It's been rather quiet on the next-gen front for the past week or so, but that doesn't mean there haven't been some new developments. One of the first games confirmed for both next-gen consoles — PS4 and Xbox 720 — Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag may have just revealed when the new consoles might launch.
When asked if there would be any delay between versions of Assassin's Creed 4, the game's creative director Jean Guesdon replied, "same ship." He wasn't, of course, referring to the fact that this iteration will feature a pirate named Edward Kenway as its protagonist but rather that AC4 should ship at the same time on all consoles.
This instantly led to speculation that Sony and Microsoft's new consoles would be out before Assassin's release date, which is October 29th. However, Ubisoft has come out to clarify that Guesdon was only referring to the PC, PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U versions of the game, not the next-gen iterations.
While we have no idea what Microsoft has planned, we do know that Sony revealed a "Holiday 2013" release window for the PS4. October, however, seems more like a Fall 2013 window. Most have pegged some time in November as the more likely release date, but we presumably won't know until E3 2013 at the earliest. Either way, we're excited.
Prolific developer Suda 51 is also excited by the PS4, perhaps more so than most gamers. In his regular column on Famitsu, Suda 51 revealed that the PS4 "makes [him] horny."
The Lollipop Chainsaw developer explains that all of the new features Sony is introducing for the PS4 are what specifically get him excited — namely the cloud delivery system and expanded social features.
"To be able to play anywhere, on any device, with shared data — this will be an alluring new feature for games. You’ll have your own personal profile or ID that you can access from many different devices and enjoy your game from anywhere, in various different ways. That this play style will become a reality is futuristic enough. But in addition, cloud saving becoming standard practice is an evolution in itself. It will add new value and will surely result in new ways to play. Thinking about the future of this stuff and then constructing and outputting something appealing is our job as game designers, and from that challenge we can take new strength."
Suda's development studio, Grasshopper Manufacture is currently in development on the multiplatform title Killer is Dead. While his enthusiasm for the PS4 is encouraging, that game is likely far enough along in development that it won't be coming to next-gen.
Dishonored level designer Christophe Carrier is also encouraged by the introduction of the PS4; specifically it's 8GB of RAM. Carrier reveals that the team at Arkane Studios had to make concessions at every turn in order to work with a limited amount of memory. But with the PS4, Arkane should be able to do much more.
"We need memory, you know? As a level designer we are struggling against memory every day. We cut things, we remove things, we strip things, we split the levels, we remove NPCs from levels because there's not enough memory. So knowing that memory is something that is going to be improved in the next generation of consoles: to us, it's a joy. It's something that we were waiting for."
Carrier also dropped a hint towards a new game, but would not say whether it was Dishonored 2 or a completely new IP. Bethesda does claim to have a new IP in development, so it's possible Arkane's new game and this IP are one in the same.
When do you think the PS4 and Xbox 720 might release? What about the next-gen has you most excited to see developers do?
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Source: Outside Xbox, Edge, Eurogamer