between exclusives and cross platform games, but I feel like this generation, the 360 and PS3 were so relatively close to each other that you'd be hard pressed to find the differences in games between them.
Next gen consoles need developers to push for the most they can get because they know that another 8-9 year cycle will leave the end extremely untenable for them. Besides, who doesn't want more power?
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Nintendo's business mode is fundamentally different to Sony and MS and always has been.
Nintendo relies on hardware sales and first party game sales as their primary revenue driver.
Sony and MS model focusses around 3rd party licensing fees, it's what lets them subsidize the platform.
This is not to say that Nintendo doesn't charge licensing fees, they do they just work within a different model.
Personally I am more interested in production tools that can make game development easier and cheaper, that would mean many more higher qualitty games.
Not very impressive IMO, I mean it is better but it doenst make me want to buy a new console just for it, lets wait till consoles can be 20-30x as powerfull.Actually I liked more the last UE physics/particles demo.
3DS ???
I wouldnt be suprissed if hardcore gaming grows into a "large niche market" in little time and that is actually a market where large multiplatform games are somewhat sidelined.
Not very impressive IMO, I mean it is better but it doenst make me want to buy a new console just for it, lets wait till consoles can be 20-30x as powerfull.Actually I liked more the last UE physics/particles demo.
3DS ???
I wouldnt be suprissed if hardcore gaming grows into a "large niche market" in little time and that is actually a market where large multiplatform games are somewhat sidelined.
This isn't really the way to look at it. What has more influence, something that may effect dozens of studios or what would effect only your 1st party studios?
Imagine if the PS3 launched with only 256MB of memory this gen. The 1st party studios would make it work regardless because they only have one SKU to work around, however the 3rd party titles and sales would suffer greatly because there would be another SKU to compare it to, putting things into perspective.
Internal studios work with what they got while 3rd party publishers/studios have other options. Do you really think it's smarter to cater to your internal studios more?
Exactly, which is why 4+GB of slow memory doesn't make sense.
If you browse certain other forums, many people seem to think more powerful hardware is actually damaging this industry.
DoctorFouad
Newcomer
do we have a thread for a next next gen prediction thread ? that would be interesting, consider this for ps5 / xbox quantum :
memristors revolution
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18103772
memristors revolution
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18103772
Yeah, that's not what I'm saying.
Perhaps I should have said instead that there are already video cards on the market with 2GB of on board fast memory at moderate prices. A console coming out at the end of next year really has to have more whole-system memory than that if it's meant to last a decade.
Better?
Blazkowicz
Legend
those are 256bit boards, which is thought as being a lot on a console.
if we want a lot of fast memory we will have to go through that cost.
if we want a lot of fast memory we will have to go through that cost.
Yeah, that's not what I'm saying.
Perhaps I should have said instead that there are already video cards on the market with 2GB of on board fast memory at moderate prices. A console coming out at the end of next year really has to have more whole-system memory than that if it's meant to last a decade.
Better?
Well we all agree and hope these systems ship with more than 2GB, but that doesn't mean it's going to be physically possible.
Still, it doesn't make sense to mention what happens in the mobile space since it has not relevance to what's possible on consoles.
Blazkowicz
Legend
can we have a SO-DIMM slot attached to a 64bit ddr3 controller? if so you easily have your 4GB, or even 8GB slow memory. the console vendor would use off-the-shelf memory modules.
What about the higher power version of WideIO?
If it can be ready by 2014, the cost of fast memory would be much less, best of both worlds. Admittedly I have no idea about the extra costs for the stacking, packaging and what not...
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