Opinion: Could Microsoft hurry up and release its next console, so we can all get some proper game engine advances?!
The popularity of Bethesda's Skyrim has highlighted some of the shortcomings of current generation engines. Skyrim itself is touted to use Bethesda's 'Creation Engine' although, in truth, it's only a patched up version of Gamebryo that's been used going all the way back to Morrowind.
And nothing wrong with that; it works well enough that Skyrim can still look and play fantastically. But it is starting to show its age – just a few examples are the unspeakably bad shadows, particles and specularity effects that can sometimes cause lag spikes, and no DX10 or DX11 features to speak of. If TESVI is going to happen, continuing to patch the Gamebryo engine isn't likely to cut it.
But building a new custom engine takes years and a huge investment of capital, which is why many game developers license middleware engines, of which there are quite a number to choose from. Bethesda could do this, and buy a newer engine, but it would also mean re-retraining staff in entirely new tools and, depending on the engine's capabilities, there's no guarantee Bethesda could make a game like Oblivion, Fallout or Skyrim with its flexibility and depth in areas ranging from environment to NPCs and AI.
Part of the problem is consolitis, because invariably the console market is still two-to-three times larger than PC gaming. That's not to say PC games aren't a market worth servicing; there's still millions of dollars to be made from the PC market as Steam can attest, but it means that the primary focus is usually console-first. Aside from side-effects, like poor console ports to PC (far too many games here deserve a lambasting, but I don't have the whole mag to service this task) and console-centric features in PC games (like the interface to Skyrim *shakes fist at Bethesda* - it took modders two weeks to make a decent PC interface, why can't you?), it primarily means that the engines du-jour in use by developers at the moment are more often than not targeted at console hardware, which is bordering on grandpa age at the moment (get off my red ring of death, sonny!) and lacking support of modern graphical features that today's PC hardware has been capable of for years.
And until the console hardware platform changes, there's little incentive to change engines. So we see games coming out whose underlying technology hasn't changed in years, and are held back by the limitations of the hardware. But it can't last like this forever.
With PC gaming hardware more than two to three generations ahead of current consoles there is more and more pressure for developers to utilise cutting-edge features not just because it will appeal to the gaming market, but the developers themselves are often itching it to implement games that can't be done with previous generation gear and the engines tailored for them.
It will all change, however, with the arrival of the Xbox 720 (or whatever it will be called) and PlayStation 4, due (it is rumoured) in 2014. Keeping in mind the sometimes years of development AAA games go through, that means launch titles for these platforms are being made now and on engines designed to take full advantage of the hardware. Engines, it's no surprise, that have been developed alongside current generation PC hardware which some PC-only games currently use but which will really take off when the new consoles arrive.
Then, we may still get poor console ports to the PC (replete with retarded controls and interfaces) but at least the technology underlying the games will be taking full advantage of the hardware in your box, and release after release of the latest games will look and play amazing.
I want my TESVI experience to be mind-fuckingly mind-blowing, so this can't come soon enough.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012