So, I have a little tidbit for you here. If all goes according to plan, the Next Xbox will ship in Novemeber 2011 with Gears of War 3, running on the brand new Unreal 4 engine. While much of this is rumour and speculation, Epic has informed investors that it has been working on the Unreal 4 engine for 2 years now, the first year being largely a solo project of the Chief Technical Officer at Epic, with his team and budget being ramped up significantly in 2008. The new Unreal 4 engine is being designed exclusively for next generation video cards - meaning it wont run on the Xbox 360 and PS3.
It is well known that both Microsoft and Nintendo have been making the rounds at various development studios, asking them what features they want and how much power they need going forward into the next generation. While most of these talks have been general in nature, the purpose is clear: get the ball rolling on the design and launch of the next generation of hardware. There are vast technical hurdles and economic questions which must be answered between now and then. Will the Next Xbox retain its own API, or will it use Direct X 10.1, or Direct3D 11? Is the public ready for a new console already? Will the economy be ready to support a flood of new hardware sales? Microsoft released the original Xbox in Nov 2001, the Xbox 360 in Nov 2005, and given an economy thats stuck in the mud, it only makes sense they would wait another 3 years until 2011 rather than try to push new hardware to market in 2009 or 2010 when people are still recovering financially and arent yet ready to upgrade.
Yes, there are many questions that must be resolved, but we do know this: Microsoft and Epic are starting to work very closely together on something huge, but its something thats far off in the future (36 months is light years in the technology world). It doesnt take a degree in forensic science to realize what that Next Big Thing is.
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