Most accurate post in here.

Fat chance of that ever happening, I think. It will most likely remain a tech demo.

Perhaps not... didn't some earlier Unreal Engine Tech demos have assets from Gears of War?

Stupid decision if they do that.

Yea, Grift is right. I wouldn't be surprised to see the assets used again for something else down the road. Didn't CliffyB also leave to start his own studio?

DELETED

It might not even be a matter of it being easy to use. It just might have a chance of being one of few modestly optimized engines for the new consoles. Then again, I don't anticipate as many devs being caught flat footed with regards to development for the new consoles as they were with the 360 and ps3, so maybe there's a chance UE4 may not find the same degree of success that UE3 did, at least initially.

And supposedly one of their new engine's biggest features was supposedly ripped out altogether in favor of a lesser option or something of that nature? Don't remember where I heard this.

And then the xbox 4 can be called: Xbox After Next, that would be perfect!

http://youtu.be/EV_XjhzSZkM

They could call it New Box then.

Go back nd forth between New Box and Next Box, cant go wrong.

xxXBOXxx

xBOX

LOL.

Eggsbox and the new console mascot.

I've seen all the rumours, seen the diagrams, seen the arguments etc. Tbh, i'm very worried for MS.

On paper, the specs we have are a disaster not just in relation to the PS4 specs but in comparison to time since last generation, mobile phones, tablets and other technology growth. Throwing so many resources at such benign functionality is insane, effectively 1/3 of the consoles power is restricted to run stupid apps and the OS or funelled off into their kinect nonsense. Kinect had its time, it died. I doubt many casuals would throw more money at it and if the cost of the package is inclusive of a kinect sensor then the hardcore would rather it was binned and better hardware was used. Much like the WiiU value was pumped into the controller and crippled the hardware I fear MS doing the same futile thing.

MS also has to worry about the paywalls they tend to create, XBLG is a bad idea going forward, restricting online play to paid members is against the grain and will have give people something extra to consider when purchasing. This is where releasing side by side with the PS4 becomes very precarious, paywalls, kinect, worse hardware, smaller first party portfolio are all negatives out the gate. Brand loyalty does not exist anymore, the 360 ensured that and they should be aware what happened to sony when they climbed up their own arse in 2005.

Thats to say the rumours are correct, theyre 9 months old and they could have some secrets in there still but with the trajectory of MS game studios the past few years they are somewhat believable. Sony already upgraded the PS4 in response to the 720 rumours so no doubt that will have worried MS, hopefully enough to reconsider being conservative and using the console as a trojan horse to push kinect and control the living room. I have enough set top boxes to want my console doing the same thing. I want my console to play games as quickly and spectacularly as possible. I have other ways to access other crap.

I wouldn't be too worried about the next Xbox, considering there is apparently final hardware that has yet to make it to developers that has been expected to be apart of the final design. And then there's the fact that some changes can and likely will be made. I doubt anything radical changes, but I also don't feel we have (or really ever had) a complete picture of the next xbox. So, what someone may call a radical change, could simply turn out to be something that was simply always in the pipeline from the start, but simply never quite made it accurately into the rumor mill.

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest bit if come middle of next month or even March, when I think components that Microsoft expects to have in the final retail box, actually finally finds its way into dev kits, we are suddenly singing a very different tune about what the next xbox will be.

Are Microsoft going for a big entertainment, control your living room type box? Sure, they are, but they are going for a very serious hardcore gaming machine, too. They aren't suddenly saying to hell with the hardcore gamer and gunning for casuals. I expect a serious gaming machine, but I understand that they may just have a different way of getting to that goal and may have plans that they feel are just as important and not insignificant additions to their platform. I think when people get around to seeing the complete picture, and actually see some of the games, they'll come to the conclusion that there was no need to be worried in the first place. 8GB is nothing to scoff at (still feel the specifics of this 8GB isn't a closed case yet, either), no matter how much faster GDDR5 is. The ESRAM is capable of things that a lot of developers had been saying for some time they wished the EDRAM on the 360 was capable of, even if the overall bandwidth is apparently less compared to what the EDRAM offered. The R in the PS3 was actually, to my knowledge, much, much faster than the GDDR3 inside the Xbox 360 as well, so what we'd be seeing here isn't exactly uncharted territory.

8GB is a very big deal. Even if a whopping 3GB -- which I somehow highly doubt -- goes to the OS, what you are left with is something that will still greatly benefit games and that is also something developers have been asking for. It doesn't necessarily all need to be for any one specific purpose. In fact, in some cases, it either doesn't make sense or simply isn't practical or possible to use all remaining ram for any one thing, depending on the style of game and what resolution and frame rate they are targeting. Still, I've said this before, and I stand by it now. I honestly could care less about games being in 1080p or 720p. I still think 720p is a fantastic resolution for hardcore next gen titles. I would sacrifice 1080p 30fps in a heartbeat for something that was even more amazing at 720p 30fps. Earlier in the gen between the 360 and ps3, we all got so caught up in the 720p versus 1080p discussion and it all amounted to a hill of beans. Sure, these machines are more powerful now, so 1080p is more practical and possible, but I still don't see it as a must or necessity. Last I checked, most sane individuals don't play games for the purpose of finding out which is the more technically superior, or which is pushing the highest resolution. Mark my words, there will be tons (hundreds) of ps4 and next xbox 720p at 30fps titles.

Also, very important, I wouldn't overlook the various hardware acceleration hardware that is rumored to be on the next xbox, such as the one for audio or whatever the supposed data move engines are about. Last but not least.

Do not underestimate the potential of a next gen Kinect potentially packed in with every single new xbox sold. People may laugh and think ROFL Kinect, but people will be able to do a lot of things with a next gen Kinect, even some of the current things that current gen Kinect can do, and they won't feel it's so stupid. I'm not referring to those crappy wii sports like titles or some gimmicky core game integration, I'm talking about a lot of hardcore gamers probably not minding at all the thought of completely operating or doing things with their next gen xbox controller/remote free, with a few simple voice commands or hand gestures. Kinect, a next gen Kinect, might be an entirely new beast for many should one come with every single new xbox. Kinect is already a bit of a success without being packed into every xbox. Imagine a more impressive, next gen version of the technology?

Well rumours say PS4 is aiming for 4k resolution...sounds ridiculous for 2013.

But in 2005, when I bought my Xbox360, I also thought that HD TVs and Blu-Rays are some gimmicky tech-shit no one is ever going to need.
I mean you have to see those new consoles as machines you will still be using in 2020, and maybe then, playing games in 720p will feel like playing 480p games today.

Although I dont own a PS3, you really have to give Sony credits for having the guts to put some serious state-to-the-art technology into their newly launched machines...


Oh and Kinect is shit, no matter what! If the Nextbox is going to focus on it it can kiss my ass! Voice-controls my ass! I seriously can not think of a scenario in which Kinect might improve the gaming exoerience in a hard-core game.

And yelling, or waving commands at your A.I. squad does not improve anything, it just makes you feel like an utter and complete idiot...

My problem with kinect is that the hardware has a simple value calculation where the kinect features into it. Hardware + peripherals = RRP. Now, if MS wants to take a hit on kinect and supply it for free out of the box then ok, but I don't see them doing that, instead either the cost of the console to the consumer will increase or more likely the value of the hardware will decrease resulting in a weaker machine compared to the competition. As I said earlier, in that instance I would much rather have the more powerful hardware in every instance. The Wii U is a prime example of this, the majority of the cost of the console is actually the controller, that is so ass backwards it's funny.

I agree MS could have something up their sleeve, the dev kits were rumoured to have 2.5TF gpu in them at one stage which is a far call from the 1.2TF rumoured to be in the final machine. Those specs though look so bad RAM with 1/3 as much bandwidth (even if the ESRAM makes some of that up its still only 32mb, maybe the DME can help aswell) and the pool works out as 4.5GB vs 3.5GB when you take out what the OS eats which is insane. Same CPU but durango reserves 2 whole cores for the OS which again is nuts.

For durango to work the OS footprint needs to be shrunk massively and the GPU needs to be almost doubled (perhaps the dual gpu thing is right), it looks like a mountain to climb but I don't think MS have a choice unless they want a lame duck out the door.

As for the casual vs hardcore thing, these companies have all been deluded by a market that never existed in the first place, casuals are fickle and tend to move from one device to the next at the drop of a hat and right now theyve all moved to tablets and smartphones, they aint coming back. Unfortunately so many of the companies have committed themselves down this track often at the cost of their original fanbase, just look at where MS' resources went during the last 3-4 years, kinect, kinect, kinect. Fewer and fewer first party titles, closure of first and second party studios. It looked like the maneuvering of a company that was shifting direction or closing up shop.

I dont think Kinect will ever be embraced by the Hardcore crowd, but its also far from a failure, its sold and made millions for MS there is no way in hell any sane Business person would omit it from next gen. As for the rumored specs they sound good to me, and MS have always been great on providing great sofware services making devs jobs easier to develope games for its hardware, so i expect it to be just as much embraced as the 360, the ps4 specs sound good to me also, hopefully in March we get some closer finale specs released.

To me, each gen is a clean slate, clutching back to what they sold on the previous gen is insane. Kinect may have sold a lot of units initially, but it didnt sell games and was very much a flash in the pan fad like wii motion controls were. Assuming the same crowd will buy the same tat for the same money or more isn't gonna work and they sure as hell aren't gonna be the people that generate any buzz out of the gates to drive a console forward.

The WiiU is the benchmark right now for casual systems and how they launch, it fell out of the gates with a whimper and all the nintendo fans in the world couldnt propel it into the casual crowds household because that market has up and left to the tablet market.

Just read the piece by the FXAA guy and I agree completely, just going on the specs and the way MS have been positioning themsleves with surface and windows 8 I can see this becoming an absolute disaster. Again, maybe the rumours are completely wrong, but none of them are the least bit positive in any way.

WiiU sold more than the Wii at launch so hardly a whimper, Kinect / Move motion controls in general are not going away, for each company they bring a different market and revenue, which in this econermy businesses won't ignore. I myself will just do what i've always done and just play the games i want to play the way i want play them.

WiiU sales are declining rapidly, game uptake is still woeful. The only reason it beat other consoles sales is cause it flooded the channels while the other consoles they couldnt produce them quick enough. Wii and 360 were sold out for months after launch.

I will play whatever, i'm just worried that going forward the market will shrink to just sony due to MS being inept. It looks to be the same attitude that sony had going into 2005, release anything at any price and the same market they had will still be there to buy it.