When Electronic Arts unveiled Battlefield 3 last year it appeared too good to be true. How could a game look this good, and still be intended for the current generation of consoles and PCs? As it turns out, it wasn't.

At least that's what EA's Patrick Soderlund reveals in a candid talk about all things Electronic Arts, including Battlefield 3, DICE's Frostbite 2.0 Engine, and the inclusion of that engine in Medal of Honor: Warfighter. While the first Medal of Honor utilized Unreal Engine 3, DICE was able to convince developer Danger Close to use Frostbite based solely on the success of Battlefield 3 and the strength of the engine.

How strong is DICE's Frostbite 2.0 Engine you might ask? Well, Soderlund reveals that it was in fact developed for the next-gen, and is only operating on a base level with tons of room for improvement. Yes, Frostbite 2.0 can scale as well know, but it won't truly be able to shine until the next wave of consoles — Microsoft's Xbox 720 and Sony's PS4 — are released.

Obviously both CryTek and Epic Games (purveyors of CryEngine  and Unreal Engine respectively) are working on their own next-gen versions of their graphic engines, but it appears that DICE has got the jump on both of them. While Unreal Engine 4's true power is only just being revealed to us, Frostbite 2.0 is being implemented in current gen games like the aforementioned Warfighter and last year's Need for Speed.

Running Battlefield 3 on the PC, or just seeing the game in some of its more beautiful trailers, has given us a slight hint of what Frostbite 2.0 is capable of, but if that is only a base level gamers should be in store from gorgeous looking games in the future. While EA will most assuredly encourage all of its titles to support Frostbite, it will be interesting to see how they changes the look and feel of many of our favorite EA franchises.

Do you agree that Frostbite 2.0 is a next-gen engine released a couple years too early? Would you like to see Frostbite incorporated in more titles behind shooters?

Source: Gamasutra