Ubisoft 'extremely limited' by PS3 and 360

cvg

Ubisoft is once again banging the drum for the arrival of next-generation consoles, claiming that its development options are left "extremely limited" by PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Company CEO Yves Guillemot said in April that the long console cycles being enjoyed by Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were hurting industry creativity. UK boss Rob Cooper echoed his view, remarking that Ubi wanted new consoles "sooner rather than later".

Now Yves Jacquier, Ubisoft's executive director of production services at Ubisoft Montreal, had added his voice to the debate.

According to Jacquier, Ubisoft is investing $1 million over the next five years to help discover new ways of making games - with a major focus on procedural AI.

"AI has always been the real battleground, " he told GamesIndustry.biz. "The challenge is that, if you see an AI coming, you've failed. And that's a problem we have to overcome as we create the impression of flawless, seamless worlds."

That problem is apparently made all the more difficult by the limitations of 360 and PS3. He added:

"In general the industry expects that graphics will not be a strong feature any more... Obviously, graphics are better for marketing purposes because you can show things. AI you can't show."

"Our challenge with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox [360] is that we're extremely limited in what we can do. It's a challenge for the engineers to provide nice graphics and nice AI and nice sound with a very small amount of memory and computation time."

"We think that the next generation of consoles won't have these limits any more. Games might have more realistic graphics and more on-screen, but what's the value of making something more realistic and better animated if you have poor AI?"

I sure wouldn't mind a new Prince and Assassin's Creed on new consoles. Not at all.

i'll wait till i hear complaints from better developers

i'll wait till i hear complaints from better developers

-The-G-Man-

Develop on PC then?

Basically what I just read was a bunch of whiners. The 360 and ps3 are fine consoles. todd2r

???

He's pointing out that the technology for better AI, better graphics, better physics, etc exists, but that they cna't use it becaus eof the technicla limitaitons of the consoles.

I'm not sure why you would call that whining.

At the same time, Ubi, why not release a game that shows off that technology ON THE PC. Idiots.

Seriously !!!

I see no U2 game quality from Ubisoft on either of them, just more of the same sequels.

Yep, all been limited by consoles. This gen's limit has been reached a long time ago.

He he, they don't seem to mind the millions of copies they are selling, and that amount is due at least partially to the fact that consoles have long life-cycles and a lot of people get them ..

Yeah that's good, Ubisoft keep complaining about RAM, maybe they'll listen and stop skimping out on the easiest thing to just remove to lower costs.

[QUOTE="todd2r"]Basically what I just read was a bunch of whiners. The 360 and ps3 are fine consoles. Kinthalis

???

He's pointing out that the technology for better AI, better graphics, better physics, etc exists, but that they cna't use it becaus eof the technicla limitaitons of the consoles.

I'm not sure why you would call that whining.

At the same time, Ubi, why not release a game that shows off that technology ON THE PC. Idiots.

Ha ha Totally and of course I like you have the Geralt as your avatar...The Witcher 2 is a strong testament to the concept that consoles are holding back games in a strong way.

Extremely limited? How tough is it to rehash another version of ghost recon, splinter cell, etc?

[QUOTE="todd2r"]Basically what I just read was a bunch of whiners. The 360 and ps3 are fine consoles. Kinthalis

???

He's pointing out that the technology for better AI, better graphics, better physics, etc exists, but that they cna't use it becaus eof the technicla limitaitons of the consoles.

I'm not sure why you would call that whining.

At the same time, Ubi, why not release a game that shows off that technology ON THE PC. Idiots.

no more needs be said

i'll wait till i hear complaints from better developers

-The-G-Man-

[QUOTE="todd2r"]Basically what I just read was a bunch of whiners. The 360 and ps3 are fine consoles. Kinthalis

???

He's pointing out that the technology for better AI, better graphics, better physics, etc exists, but that they cna't use it becaus eof the technicla limitaitons of the consoles.

I'm not sure why you would call that whining.

At the same time, Ubi, why not release a game that shows off that technology ON THE PC. Idiots.

I've always liked Ubi's PC titles. Give us more!

I've always liked Ubi's PC titles. Give us more!

psn8214

And watch as they talk about how development is way to expensive once the new consoles are released.

Develop on PC then?

dinuattila

I have to agree here. It would be cool if the PC finaly got some heavy-hitter exclusives or primary for PC developed creative games again. Would make me interested in PC gaming more.

Funny I don't see them making way better games on the PC.

Develop on PC then?

dinuattila

That would be a good solution actually, though if they did that, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood would have DirectX 11.

what? even double agent?:o

lawlessx

Never played. :P I loved the Rainbow Six Vegas games, Conviction, Far Cry 2, and the Assassin's Creed games on PC.

No brainer here. Cough PC maybe? Trackmania 2 looks great and its free...

[QUOTE="lawlessx"]

what? even double agent?:o

psn8214

Never played. :P I loved the Rainbow Six Vegas games, Conviction, Far Cry 2, and the Assassin's Creed games on PC.

Far cry 2 :o:shock:

No brainer here. Cough PC maybe? Trackmania 2 looks great and its free...

mattuk69

Wait, trackmania 2 will be a free to play title?

And yet Bethesda can create something like Skyrim on current consoles... hmmm....

And watch as they talk about how development is way to expensive once the new consoles are released.

WilliamRLBaker

So true.

I can see how they think this with AC. It's a game with a huge world, with many, many NPCs, and the AI isn't half bad either. I can see why they would want a next gen console.

That's not true. They haven't even shown anything to be related to state of the art graphics. They're just pushing the envelope because it will mean more money for developers. How so? Well development costs will go up which means games will go up. The thing is, development costs will not truly go up, it will be reported that way though. The PS3 and 360 are just fine. If they were worried about these "limitations" they would develop more for PCs.

Ubisoft is limited by poor development studios.

invest in some hardware?CoolSkAGuy

Develop on PC then?

dinuattila

Makes too much sense.

then how about you devs start making more creative experiences instead of worrying about graphical power?

And yet Bethesda can create something like Skyrim on current consoles... hmmm....

Vari3ty

And look at what id can do with current gen: RAGE. Looks beautiful and 60 fps.

They should try mastering making better games before they move onto the next gen (AC franchise was only good in my eyes, everything else failed)

if developers like rockstar, bethesda, etc. arent complaining then i think ubi has no right to complain