Ubisoft Montreal is hard at work on 'target boxes' based on the intended specifications of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 successor, according to an Edge source. Delivery of the first iteration of genuine devkits, running custom hardware, is expected to reach studios before Christmas, and all signs point to the finalised console arriving at retail in late 2012.
Ubisoft’s teams are said to be working on PCs containing off-the-shelf components provided by Microsoft, and it’s our understanding that several other major developers, including certain EA studios, are also in possession of these target boxes. While our source was unable to share precise specifications, it is believed that AMD is providing the bespoke GPU solution for Microsoft’s console. A Ubisoft spokesperson said: "We do not comment on rumour and speculation."
We can also reveal that one major Sony-owned studio has now ceased PlayStation 3 development, its entire focus having shifted to the console’s successor. The studio is also said to have been involved in the development process of the graphics technology adopted by Sony’s new hardware.
It is clear that both Sony and Microsoft have learned from their respective experiences this generation and recognise the importance of being first to market. Despite rushing Xbox 360's release - games shown at E3 2005 were running on overheating Power Mac G5s, just six months prior to the console's launch - Microsoft would no doubt view the billion-dollar loss caused by the RROD fiasco as more than justified by the console's eventual market share.
Sony, too, will have learned a painful lesson from coming to market a year after its competitor, with more expensive hardware. That the runaway leader of the previous generation is only now closing in on Microsoft's sales - 55.5 million PS3s had been sold by September 30, with Xbox 360 sales at 57.6 million - speaks volumes of the importance of not giving its competitor another head start.
A 2012 release would also do much to stop Wii U gathering momentum. While Nintendo's new console is significantly more powerful than its predecessor, it boasts little improvement over the current generation of HD consoles in terms of raw processing power.
Wii U has been positioned to developers as a suitable home for Xbox 360 and PS3 ports, and putting new consoles on shelves next year could leave Nintendo scrambling for thirdparty support. Reports this week claim that Microsoft could announce its console at CES in Las Vegas in January; Nintendo is not to reveal the finalised Wii U hardware until E3 in June.
Evidence of an approaching new generation of consoles has been building for some time. Square Enix announced its next-generation Luminous Engine in August, and showed it off last month, while Epic Games demonstrated an enhanced version of Unreal Engine 3, which VP Mark Rein said brought "unprecedented levels of realism and demonstrates what the next generation of gaming will be", at GDC in March.
Internet sleuth Superannuation last month found four Microsoft employees whose LinkedIn pages referenced the next-gen Xbox, and just last night discovered a casual forum reference to Kinect creative director Kudo Tsunoda's "NextGen team at MS".
Square Enix's worldwide technology director Julien Merceron told us in June that companies prepare for new hardware by moving their best talent off current projects. "In the next year and a half or so we'll see a drop in innovation," he said, "because the talent is moving on to something else."
Ubisoft Montreal is currently recruiting for a senior animation programmer, with one of the job's responsibilities the creation of a "next-generation animation system." Yves Jacquier, executive director of production services at the studio, said in July that AI, rather than better graphics, would be the "real battleground" of the next generation.
"Our challenge with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox [360] is that we're extremely limited in what we can do," he said. "It's a challenge for the engineers to provide nice graphics and nice AI and nice sound with a very small amount of memory and computation time.
"We think that the next generation of consoles won't have these limits any more." It appears Jacquier knew more than he was letting on; there is now a very real possibility that all three platform holders will have new consoles on sale this time next year.
Comments
35great.
Interesting. The question is whether they'll be worldwide launches in 2012, or whether we see and Xmas 2012 release for the next Xbox in the US with EU and Asia launches following later. Sony's strategy would be interesting in this regard - you can expect the next PS to dominate Japan, but would Sony be better focusing on the EU and ensuring they launch there before MS?
Whatever the case, I wouldn't be surprised if it's 2013 before we (in the UK/EU) see consoles available on shop shelves....
Exciting. I wonder how many bits they'll be. Loads I would imagine.
I'm ready for the next-gen now. That said, backwards compatibility is an absolute must.
Good point - would allow me to skip the PS3 altogether.....
very good, but its all about launchlineup
Launch line up will be mostly shit. It always is. You better like Ubisoft games.
Although MS do have that certain game beginning with an H slated for Xmas 2012.
I personally do not think we need the next gen yet. Games will be more expensive to develop, therefore will be shorter and more expensive to buy. Digital distribution wont even solve this if the prices for retail games through Xbox Live and PSN are anything to go by.
Personally I have been incredibly unimpressed with this generation of consoles as I feel creativity has taken a back seat to graphics and guns. If you look back at Edge's reviews from this generation, 3 of the highest scoring games have been created on last gen technology (SMG 1& 2 and LZSS),. To come up with ideas and puzzles such as these games have take a lot of time. In the next gen say goodbye to these types of games completely as all new games will revolve around guns (do I need to give an example) and repetitive quests (Skyrim, Mass Effect, pretty much every modern RPG/Adventure game). I suppose it could be argued that most current games revolve around these but occasionally there are diamonds in the rough. It will be far too risky for developers to create anything that is unique or requires any form of complex design. Not unless one of the big 3 can create a powerhouse console that is easy to develop for.
I for one hope that the WiiU is a bit less powerful and cheaper to develop for as I would hate to see the end of devious level designs and core games that are "games" and not blockbuster movies.
And Edge, PLEASE bring back Mr Biffo..........
Good game design is not dead, there have been as many innovative titles released this gen as any other.
People who bang on about every game being in the first person genre (tip first person is a camera angle, not a genre) or being derivative are either not looking for the good games or are miserable twats who were going to moan regardless. Games are the best they have ever been right now.
Indeed, and Redeye while you're at it.
I cannot disagree more with you.
You are the proof people talk without too much knowledge.
I respect your "opinion", but it's far from reality.
Also, if you look at the Edge score, you miss a lots of the real world.
Oh also, I don't think the power of the consoles is a causative correlation in your example. The cause for the existence of those games is not that they were made on a low power console. The cause it is that were made by Nintendo, therefore appear on Nintendo's console, which coincidentally happens to be low power. Unless you think that, had Nintendo produced a more powerful console, those games, or very similar ones, wouldn't have appeared at all?
I don't think you understand how much cost is added to development when trying to optimize for the current generation. The amount of effort it takes is at an all time high. It may actually be a little cheaper to develop for the next gen because developers can rely on the brute force of the hardware and not have to worry about the extreme optimization this gen currently requires until late in the game (5 years +).
Modern consoles are getting more expensive to develop for because it requires a LOT more effort to achieve more on them.
But I like games with guns. And I don't like games with camp plumbers or fey elves.
Also, you're really not looking hard enough if you think creativity exclusively springs from Miyamoto's mind.
And its going to be the MS Loop apparently, with the oo printed as infinity..
Which is nice.
So, an Xbox launch without a Gotham racer though, that's going to be painful, although don't MS own those rights?
Any chance they can get the band back together???
Geometry Wars III?
PS4 though, not sure that's a console I want...
What, more Uncharted, more GT?
Reckon the presence of Halo and other exclusives on the MS hardware up to now has made PS ownership unattractive, and given that the COD gravy train has to run out of puff sooner or later.... With any luck.
Anyone else getting bored with IW?
Getting?
Really?!?! Seriously? Do you think that games grow on trees? You honestly think that the Xbox 720 and PS4 will launch alongside the Wii U. You honestly think that developers will make new engines and game sin less than a year on hardwrae that hasn't been finalized and with deve kits that don't exist in anywhere near a final state?
Come on. I know this is a slow news day, but really. We've all been through a few cycles. You know that news filters out slowly. We'll be hearing out next gen consoles for a while before they come out. NOT for less than a year.
Do you honestly think its even vaguely possible for games and engines that will take 3-4 years to be ready next year that are just now being started or were started last year.
This article is one of the silliest bits of sensationalist rumor I've read on Edge in a while. I expect better from Edge.
I'm with you here. This is just a ludicrous story that Edge of all publications should not be printing. Halo 4 is out for 360 a year from now. Why on Earth would Microsoft then go and release a new console at the same time? They have also just spent a huge amount of money getting lots of new TV channels from around the world on to XBL and that, along with a new dashboard, isn't due until later this year/ early next, which just makes this story all the more rubbish.
If a new console from Microsoft or Sony was due anytime I would bet my house on one of them at least, being released around Xmas 2013. No earlier.
You don't know how long developers have been working on these games. Besides you do not need a whole new engine to port a game to a next gen console. Engines are more flexible than you think in terms of using system resources. With more resources, the more the engine can do. Look at PC games, especially the original Crysis, if you compare the low settings to high settings, it really seems as if you're comparing two different games.
The argument about Halo 4 being released in 2012 actually helps out this rumor. Sure, it has already been confirmed that Halo 4 will be on the Xbox 360, but it has never been said that it won't also be on the next Xbox. Halo 4 would be the perfect title to help launch the next xbox. The impact could be just as big as the original xbox and the original Halo. I'm sure that it would even be possible to have cross platform play between the xbox 360 and the next xbox.
@thatonedude671 - Actually I do. I'm a game developer and I'm speaking from experience. I do know how long developers have been working on most games. I talk to friends and colleagues across the industry. We all know roughly where everyone is with what we're building. There are rarely surprises. You can't surpirse when you can't hire in a vacuum. The range of what is being made is pretty damn obvious from the inside.
And you clearly have no idea what you're talking about in terms of engines. The engines for the next gen consoles will have a lot of code carried over, but key areas will be built from scratch, because underlying assumptions about memory, cpu and gpu bandwidth, shaders, revisions of APIs, all can change. And no, Crysis on low vs high settings is a variation across a graphics spectrum of one game. If you think that is two different games, can I charge you twice for the next game I put out?
@ digital leaf
I'm gonna call your bluff and say that you aren't actually a developer. Besides, you were not even smart enough to understand my comment on Crysis. I was obviously giving an example of how flexible game engines can be. How could you even think I was talking about it being two different games. Not only do I question your claim about being a developer, I also question your intelligence. Proof or you're lying.
Interesting how the mentality still seems to be "better this, and better that" when it is the "take a step back" approach to video games which is proving the most profitable. The majority of consumers have long since lost interest in how powerful a console may be or how many features it may have.
I for one have zero interest in how realistic a game looks or sounds or how complex it may be. I just want to enjoy it, and I think it is BabyWuigi's comment that highlights this issue in a similar way. I just don't find as many "modern" games as much fun as those which utilise traditional gamplay. I find modern games more addictive, but fun? Nope.
Can I ask what it is you're addicted to, if modern games aren't fun? Something's obviously pulling you back to play them, so if it isn't "fun", is "fun" even a necessary component?
I played through SMG recently which was fun, and I'm currently playing through Dark Souls, which is not. Not what might be typically considered "fun" anyway, but it is incredibly enjoyable. "fun" is only one ingredient.
Realism isn't such an inconsequential aspect though, as it enhances atmosphere (visually, aurally), and can create very immersive environments and gameplay through the use of physics. Realistic graphics, realistic AI, realistic animations and movements, realistic physics... could all lead to some quite innovative games; so don't dismiss the possibilities of new hardware and what it might achieve. The technological race for better graphics might be slowing, but there's still a lot of depth to be plumbed overall.
I kind of wish there wasn't new hardware though; I'm a long way off being bored of the current generation, and always feel we're rushing ahead too much, and not getting the benefit of more imaginative programming, the kind that comes with deep familiarity with the hardware. Instead, as people have suggested, it's going to be bigger, flashier guns and effects. I'll probably wait before buying in; let the dust settle first. So even if there IS new hardware in 2012, I won't be expecting to get involved till at least a year later.
Oh, and the arguments that the efforts of MS in getting new stuff for XBL means it'd be foolish releasing new kit? There's no reason that the efforts won't be compatible with the new machines; moreover they'd be foolish *not* to make every current title and application work with the new machines. Nobody is going to forgive MS for snaffling their gamerscore for instance :o
Curses, I answered your comment but when I came back the next day it was gone, oh well.
If the next Xbox and PS4 come with some form of Kinect and Move as standard then Microsoft and Sony can sod right off as far as I'm concerned. I won't buy either console. I loathe motion sensing controls. And thanks to scratching part of my DS's touch screen to buggery through playing hours of Picross 3D, I've pretty much gone off touch screens. So I'm leaning towards not buying a Weee-ooo with its touch screen controller.
Take the games you are currently developing, spend a year making the graphics look better.
That's how the first year will go.
Plus Ubisoft shovelware.
Also, don't worry, a 2012 launch does not mean a 2012 UK launch.
FINALLY.
MY PC GAMES WILL START TO ACTUALLY LOOK GOOD :D
Seriously though, imagine how amazing Skyrim could have looked if it wasn't developed for this generation of consoles.
Although, even though I'm not a fan of their games anymore, I do worry about how Infinity Ward will cope... Simply because they will actually have to do some WORK (or maybe they'll try to get away with using the same engine again, which totally wouldn't suprise me).
@digital_leaf
As stated in the article, and from previous knowledge, Xbox 360 games were running off a Power Mac (which, if my extraordinary knowledge of hardware technology is correct, is not an Xbox 360) a mere 6 months before Xmas 2005 (Xbox 360's launch). Plus we don't know how long devs have had access to these kits (same as when this generation was coming about), and the fact that devs have stopped making games for this current generation, I think that it's not impossible to see a new generation of consoles by Xmas 2012.
If you remember correctly (or just do a simple google search), the Xbox 360 was officially announced just 6 months before release, again, meaning if the new generation of Microsoft and/or Sony consoles was announced early next year, then who's to say they can't come around by Xmas 2012?
@BabyWuigi
"I personally do not think we need the next gen yet. Games will be more expensive to develop, therefore will be shorter and more expensive to buy."
By that way of thinking, we should never release a new console, and continue to make the Xbox 360 & Playstation 3 until humanity ends.
Game development only gets harder if the platform being developed for is a struggle to. Many, many developers had gripes with the PS3 simply because it was an absolute b**ch to program for, that's not the developer's fault they've had to spend more time & money on developing for that particular console, that's the console creator's (i.e. SONY).
To be fair though, most of the games we'd see at launch would purely be either to show off what each developer can do, or a simple port from the previous generation (ala Battlefield 2: Modern Combat or Need For Speed: Most Wanted).
Personally, only good things can come of a new generation of consoles, and as a PC gamer first and foremost seeing the latest games litterally held back by console technology, I can't wait.
First off, Chris Morris has a fairly reasoned response to all of this over at Gamasutra
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/38631/Opinion_Cutting_Through_The_Hype_On_The_Xbox_720_Rumors.php
Second @Houldendub, I am a game developer. Thanks but you really don't need to lecture me with your rumors and speculation. I've developed games for a long time. I've seen many console generations. I know exactly how the launch process works. That's why I'm saying this is a bs article. I remember the dev kits for the last consoles (or the ones before these or the ones before those) quite well. I remember when we got them and how they changed over time. When MS, Sony and Ninty are ready for the next gen we'll know well beforehand.
I think that Grand Theft Auto 5 would be a GREAT Launch Title and if either SONY or Microsoft can get exlusive FIRST Release it would be EPIC and a Complete Game Changer. Or a GOD OF WAR at launch. Of course dreaming is great but lets be real launch titles will probably be RIDGE RACER (as this is the only time they release a game) SOCOM (SONY) Little Planet (SONY) And some new RARE game for (MICROSOFT) I guess we will see either way I'm getting both systems regardless of price.
I want either to be a tiny black box with 100TB Hard Drive. Download only titles. No controllers. Motion gesturing with my cock.
Just imagine Leisure Suit Larry on said console.
You have to take this with a grain of salt. While I have not doubt that the current console generation is nearing at least the half way cycle. At least when asked Sony on their current position. I would say it is more realistic to see a latter 2013-2014 release being more feasible. Not to mention that if 2012 was really on their radar. They would have already announced it by now. If nothing else confirmed it to a lesser extent. Although I do find it interesting that Naughty Dog has gone on the record saying that Uncharted 3 will likely be the developers last outing on the system. Although Epic said the same thing for Gears Of War 3. I swear ever developers says this and then they come out with something better. I think both the Xbox and PS3 have quite a bit of life left in them yet. The only thing which might bring this a little closer to reality is the hacking, PSN issues
Sony has had.
In addition to the hardware problems Xbox still continues to have. Both are major issues and have cost both companies a lot of money. So no doubt their planned next gen offering has likely moved up sooner then either had planned originally. Although I hope this won't be another rush to market. I am willing to wait a bit if it means a better faster more reliable system. That goes for both systems for that matter. The PS4 on the other hand is going to need to be quite a substantial upgrade from it's current version although. Larger memory and a faster Blue-Ray drive is a must. The Core processor technology is almost a given as well. Sony has spent hundreds of millions of dollars into the development and manufacturing of it as well as production plants. So it is a bit unrealistic to assume this will change.
Although that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Most current generation games never took advantage of the cell's true capabilities. Now that developers have a better idea how to program for it I say keep it. Maybe add more SPEs to 16 as this has an optimal power to heat ratio if manufactured at 32nm. At 32nm they could double the local storage for each SPE to 512 which will add much more performance for games. Clock speed they could increase to 3.8GHz proving they can produce the chips under 22nm. That might be a bit of a stretch but who know in 2 years where that will go. As far as the GPU I say anything close or around to a Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 should be more then enough.
A 256 bit bus so that it can communicate with the cell fast enough, a 820MHz core clock speed, 1Gb of VRAM clocked @ 1GHz (4GHz effective speed). All of which if utilized properly could do 1080p & 3D @ 120 FPS and most importantly unified shader cores means more polygons, higher resolution textures and better effects. Lastly at least I Gig but preferably 2 Gigs of XDR 2 memory. This will all but eliminate the memory problem the system currently has. While adding some future headroom to work with later. Lastly a Solid State drive if costs can come down by then as will increase load times considerably. At least 4 USB 3.0 drives would also be nice. The PS4 may very well follow it's previous versions and knock it out of the ballpark but that isn't necessary not to mention cost effective. What do you guys think?
I believe that in order to survive in the next generation, hardware manufacturers are going to need to rethink their "more power" strategy. It is costly, and that could pose a problem with world economies struggling and austerity measures biting into society's purse; people are making very careful purchases at the moment and this will undoubtedly affect the sales of a new expensive console.
The culture of gaming has also undergone massive changes in the last few years. Raw power is of little interest to the consumer anymore and this is reflected in mass gaming habits. This approach by manufacturers to make consoles more powerful is outdated, very last century, and doesn't apply in today's market, culture and economy.
Also, manufacturers appear to be turning a blind eye to the greater competition. While Nintendo tries to bring the Modern Warfare generation back into their fold as well as their old non-gamer user base, Sony and Microsoft appear to be playing pistols at dawn with each other over who can be first out of the gate with the "best", most powerful console". While all this is going on, online, social, tablet and phone gaming grows stronger and more profitable, with their offerings being simple and accessible fun.
I do not believe that more powerful and more complex is the correct direction to take this industry. In keeping with Nintendo's original strategy, make it simple, make it fun, make it original, make it creative but get the backing of the major players. The Wii was a great first step into what could potentially be an industry of amazing ideas come to life. All the big 3 need to do is think outside the box for a change (or in Nintendo's case, again).
A new gen of consoles that come later in 2012, is what a believed since the announce of Wii U, but the world crysis momentum seems like a problem that Sony and Microsoft will have to manage pretty well, if they want to reach the success.
Anyway, our currently hardware generation it's pretty old, but it is in his best moment, with games like Dark Souls, Zelda: SS arrives just now which indicates that the following year must be his last, because normally in the games industry the year after a new gen arrival is the best year of this generation.