What is Next Gen?

With looming news of yet another cycle of consoles to appear, over the next couple of years, I found myself wondering what would convince me of the need to go out and spend more money for a higher priced piece of hardware.  Let’s face it, games are looking better and better each year on what is effectively 6 year old hardware.  Newly presented algorithms, like Megatexturing have reinvigorated the graphics front and set new boundaries for texture detail.  Brute force techniques have slowly given way to hierarchical computation, giving us smarter and tougher AI.  On top of all of this, designers have simply gotten smarter about what it takes to create an intense and focused experience, even in the largest of environments.  We are reaching the point in gaming where graphics have started to plateau for the mass market, and only the most “core” of gamers are looking to overheat their machines on the next big thing.

So where do we go from here? » Read more..