Ubisoft Expecting New Consoles By 2012

GamesIndustry is running a brief story about comments from Ubisoft's CEO indicating that the company is gearing up for a new generation of consoles within two to three years. "The French publisher is increasing headcount to work on future technology, with mergers also on the cards to increase development and technology resources. 'We want to take advantage of a company that could bring more technology to us, or new brands,' said CEO Yves Guillemot. 'So we have now enough to help us to grow the company for not only next year but to get ready for the coming of the next generation consoles that are probably going to happen 2011, 2012.'" Guillemot also provided some details about the release plans for some of their upcoming games.

Comments

Re:Fits in with the cycles, big whoop

[Binestar]

Where do that come from? Nintendo consoles haven't always been technically inferior.

Came from the fact that Nintendo wants to MAKE money on the console from the start, not after 4 years.

Re:1080p limitation

[Hatta]

Aren't we into diminishing returns with respect to resolution already? I know I can't see the difference between 720 and 1080. I'd argue that we can get a lot better graphics by increasing polygons instead of resolution. Look at the PSX and PS2, they both output SD, but the PS2 is dramatically better looking.

Re:So maybe they'll finally have a Wii in stock ..

[Ark42]

So maybe I'll be able to find a store that actually has Wiis in stock by 2011, since they'll be obsolete by then?

Seriously, of the 3 - Playstation, XBox, Wii - only Nintendo hasn't made any price cuts, and they still can't keep them on the shelves for more than a day or two.

A bet a lot of people might start selling back Wiis to stores eventually. After the great opening games like Metroid and Zelda, there hasn't really been anything worth buying recently for the Wii. Have you seen this selection? http://www.gamestop.com/Browse/Search.aspx?N=138+106 - It's really quite sad. I'm thinking about getting an Xbox 360 as a 2nd system, but I'd probably keep my Wii just in case something comes out later on.

Re:SNES vs. Genesis

[MBGMorden]

Darn. An actual technical comparison between the two. I'm shocked, and appreciative at the same time.

My memories from schoolyard days remember this argument quickly dissolving into "But the Genesis has BLAST PROCESSING!". Guess the marketing department did do their job back then though.

A bit too optimistic perhaps

[Endo13]

New consoles by 2012? Maybe. But I doubt it. We're in the middle of a recession with layoffs happening in lots of places, and let's face it - the current gen of consoles is really pushing the limits of what can be done on HD TV. Anything beyond this is going to be staring the law of diminishing returns hard in the face... and I get the feeling that a lot of people won't think it's worthwhile to upgrade that soon, especially to a system that doesn't offer that much more.

Re:You are probably correct

[k_187]

People said the same things about Nintendo and Sega before the PS1 came out. I think the real thing to take away is that success in one console generation does not guarantee success in successive generations.