Examiner
Last night, Epic Games showcased the latest version of their massively successful “unreal” engine: Unreal Engine 4. Unreal Engine 3 has been used in countless games on platforms ranging from the PC to the Xbox 360 and iPhone. To say this next version is something of importance for the “next generation” of gaming is an understatement.
It’s pretty much expected that Nintendo’s next console won’t be a powerhouse in terms of hardware. There have been rumors claiming it to be “just above” current consoles. Epic Games going on record saying “the platforms we designed ‘Unreal Engine 4’ for have not been announced yet” solidifies that rumor. But what about Microsoft and Sony’s next generation of home consoles? They surely have the horsepower to push Epic Games next engine, right? Tim Sweeny, the founder of Epic Games, may think otherwise. In an interview with Eurogamer, Sweeny had this to say in regards to the next generation Microsoft and Sony platforms:
"There is a huge responsibility on the shoulders of our engine team and our studio to drag this industry into the next generation," said Gears of War design director Cliff Bleszinski. "It is up to Epic, and Tim Sweeney in particular, to motivate Sony and Microsoft not to phone in what these next consoles are going to be. It needs to be a quantum leap. They need to damn near render Avatar in real time, because I want it and gamers want it - even if they don't know they want it."
Sweeney added: "We're much more in sync with the console makers than any other developer is. That means we can give detailed recommendations with a complete understanding of what is going to be commercially possible."
Apparently Epic has seen the specs of both Microsoft and Sony’s next consoles, and are "actively lobbying" for them to be more powerful. We have heard this argument from Epic before, most notably during the development of the current generation of consoles 7 years ago. With the success of Unreal Engine 3, it’s clear that their argument was invalid back then.
But what if it’s not this time? If you haven’t read the news, Sony’s not doing too well at the moment, so they may not be able to “afford” a power house of a console. With Nintendo playing it safe (cheap), that leaves the ball in Microsoft’s court. With Microsoft having zero incentives to push any real hardware numbers due to limited competition, we could be left with Epic Games’ biggest fear: an underpowered next generation of consoles.
http://www.examiner.com/article/epic-games-actively-lobbying-for-more-power-next-gen-consoles
