Hasta La Gadget!

Bethesda VP of PR and marketing Pete Hines has been in the news a lot lately. With the current unrest over the lack Dawnguard on PS3, Hines has been tasked with fending off angry gamers on Twitter, and most of what we know about Bethesda’s current struggle has come from him. Today he’s in the news again, but this time its completely unrelated to Dawnguard‘s development woes. Instead, Hines tells MCV that he’s in no rush for the next generation to arrive, as there’s still plenty left to do with current generation machines.

When asked if the industry needs a new round of consoles, Hines started by outlining what’s good with the current generation hardware we’ve been using for years. “I don’t think the current generation of consoles are holding us back,” he said. “There is still plenty that we are able to do visually, technically and from a story-telling standpoint. And there’s this huge built-in audience now.” Hines then went on to outline a couple of problems developers face when manufacturers introduce new consoles.

According to him, the problems are “two-fold.” The first is that it can be hard for developers to make games for new consoles when the dev kits they receive typically aren’t a snapshot of the final product. The internal hardware almost always changes from the time developers receive their first dev kits to the time the consoles actually launch, which results in the developers trying to “hit a moving technical target.” This, obviously, can cause some problems for developers who are trying to have a game out the door at the same time new consoles launch.

The second problem Hines has with new console generations is that “your install base always starts at zero.” It’s true that a lot of people buy new consoles immediately after launch, but many consumers also stick to their old consoles for a while, leaving developers to decide between making games for the new consoles exclusively or for both new and old hardware. That seems like it would complicate things a bit, at least until more people start upgrading to next generation consoles.

To be fair, however, these are problems that every developer faces at the beginning of every generation. To hold off on the next generation because developing for constantly-changing hardware can be a headache or because the split in audience forces a developer to choose who to cater to doesn’t make much sense, as those problems are inevitable regardless of when the next generation arrives. In any case, if the rumors are true, the folks at Bethesda could be facing these issues as soon as next year, so the next generation may be launching sooner than Hines would like. Stay tuned.

Bethesda’s Pete Hines doesn’t think we need new consoles yet is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Well here’s something we definitely weren’t expecting to see today: Harmonix, the genius studio behind Rock Band and Guitar Hero, is apparently developing a real-time combat game for next generation consoles. A job ad on Gamasutra reveals as much, with Harmonix looking for a “Combat Designer to create real-time, single-player combat experiences for a brand new IP on next generation hardware.” In other words, it would appear that Harmonix is ready to branch out from the rhythm genre.

Even more interesting is what Harmonix had to say to Kotaku when questioned about the job ad. Though Harmonix’s John Drake didn’t get into specifics about this new game, he did confirm that Harmonix is currently working on it, and that this is just one of “multiple new IPs” the studio is working on. Drake ended his statement to Kotaku by saying that “Harmonix is making new kickass IPs, some portion of which may have some combat.”

So, Harmonix is definitely working on a new single-player IP that involves combat in some capacity, and it seems that the studio is pretty excited about it. Unfortunately, don’t expect to hear much more about this new IP anytime soon; given the fact that it’s intended for next generation consoles, we definitely won’t be getting a reveal before the next Xbox and PlayStation have been announced. That is, of course, unless this is a Wii U exclusive, in which case a reveal may not be that far off.

Speculation about reveal dates and platforms is all well and good, but to be honest, we’re just excited to see what Harmonix can do outside of the rhythm genre. The vast majority of Harmonix’s games have been related to the genre in one way or another, and while most of those games have been great, the rhythm genre can be pretty restricting. It’s clear the team at Harmonix is very talented, and as far as we’re concerned, it’s long past time that those talents be put toward something fresh and exciting.

Harmonix hiring for next-gen, real-time combat game is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The next console generation is technically getting underway with this year’s release of the Wii U, but to many gamers, the next generation won’t truly arrive until the next Xbox and PlayStation are introduced as well. When that will happen is really anyone’s guess – we’ve heard plenty of rumors, but Microsoft and Sony are both remaining tight-lipped on their plans for new consoles. Today, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot told Gamasutra that his company is ready for the next generation to kick off, saying that a new lineup of consoles would do a lot to spark innovation within the industry.

“We have been penalized by the lack of new consoles on the market,” Guillemot said. “I understand the manufacturers don’t want them too often because it’s expensive, but it’s important for the entire industry to have new consoles because it helps creativity.”

Guillemot said that when new consoles arrive on the scene, developers and publishers are more willing to take risks and experiment with new franchises. These days, however, companies are less willing to introduce new IPs and instead stick with franchises that are proven money makers, like Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty.

Likewise, Guillemot points out that gamers are sticking to what they know too, buying the newest titles in those popular franchises because they know those are the games all of their friends will be buying. What results is a circle where neither consumers nor developers are willing to take any risks, and that’s a problem which could potentially be solved by introducing new consoles and getting consumers excited about spending money on what’s new rather than what’s popular.

The Ubisoft executive brings up a pretty good point. One only needs to look at the releases for the latter half of 2011 to see that developers and publishers are clinging to tried-and-true franchises and aren’t letting go: Battlefield 3, Gears of War 3, Uncharted 3, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Saints Row: The Third, and Modern Warfare 3 (to name a few) were all released within months of each other as 2011 was winding down. Looking at it that way, a new console generation might just be what the doctor ordered after all.

Ubisoft CEO calls for next console generation is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It seems like Sony has only been working on the successor to the PS3 for a couple years, as opposed to the traditional console life cycle where hardware makers used to go to the drawing board for the new console right after the current console’s launch. Sony has of course been silent on the topic of the PS4, but it can’t silence its employees from touting their laurels.

Eagle-eyed observers have come across the LinkedIn profile of one Attila Vass, former research and development director for Sony. In Vass’s digital resume, he mentions that he worked on the “Next Generation PlayStation” from 2010 to 2012, including development on graphics and security. Unfortunately, this still doesn’t tell us much about the console.

The only thing we can really glean from this is that the PS4 is not coming to stores any time soon. This is of course uncharted territory for the console gaming market. Never before has a console lived on for more than five years with virtually no one wondering when the next one would come. The Xbox 360 is admittedly starting to show its age and there have been far more many rumors about its successor than there have been for the PS4. Don’t expect a Sony announcement in this realm any time soon.

[via PSX Extreme]

Sony PS4 in development since 2010 per resume is written by Mark Raby & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.