Microsoft To Releases Xbox Next in 2013, Sony Working on PlayStation 4 Games
Not want Sony and Microsoft want us to know of course as they still have consoles to ship this winter but apparently the next generation of consoles are drawing every nearer...
Gaming power has come a long way from its first console duel between the 1972 Magnavox Odyssey and the Atari. The pixelated glory days of Pong ushered in not only a journey down the road of countless classic digital creations and experiences, but an entire new entertainment industry that has grown to the point of having more economic power than some formally recognized Nations. Not too bad for two rectangles and a floating circle (Pong, for those born after 1995). While the race between the three superpowers of Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft was the story of the years throughout the late 90s and early 2000s, there hasnt been much in the news about any so called next generation console development. The unveiling of the current PS3 and Xbox 360 systems in 2005 was treated with almost as much fanfare and importance as the inauguration of a new president, and while these systems have performed brilliantly over the past 6 or so years, I for one think its time to take gaming to the next level. Behold, that time is near. The gaming website Develop has learned from multiple industry hardware manufacturers and sources that initial development has begun towards the creation of a next generation Xbox system. They refer to it as "Xbox Next", previously rumoured to be titled "Xbox 720". Early estimates put the release of the mysterious new system around the 2013 holiday mark, though this is just a guess. The 2013 date would coincide with the release of Epics new Unreal 4 engine, which would make sense. The new engine is thought to be a benchmark for next generation technology, taking advantage of the prospect of having multiple cores available for, well everything. Heres hoping they can make hologram HD bullets fly out of the screen and bounce off of you. Current systems operate with the use of a three cores on a single die, and while game development has improved into the stunning textures of a photo-realistic Call of Duty environment and the face-to-game technology of the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed series, the potential offered by having multiple cores in one system is almost dizzying. Said Tim Sweeny, founder and CEO of Epic Games,
I really see two major milestones coming up for games in the very long-term future. Number one is achieving movie quality graphics and movie quality pixels on the screen The other area is simulation of human aspects of the game experience, simulation of gameplay characters, artificial intelligence, character dialogue and all of these other things which aren't really problems of brute force computing.
So while the artificial intelligence will most likely not be on the level of Cortana from Halo or Jarvis from Ironman, its still enough to make me start a Christmas list for 2013. Meanwhile, the same site reported that Sony had begun working on PlayStation 4 titles. Preliminary work on PlayStation 4 games has begun at several internal Sony studios said a trusted source and that 'Various game projects are at very early stages,. Not want Sony and Microsoft want us to know of course as they still have consoles to ship this winter... So how bout it everyone? What would you like to see in the new console?