Battlefield 3

THE BUZZ: Johan Andersson, rendering architect at DICE, has revealed what he expects out of the next-generation of consoles.

“We need lots and lots of processing power,” he told Joystiq. ”The more you can cram into a machine, we’ll take advantage of that.”

Processing power isn’t all these new consoles will need. The Xbox 360 currently has 512MBs of RAM, but Andersson would like around 8GBs in order to really push games.

“Two gigabytes would not be enough when it comes to RAM [random access memory]” he said. “Four gigabytes would work. Eight gigabytes? Yeah. I think that would be perfect when it comes to memory.”

The extra power wouldn’t just be used to create better visuals, but more engaging gameplay.

“To build game changing experiences, not just pretty visuals, but game changing experiences? That’s what we’re really excited to do, going forward,” he concluded.

EGM’s TAKE: These are some pretty big requirements from one of the industry’s top development teams. The problem is that if the new consoles fail to meet these high-end requirements then they may risk being swamped by PCs that can offer higher specs already. It’s a dangerous time for both Sony and Microsoft, after so many years if they don’t offer a major upgrade it may signal a backlash from fans. Is it even possible to squeeze this much power into a console? We’ll have to wait and find out when the platform holders decide to show their hands.

Source: Joystiq