Next gen will be ’10 times as powerful,’ says Carmack

Next gen will be ’10 times as powerful,’ says Carmack
James Orry Updated on by

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The next-generation of consoles will be here soon and promises to deliver performance levels way beyond what is currently on the table, id Software co-founder John Carmack has told Eurogamer.

“The next-generation will be here soon, a couple of years,” Carmack said.

“It’ll be another ten times as powerful as this [PS3, Xbox 360]. I’d be surprised if that doesn’t last over a decade before people wind up saying, well, we’ve really tapped out everything you could possibly do on there.”

Carmack’s thoughts on the next generation back up VideoGamer.com’s scoop that the next Xbox console is likely to be shown at E3 2012 with Crytek UK working on TimeSplitters 4 for the new system. A reveal next summer would point to a late 2012 or early 2013 launch.

The tenfold increase in processing power will bring new challenges to the table, Carmack has said.

“The better games get the harder you have to go to give a delta people care about,” he said. “That’s going to be a challenge for the next-generation of consoles, to show what pack-in title is going to look so much more awesome than what you get on the current ones that people want to go spend $300 on a new console.

“They’ll be able to do it on the next generation, but it’s going to be much harder.”

Carmack’s latest title, Rage, will launch in October.