Ubisoft is already preparing for new hardware, CEO Yves Guillemot said alongside the company's full year results announcements today.
"We need to get ready for the future generation of consoles," he said emphatically on the company's conference call to investors and analysts. "In the next few years, there will be new home and handheld consoles, and if you don't invest... you will not be able to cope with both [the existing and new generation consoles].
None of the big three console manufacturers has given any indication of upcoming hardware revamps, although Microsoft yesterday promised that its presentation at this year's upcoming E3 would "completely transform how people think about home entertainment."
Sony, conversely, has long touted its ten-year plan for the PlayStation 3 -- although notably, the similar platform longevity it planned for PS2 had little impact on the timing of the PS3's launch. But the PS3 is only in year three of its planned decade, and Sony has said that achieving profitability for the platform is its primary goal in 2009.
As for handhelds, Guillemot's warning comes alongside widespread but as yet unconfirmed media rumors of a wholly redesigned PSP in the works that will discard its UMD drive in favor of a fully digital download-dependent format.
'Microsoft yesterday promised that its presentation at this year's upcoming E3 would "completely transform how people think about home entertainment."
I suppose this means that we will see an expansion of XBL. I suppose it could mean that they will come out with a larger and faster hard drive. I doubt they will announce a new console that scraps or marginalizes the 360. It would be even better if they announced a wireless hand held that is significantly more powerful than the PSP--obviously, the chances of this are low. But I would love a kindle type hand held for video games. That has ease of use, connectiviy to the web, and 360. Sort of what the PSP indicated but failed miserably in it's delivery.
As GiantBomb pointed it out recently, the game industry needs to learn sense of scale when making announcements. Even the slightest pre-order bonus is now "something that will dramatically alter the gaming landscape forever"...
I think Yves needs to focus his teams on making games for the current gen, certainly the PS3 tech has a long way to go before being full exploited, and so does the 360.
I suppose this means that we will see an expansion of XBL. I suppose it could mean that they will come out with a larger and faster hard drive. I doubt they will announce a new console that scraps or marginalizes the 360. It would be even better if they announced a wireless hand held that is significantly more powerful than the PSP--obviously, the chances of this are low. But I would love a kindle type hand held for video games. That has ease of use, connectiviy to the web, and 360. Sort of what the PSP indicated but failed miserably in it's delivery.
http://www.hdtvinfo.eu/news/game-consoles/microsoft-is-buying-3dv-systems-and-it
s-motion-detection-technology.html