Now, I understand that releasing a new console generation right now is a risky endeavor. We've just gone through an economic crisis. And even at the best of times, selling consoles at a loss can be tricky (there was a time when the XBox was hemorrhaging money, and it was years before Sony could actually gain a profit off the PS3). I'm not suggesting releasing new consoles now will be a great idea.
But at the same time, I'm taken aback by people's comments about how a new generation will introduce more advanced tech and game development will become even pricier. At the same time they argue that the graphics rendered by the current hardware is good enough.
(Personal hypothesis, probably flawed.)
Think of it - how many years did id work on Rage? Something like 5 years, right? Quite a bit of that time has been put into the data streaming tech for the consoles because of the limited memory of the XBox and PS3. All that work could have been avoided if the consoles had a larger memory cache. And it's not even a technology that will probably have future application like height maps or virtual texturing, because when the next consoles come with a bit more RAM, it'll probably be scrapped as the CPU power would have better utilization on other stuff like, say, AI with more advanced routines. Or think of the Crysis port. Yes, the consoles can now run Crysis, but at what price? A little less than half a decade's worth of optimization that led to CryEngine3.
One thing people forget to consider is that optimization takes resources and raises development costs. If new hardware will raise development costs and thus make ventures riskier, why are Ubisoft and Epic clamoring for a console upgrade?
Just a thought.
But at the same time, I'm taken aback by people's comments about how a new generation will introduce more advanced tech and game development will become even pricier. At the same time they argue that the graphics rendered by the current hardware is good enough.
(Personal hypothesis, probably flawed.)
Think of it - how many years did id work on Rage? Something like 5 years, right? Quite a bit of that time has been put into the data streaming tech for the consoles because of the limited memory of the XBox and PS3. All that work could have been avoided if the consoles had a larger memory cache. And it's not even a technology that will probably have future application like height maps or virtual texturing, because when the next consoles come with a bit more RAM, it'll probably be scrapped as the CPU power would have better utilization on other stuff like, say, AI with more advanced routines. Or think of the Crysis port. Yes, the consoles can now run Crysis, but at what price? A little less than half a decade's worth of optimization that led to CryEngine3.
One thing people forget to consider is that optimization takes resources and raises development costs. If new hardware will raise development costs and thus make ventures riskier, why are Ubisoft and Epic clamoring for a console upgrade?
Just a thought.
