Is it really that time already? Man, it just seems like yesterday that I got my PS3. It looks like some studios are in fact getting “target boxes†to start development on. A target box is basically just a PC with off the shelf parts based on the specifications of the final systems. Ubisoft Montreal have confirmed that they are working on these target boxes, other studios that are rumored to also be working on the target boxes include an unnamed EA studio.
It is expected that the studios will be receiving their first devkits using custom hardware by Christmas. It’s looking more and more likely that we will see the next Xbox and the PS4 around the holidays next year. The source that told Edge Magazine this information also mentioned that he/she believed that AMD is providing the GPU for the next Xbox.
One other notable aspect of the article was that one unnamed major Sony studio has ceased developing for the PS3 and is focused on the PS4. This particular studio also has apparently helped in the creation of the graphics technology for Sony’s next system.
Yves Jacquier, executive director of production services at Ubisoft Montreal, said back in July that graphics wouldn’t be the main focus this next generation but AI would become more important. “”Our challenge with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox [360] is that we’re extremely limited in what we can do, he said. It’s a challenge for the engineers to provide nice graphics and nice AI and nice sound with a very small amount of memory and computation time. We think that the next generation of consoles won’t have these limits any more.â€
All this makes me both excited and nervous. I’m super excited to see where this next generation goes, and what new technology it brings, but, I’m not ready to let go of this generation. My PS3 and 360 don’t feel outdated, they still have so much life in them! Not to mention that I don’t know where I’m gonna get all the money to buy these new systems.
