EA Sports reveals next-gen Ignite engine

Electronic Arts today announced an all-new next-generation engine called Ignite that will power upcoming EA Sports titles for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Gamers will get a first glimpse at what the Ignite engine is capable of when Madden NFL 25, FIFA 14, NBA Live 14, and EA Sports UFC all ship within the next 12 months.

The all-new Ignite engine boasts improvements to rendering, run-time physics, animation, intelligence, locomotion, and online systems. EA says the engine is capable of portraying athletes with "human-like intelligence," as well as "living worlds" for stadiums and arenas.

"Athletes in EA Sports next-gen games will be able to make intelligent decisions with human-like reaction times," EA said in a statement. "EA Sports Ignite computes four times more calculations per second than previous consoles, unlocking nearly infinite potential for how players think, and enabling them to make more difficult decisions faster.

"Players are alive with contextual awareness and instincts--thinking, anticipating, and reacting--just like real athletes, and players are conscious of their environment," the statement goes on. "In FIFA 14, for example, a player’s sense of urgency increases as the match draws on and a goal is needed, rushing to take a free kick, corner, or goal-kick if time is running down."

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