The PlayStation 4 has only just now started to hit its stride, but in this industry, one always looks forward tot he next big thing- that is the reason that Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft all begin work on their next systems as soon as their current ones at the time are released, and why we always have some exciting new technology, like the Kinect and 3D, to look forward to.
This year looks particularly interesting for fans of the hobby- with the impending rise of consumer grade VR solutions, as well as the launch of Nintendo’s enigmatic NX console, which presumably kicks off the ninth generation of gaming, we have a lot of exciting developments to look forward to. But all of this is a known quantity to developers, who have presumably have had their hands on development kits for a while now. Instead, these developers seem to be looking even further out- such as to the PS4 and Xbox One successors.
Take, for instance, Paul Ross. Ross used to work with Criterion, the guys who made the incredibly popular Renderware engine back in the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube era, and who also gave us the enduring Burnout franchise. He left Criterion a while back (when EA nerfed and downsized it beyond recognition), and currently works with his own studio, Three Fields Entertainment. Speaking about his upcoming game, Dangerous Golf, to EDGE, he managed to veer the conversation off to what he believes the next generation of consoles may be like.
“[So I am] sitting here thinking, ‘OK, what does a PlayStation 5 game look like? What does an Xbox Two game look like? And how can we start to build for that future now?'” Ross said.
He continued: “Physics engines haven’t changed since I did the physics on [Dreamcast game] TrickStyle. They’re all about rigid bodies, solid objects. This is a real paradigm shift because it’s about simulating physics at a molecular level. It’s been a really hard problem to solve for quite a while.
“So what does a PS5 game look like? With PS4 we’ve seen some fidelity put into the worlds, but PS5’s going to be about more dynamic worlds, far more interactive worlds that are more believable in the way they behave.”
What does the next generation look like? We are due to get at least part of the answer to that question, once Nintendo unveils the Nintendo NX… whenever it is that they decide to unveil it, really. As for the PS4 and Xbox One, their successors are probably a while away- the two consoles are just two years old, and they have only just now begun to hit their stride. Still, contemplating future hardware is always fun, which is doubtless why Ross is doing it, too.