We Can Still Do More With Xbox 360, Says Bleszinski

[Hevva]

We Can Still Do More With Xbox 360, Says Bleszinski

Gears of War's lead designer reckons that "code magic, time and effort" will allow developers squeeze more performance from the six-year-old 360.



In just about two weeks' time, the Xbox 360 will turn six years old. Since console-years equate roughly to cat-years, some commentators are starting to wonder whether or not the machine is getting a little long in the tooth. Not so with Epic Games creative lead Cliff Bleszinski, however; according to the man behind Gears of War, the ol' 360 still has more to give.

Speaking with Edge [http://www.next-gen.biz/news/bleszinski-we-can-do-more-xbox-360], Bleszinski explained that, having spent so long getting to know its hardware, the challenge with the 360 now lies in stretching its capacity through creative programming. "We're now at at the point where it's not learning how to use the hardware, it's learning to trick the hardware into doing what you want it to do," he said.

"With creative programming you can squeeze anything out of any given platform," continued Bleszinski. "Go back to the demo scene where these guys would take a 286 PC and in 38k make a demo that rivalled the most triple-A game of the time."

"It's just a matter of code magic, time and effort," he continued. "I don't know how much longer the 360 will be around, but I'm sure that if we have a product coming out before the end of [its] lifecycle we'll continue to try and squeeze more water from that stone."

"We're kind of at that point where in the SNES [days] they started using Mode 7 in ways you never expected," he added.

While it's no surprise to hear that developers are reaching the limits of the 360's capacity, it is heartening to know that there is still room for improvement in this generation of the Xbox (and consoles in general). Despite Microsoft having given no official indication of its plans for the 360's succcessor, rumors surrounding such machines are popping up everywhere [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/109826-UPDATE-Rumor-EA-Already-Has-the-360s-Successor-Microsoft-to-Reveal-at-E3]. With such rumors in mind, it's useful to be reminded of the life that the 360 has left in it.


Source: Edge [http://www.next-gen.biz/news/bleszinski-we-can-do-more-xbox-360]





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[Tanis]

Another idea is that instead of jumping into a new console, with new issues and prices and such...

Why not focus on making quality games that understand the graphical capabilities of the system so that developer can now focus more on creating more solid games?

 

[Balobo]

*Looks at how Oblivion looks on 360, looks at how Skyrim will look on 360, hopes for great new games in the next few years. We don't need anything new yet.

Well, that's what I hope to be thinking after another few days.

Eh, I heard Oblivion was only allowed to run on one core and current games have access to all three cores. Plus, Skyrim doesn't look all that impressive and still runs at the standard 720p 30 fps.

 

[GabeTheOptimist]

...yea no. make new consoles. I'm happy that people are trying but the console generation must end eventually. Or alternatively you can join us cool kids on the PC. jk jk.

I'm much in favor of a new console generation, although I wouldn't be surprised if it got stretched out another few years.

 

[Baresark]

I can understand this thought. There was a lot of wasted time and for half it's life it was a money pit for Microsoft. That is why both Microsoft and Sony are trying to maximize their current generation consoles. Though, Nintendo doesn't seem stuck to the same ideas.

 

[Spencer Petersen]

Why do people care so much about how a game looks?

Of course, I'm not gonna say that graphics should be completely ignored, but I'm quite happy with how most games look today.

Power affects more than graphics. It affects AI limitations, loading times, draw distance, framerate, animation quality, sound quality, dynamic effect limitations, graphical options and actor counts. More power lets us write longer AI subroutines and keep gameflow constant without breaking for loading and allows us to offer features like dynamic lighting and stronger physics. While I understand the line of thinking that we can do great work with old technology, I'd rather they offer some sort of upgrade or way to change out hardware to make the console last longer and still remain competitive without forcing developers to scrap together working games out of obsolete technology, which blocks out indy developers who don't have legions of programmers to streamline and cut down every line of code.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Just as long as game development doesn't get cut backs in other areas, I'm all for buying games on the 360 for a while. Graphics aren't that important to me anyway, game play is.

 

[Lunar Templar]

hehe, maximizing consul ability's to make quality games, now THERE'S a lost art, best of luck to em though

 

[Vibhor]

Why do people care so much about how a game looks?

Of course, I'm not gonna say that graphics should be completely ignored, but I'm quite happy with how most games look today.

Its not mainly about graphics.
Its about processing power, a thing that would allow more stuff to go on in the game.
Better(complex) AI, Small(or even non existent) loading times. Currently, these two things are on my mind that would improve the gaming experience. They could ship a game with Quake 2 graphics and see if I care but I most certainly would not like to sit on my ass and wait for the game to load after every friggin cut scene(or every second in some games)

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

*hugs 360* It's been good to me so far; I'd be happy for it to stay around a while longer.

 

[Vapus]

Beating a Dead Horse in my opinion.. These same developers are talking about triple A Games on portable media nowadays. Cellphones ipads, ipods etc etc . And they are rapidly approaching hardware superiority to todays space heater consoles. .. What I see here is Cliff simply saying "we can milk this for a few more years easily" ..
There will be no notable improvements in game content or mechanics at all because of consoles.. What is sad is that there doesnt NEED to be improvments in graphics., The sum of a games parts are more important to making a truly great game.. but todays casual gamer accepts less, gets all misty about some half ass textures, plays on a console, and it sells.

Cliff and most other developers are going to sell more games, Will they be "better?" .. I highly doubt it.

 

[silenticecream]

Good. I'm kinda skint.

 

[SpAc3man]

While PCs push the level of computing power available, consoles push the efficiency of the programming utilising it while developers try desperately to squeeze as much out of the last legs of an ageing system as possible to keep it somewhat competitive and financially relevant in comparison to rival systems with more life left in them.

 

[Balobo]

*Looks at how Oblivion looks on 360, looks at how Skyrim will look on 360, hopes for great new games in the next few years. We don't need anything new yet.

Well, that's what I hope to be thinking after another few days.

Eh, I heard Oblivion was only allowed to run on one core and current games have access to all three cores. Plus, Skyrim doesn't look all that impressive and still runs at the standard 720p 30 fps.

Looks impressive to me. As long as it doesn't run as crappy (horrible frame rate slowdown) as Dark Soul's, I'll be happy.

*fingers crossed

Actually looks pretty ugly to me. Especially interiors. Yuck. Hoping the PC version is cleaned up at least a little, although 1080p + 8XMSAA will help a lot.

 

[The Lunatic]

The thing that annoys me more about this situation is how much it limits PC games.

We have the technology to produce some truly awesome things with physics and graphics the consoles can only dream of.

But, if the engine used to make these things can't get 30FPS on a console and look "Okay", then it simply won't happen.