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Sledgehammer Games co-founder Michael Condrey has spoken about developing for current console hardware late into its life cycle, saying that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 have been pushed to their “peak performance”, but that studios “continue to push the visuals to new bars every year”.
“Teams have had a lot of time on this generation to capitalise on the hardware strengths,” said Condrey to IndustryGamers. “For good teams, the raw horsepower has been pushed towards its peak performance, and great teams are looking for hundredths, and more often thousandths of a second of CPU and GPU optimisations to push the consoles harder.”
We should expect to see increases in visual quality next year, says Condrey, but that the advances won’t be as dramatic as previous years.
“Graphic improvements continue to push the visuals to new bars every year and next year should be no different.”
“I don’t expect the leap forward to be as large as the early console years, but the cycle isn’t over yet either. New innovative approaches will move the best in class titles forward again next year. By how much, will depend on how well the developers respond to tackling the most challenging optimisations.”
Looking ahead, Condrey says developers are speculating about next-gen features. “As a developer, there are a lot of opportunities with a hardware jump that excite me. Consistent with every other hardware transition I’ve experienced, the late cycle is filled with anticipation and speculation on the next-gen capabilities.”
“I think the fall line-up of AAA games is greater than ever this year, and it speaks to teams being able to leverage their experience on this generation to deliver really outstanding work.
“New mechanics and interesting game play innovations can come at any phase of the [hardware] cycle, and in many ways the late phases really promote innovative thinking. Developers spend less time having to figure out the ‘how’, giving more time to iterate on the ‘what’. Every part of the development team, be it an engineer, designer, artist, animator, or audio specialist, is always looking to push their discipline further.”
“They are always looking to improve from their previous title. Plus, the installed base is massive.”
“There are tens of millions of fans looking forward to the holiday blockbuster seasons on this generation. Next year there will be a bigger installed base of fans than ever. That, too, is exciting and inspiring and will drive the teams to push harder than ever on this generation of games.”
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is released at midnight tonight, though PC gamers won’t benefit from Elite.
If you’re a little rusty on what’s happened so far in the Modern Warfare franchise, check out our comprehensive story so far feature.
Update: Our Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 review is now live.
About the Author
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
- Platform(s): iOS, macOS, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, PC, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, Xbox One
- Genre(s): Action, First Person, Shooter
