Are you impressed with DICE's Battlefield 3 graphics on PC? You better be, because according to DICE, the PC version of Battlefield 3 is what gamers can expect from the next-generation of consoles.
Rumors of a 2013 launch for a new Xbox console, dubbed by fans as the Xbox 720 or NextBox, are at al all time high with reports that developers are currently working with Microsoft on games for the new console, and that EA has next-gen console technology on their desks even.
Regardless of whether or not the PS4 will come before the Xbox 720, DICE apparently already knows what to expect from Microsoft and Sony's next-gen consoles.
"If anyone would build a new console today, that would be the result," Battlefield 3 executive producer Patrick Bach said when referencing the PC version of Battlefield 3 in an interview with Eurogamer.
"At least. Probably more, because it's classic PC technology. We know everything about multi-threading now. We know everything about multi-graphics card solutions now. If someone built a console where the specs are that or more, we have the technology to do something. We could port the game to that console tomorrow."
DICE's Battlefield 3 makes use of the new Frostbite engine, which Bach claims, "There's some stuff in here that's truly next-gen. A lot of tech stuff, Frostbite 2. Rendering, the lighting, destruction, to me I'm mesmerised no one else has been trying to do it."
Bach said the next-generation is a case of more horsepower – in particular multiple processors and graphics cards in a single unit.
"There's nothing we know about now that the new consoles would do differently, rather do more," Bach explained. "More processors. Bigger memory pools. Everything we have and more.
"The big step is to go from single processor to multi-processor. Single graphics card to multi-graphics card. To multi-memory. Do you do multiple memory pools or one memory pool? Since we can handle both consoles now, we control that as well. We have all the streaming systems. We have whatever we might need for the future."
"Remember when the 360 and PS3 came out they weren't as expensive as an expensive PC," he explained. "If you optimise things and say, instead of building 10,000 of these graphics cards we want 50 million of these graphics cards, it's like, wait a minute, we can push the price down to zero. Then you get a cheaper console. So if you take this PC technology and just mass produce it for consoles you will get a much lower price."
As gamers, let's let the developers worry about next-gen consoles. For now, let's just focus on the present and enjoy the lovely graphics of Battlefield 3 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
