Xbox 720 will have movie quality graphics. Is that a good thing?

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In a recent interview AMD director of ISV relationships, Neal Robison, hinted that the next gen Xbox (Xbox 720) would have graphics like Avatar, and very advanced physics and AI capabilities. He mentioned that in a game like Grand Theft Auto, every character in a crowd could have their own mentality and individual response to a situation. Impressive indeed. PC's of today, eat your hearts out.

But at what cost?

Estimates put the cost of Avatar at about $280–310 million to produce (with an estimated $150 million for marketing on top). Compare that to the predictions by M2 Research back in 2009, when they predicted the average 7th gen game development cost was $10 million for one platform and $18-$28 million for multiple platforms. That puts the cost of Avatar at more than 10x the cost of your average multiplatform title.

My point is that quality doesn't come cheap... and it is more than using more powerful hardware. AI with every character in a crowd having a unique personality and response it great. But someone needs to code it. Someone needs to debug it so that people don't bump into each other or run in circles. That takes time. That takes money. The more complexity you add, the more time and money it will take. Who has that kind of time and money? Activision does. EA too.

Halo 5, Modern Warfare 4 and Battlefield 4 with be out of this world, no doubt. But what about the rest? Where will the little guys be left? In the cut-throat world of gaming, who will be able to front 200+ million to develop a single game? One failed title could sink most game developers. So what happens to them? Will we have a few huge titles that look and sell great... and everyone else sinks? Will developers save costs by producing shorter games? Will game retail costs go up? Or will game engines like Unreal 5/Frostbite 7.0/Cryengine 4 make developing Avatar-like games a piece of cake?

Maybe my examples are a little too extreme compared to what will eventually become reality, but my point is that with time, games will technically get better in just about every way (graphics, AI, physics), but it will come at a cost. Next gen we can expect shorter games, more expensive retail prices, fewer independent developers, and less titles that deviate from past formulas of success (translation: I hope you like Call of duty/Halo).

With the success of a game as simple as Angry Birds, we should reflect on what makes a great game, and if we really need, or want what the next gen Xbox has to offer. How do you think the next gen game offerings will pan out? Will games be bigger/better/cheaper or will the gaming nation collapse under it's development weight?

Your opinions are always welcome.

http://attackofthefanboy.com/featured/xbox-720-will-have-avatar-graphics-is-that-a-good-thing/

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StrobePosted:

Blakeaphobia if the new consoles and games are going to be more expensive, i'd rather just get a pc and save myself the years of disappointment when consoles become outdated a year later.

I love how everyone says that consoles and pc's are sssooo different. But in reality, they are nearly the same, setting aside controls, graphics, and maybe the processing/power. The point i am making is that both consoles and pc's will go out of date relatively at the same time, say 1-2 years apart. When the time comes in the future, it will be like you are there and a real life simulation. A kinect but you dont see anything in the real world around you. Consoles are computers, and computers are consoles. Get over it.

TTG_2SiicKPosted:

this is going to be awesome

vorvPosted:

Nice News Post RE: Microsoft. This Kind Of Stuff Is A Good Read - Exciting Too.

TheBrownGuyPosted:

If the cost for games and services goes up I'd rather go to PC

Torstein-HorgmoPosted:

depends on the tv not the graphic quality of the xbox. it can but you have a good tv such as a flat screen of descent size.

HKSPosted:

it would be awesome to have graphics like that the and the main games everyone plays are made by the big companies so it wouldn't matter too much but hopefully it would still be alright for smaller companies to make games

BlakeaphobiaPosted:

if the new consoles and games are going to be more expensive, i'd rather just get a pc and save myself the years of disappointment when consoles become outdated a year later.

TTG_DeluxePosted:

I Highly doubt they will be able to make avatar graphics and i know because my brother said "They've been saying that since i use to play video games they never ever got PC graphics or movie graphics when PS2 was out PC had graphics from Xbox 360 and PS3 now they have the best graphics of all time PC always win consoles will fail at that the highest quallity consoles will ever get to is graphics that are as good as toy story", i totally have to agree with that.

-uJelly_FanboyPosted:

mitchhackerx why do you assume it will be called the 720?
because 360 + 360= 720

PantiesPosted:

Why can't Microsoft just finally step down from this "pedestal" that they are on and just go and use Blu-Ray and pay the licensing fees...Blu-ray will DOUBLE the amount, wait, TRIPLE the amount of capabilities, and why don't they use Blu-Ray? Because they are money wh*res and they don't care about their customers.