Gamers World

DICE, the developer behind “Battlefield 3,” today posted a job offer seeking a Senior Software Developer for next-generation systems like the PS4 and Xbox 720. Some of the job description mentions that the employee will be working as a part of an “AAA game team” with the “Frostbite engine tech.”

We are now looking for experienced developers to join our game teams at DICE. As a Senior Software Developer you will be a core part of an AAA game team where you will work with the Frostbite engine tech. We believe in tailoring the role for the individual but tasks might include implementing new features and workflows for content creators, keeping track of performance and memory and optimizing for current- and next gen.
We think that you are a talented, self-motivated individual with the capability and drive to lead technical initiatives. You probably have experience in several different game development areas as well as more in depth knowledge in something related to a core engine tech like physics or rendering. As a Senior Developer you are creative, committed and communicative and have a strong interest in being a part of a team that builds some of the best games in the industry.

Sony’s PS4 and Microsoft’s Xbox 720 is expected to be announced and released within the next year. In addition to the aforementioned “Battlefield 3” and other previous games in the first-person shooting series, DICE also worked on “Mirror’s Edge.” In fact, a sequel has been rumored to be in production for the first-person platforming video game.

With days to go in 2013 and reports of an overly sluggish holiday season for the video game console business, all eyes, ears and noses in the rumor mill are turned towards Microsoft, Sony, and their next-gen console plans. When will we hear about Orbis, the popular codename for Sony’s fourth generation PlayStation? When will Durango, Microsoft’s would be Xbox 720, pop its head above ground? A good bet is spring time after the 2013 fiscal year comes to a close and before the summer convention circuit starting with E3. Between now and then, though, loose lips inside the industry will continue to tease.
Bloomberg reported at the end of November that its sources are positive that Microsoft will deliver the next Xbox by Thanksgiving 2013 alongside the next generation of Kinect motion control devices and a possible stripped down console meant as a television set top box for downloadable games and streaming video. What will people be playing on that machine when it drops in time for next Christmas? Inside of all the rumor and speculation are actually solid hints as to what will debut alongside the next Xbox.
* Kinect Sports 3 and Perfect Dark 3
Rare Ltd., creators of Killer Instinct, Banjo Kazooie, and Microsoft’s long lost Viva Pinata series, is hard at work on the Xbox 720. The company’s been hiring for next-gen projects throughout 2012. The most recent job postings point to a new sequel for Kinect Sports as the Microsof-owned studio is looking for a principal network services engineer who will “push the boundaries of the Kinect hardware with our exciting new project.” Motion-controlled family titles are just the beginning, though, as Rare is also hiring engineers with experience on more traditional games like the company’s Perfect Dark shooters. A May posting called for a software engineer who would be “joining at a time when the studio is looking to move into new area and develop new IPs for future platforms” and must have a “history of releasing exceptional AAA games and these will ideally be in the Action/Adventure or FPS genres.”
* Destiny
One of the most reliable sources of Xbox 720 news has been accidentally leaked legal documents and company memos, like the 2010 Microsoft manifesto laying out the Xbox brand roadmap into the next decade. The juiciest leaks haven’t come from Microsoft, but its former partner Bungie Studios and Activision. The contract between the Call of Duty publisher and the Halo creators was accidentally released this past spring and it explicitly named Bungie’s new MMO shooter Destiny (pictured above) as an Xbox 720 title due in 2013. The sci-fi shooter set on a future earth, whose story was detailed in another leak, is actually the first in a trilogy of games for Xbox 720. The 2013 game will also be available for Xbox 360 according to Bungie’s contract.
* Unnamed Black Tusk title.
Destiny may not be the only game to bridge the generational gap between Xbox 360 and Xbox 720. Microsoft’s recently opened studio Black Tusk is also working on a new series for the company that will begin life on the 360. Black Tusk opened at the end of November, led by former EA developer Mike Crump who said the team is developing Microsoft’s next major core gaming series. “We are working on Microsoft’s next big entertainment franchise,” said Crump, “We’re not working on an existing franchise, we’re looking to build the next Halo here in Vancouver, which is really exciting. We are building something from the ground up.” New core franchises were foundational to Xbox 360s success, particularly Gears of War.
 

Avalanche Studios was responsible for developing “Just Cause” in 2006, “The Hunter” in 2009, “Just Cause 2” in 2010 and “Renegade Ops” in 2011. Sony and Microsoft are expected to make formal announcements on the PS4 and Xbox 720 in early 2013. Both systems are projected to come out later next year.

Bringing together every detail the web has to offer on the Xbox 720

While gossip surrounding Microsoft's next Xbox console has been churning around inside the rumour mill for a good few years now, there's no doubt that we're getting closer to learning some cold, hard facts.
We fully expect the Xbox 720 - if it is indeed to be called that – to launch in time for Christmas 2013. If it doesn't we'll be absolutely flabbergasted. And with the increasing frequency of new rumours, reports and leaks, an official reveal from Microsoft cannot be too far away.
So what can we expect from the Xbox 720 when it is finally revealed by Microsoft, and when will it finally

Xbox 720 to be called Xbox Infinity?

Microsoft recently went on a domain name shopping spree, snapping up a whole bunch of Xbox-related URLs. One of them, and the one that immediately catches the eye, is Xbox8.com. Could this mean that the next Xbox could be called the Xbox Infinity? It's just speculation at the moment, but it's possible!
It's also entirely possible that Microsoft could call it the Xbox 720, but we reckon it'll have something a bit more exciting up its sleeve.
Noted Microsoft blogger MS Nerd outed the name Xbox Loop, claiming that the long-awaited console will be "far smaller", cheaper and quite Kinect-focused when it finally lands on our shelves.
Rrecent reports indicate that Microsoft's internal codename for the new Xbox is 'Durango'. Sean Tracy, a technical designer at games developer Crytek, said on Twitter: "Enjoying the Durango developers summit in London. So far, great swag and interesting talks". The tweet was very quickly taken down but the codename was out of the bag by then.

What about the Xbox 720 controller?

Many rumours suggest that the second version of Kinect will sit at the heart of the Xbox 720 experience, and we reckon it's a no brainer. A console built around motion detection has lots of promise and it seems highly likely that this is the direction Microsoft is taking, given the way it's currently pushing Kinect hardware and software.
However, you can be sure that the trusty control pad will remain a core component for hardcore gaming. The 360 control pad is wildly popular amongst both console and PC gamers so we can't see the design changing too radically, either.
Microsoft recently filed a patent relating to projecting augmented reality 3D images onto the walls of the room you're gaming in, in an effort to more fully immerse you in the experience.
The codename for this project is 'Fortaleza' and has Kinect at its heart. It is all supposed to work with wi-fi enabled Fortaleza glasses much like Google's Project Glass glasses.

Xbox 720 specs

If the next Xbox is to be as popular and last as long as the Xbox 360 – without the frankly appalling hardware failures which blighted its early days – it's going to need some reliable and powerful components.
Latest rumours suggest that the console will contain a revision of AMD's 7000 series graphics, which is based on its 28nm Graphics Core Next (GCN) Southern Islands tech.
Anonymous sources are being quoted on VG247 as saying that the graphics setup in the Xbox 720 will be "like two PCs taped together" which sounds like waffle to us. What does that even mean?
The same sources say that the two GPUs in the Xbox 720 "aren't structured as they are in a normal dual PC set-up," with each chip working separately to draw different items simultaneously.
Again, this sounds rather wooly to us, so let's try and make some sense of it...
Perhaps it depends what the source is referring to as different 'items'. The traditional usage of multi-GPU tech is Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR) where each GPU renders a frame in turn; if the source is saying that is not the case in the Xbox 720 then it will be a whole new usage of twin graphics chips.


It's possible this simultaneous rendering of different items could be referring to using the twin GPUs to display 3D outputs – where each chip is rendering a different angle of a scene to generate the 3D effect. This would then minimise the stress that 3D gaming puts on graphics chips.Still, if that secondary GPU is lying dormant during non-3D gaming it would be rather wasteful, so the GPUs must surely still be used concurrently to render the games.
It's also possible the confusion here could be arising from the difference between AMD's old GPU architecture, used in the Xbox 360, and the new Graphics Core Next technology. The old Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) architecture of AMD's last gen GPUs essentially batched up instructions before outputting them.
But GCN is made up of more independent microprocessors capable of carrying out more instructions concurrently.
Either way, the inclusion of AMD 7000 series graphics would put the new Xbox on a par with the current rumoured specs of the Sony PS4 which is in turn expected to also contain AMD Southern Islands graphics as well as an AMD x86 CPU.


It would put the two consoles on level footing in terms of performance as they will essentially contain the same hardware, though by the time they actually go on sale they would to be hopelessly out of date compared to modern PCs.
Are we really to believe that the 'next generation' of games consoles would essentially be out of date mini AMD PCs, with just the operating systems and scale of fun-sucking DRM the only levels of differentiation? We can't see that being the case, and a report in April 2012 suggests that Microsoft does indeed have something more exciting up its sleeve.
Xbox World reported that the Xbox 720 will pack a 16-core CPU, which would certainly add some much needed muscle to the maybe-possibly underpowered graphics.

Xbox 720 to pack Blu-ray and DVR features?

It now seems highly likely that the new Xbox will arrive packing a Blu-ray drive.
Microsoft was, if you remember, a staunch member of the HD DVD Promotion Group and went so far as to launch an external HD DVD drive for the 360. So it represents a bit turn-around for Microsoft to embrace Blu-ray, but it also makes perfect sense.
Read speeds from DVDs are still faster than from Blu-ray discs, but BDs can hold vastly more data. A standard dual-layer BD can contain 50GB of data compared to the Xbox 360's dual-layer DVDs which contain between 8 and 9GB.
Many current Xbox 360 titles come on two or three discs, and with the size of Xbox 720 games destined to dwarf current titles, that extra capacity is a fundamental requirement.
Latest
A document that leaked in June 2012 indicates that the Xbox 720 will come packing 1080p 3D support, Blu-ray player and DVR functionality. This would indicate that Microsoft is trying to position the Xbox 720 as the single does-it-all set-top box in your living room.

Xbox 720 games

It looks as though games developers are already playing with Xbox 720 hardware - a recent job advert from Peter Molyneux's Lionhead studio asks for developers with a background in DirectX 11 - a platform not used by any of the current consoles but is rumoured to be used in the AMD-powered Xbox 720.
It's a bit of a no-brainer that titles are in development from all the big studios if you ask us.

Will Microsoft kill the second-hand games market?

There have been rumours cicrulating that the new Xbox console will feature a system aimed at preventing owners playing used games. That would mean no trading-in of old titles in order to fund the purchase of new ones - a move that would not be warmly received by gamers or highstreet store.
The rumours centre around the concept of the new Xbox demanding an always-on internet connection. That sounds like a horrifying idea to us – say it ain't so!

Xbox 720 release date

All indications are that the next Xbox will arrive in time for Christmas 2013. Microsoft briefly stated that the new Xbox is imminent in an interview with the Verge before swiftly backtracking and issuing a moderately embarrassing denial.
This is further backed up by a Microsoft job advert which confirms a new Xbox launch is imminent.
Further rumours of an Xbox 720 release date of pre-Christmas 2013 was backed up at the end of November 2012 by a Bloomberg report which cites sources at Microsoft and says we are likely to see the Xbox 720 make its debut at E3 2013.

Xbox 720 price

That leaked document we mentioned earlier mentions a $299 (£190) price point which sounds gloriously ambitious to us. Expect the Xbox 720 price to be a bit more than that but assuming the PS4 launches around the same time, expect some competitive pricing.

PS4 rumours are slowly gathering pace

Sony is yet to confirm the existence of the PS4 games console, but it exists out there somewhere. And with Christmas 2012 upon us, we're all hoping we'll have PlayStation 4 consoles under our trees this time next year.
So the important questions are; when will the PS4 hit the shelves? What sort of hardware will it pack? And will it even be called the PlayStation 4?
There have been rumours doing the rounds suggesting that Sony is calling the PS4 'Orbis'. This comes from a source speaking to Kotaku "who is not authorised to talk publicly about next-gen hardware but has shared correct information" with them before.
Assuming the Orbis name is in some way accurate, it's still unclear whether the name is a codename like Durango or whether the console will literally be called the Sony PlayStation Orbis instead of the Sony PS4.
The name does make some kind of sense if you combine it with the word 'Vitae' (or Vita). Orbis Vitae translates from Latin as 'circle of life' and hints at some serious synergy between the PS4 and the PS Vita.
It could be a red herring, of course, but with the Vita already communicating fairly competently with the PS3, it seems highly likely that this will be the case. So what can we expect from the PlayStation 4?

PS4 release date

Latest rumours suggest that the PS4 will launch in time for Christmas 2013, though Sony are remaining quiet on the issue. We have received strong hints from industry insiders that 2013 will be the year but nothing is confirmed and anything could yet happen.
One thing's for sure: Sony is currently losing billions every year and badly needs the cash injection that would come from a new console.
VG247 is quoting an anonymous source (always a bad start to a rumour) as saying that Sony believes it is in a position to get the PS4 out of the door before the launch of Microsoft's Xbox 720. The next Xbox is almost certain to hit the shelves in 2013 so maybe we expect them to arrive roughly together.
We remember, of course, how Microsoft managed to launch the 360 a full year before the PS3 went on sale and that enabled it to gain a huge headstart, despite all sorts of technical faults and expensive repair bills.
Meanwhile, Bethesda's Todd Howard, game director for the blockbuster Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, says that gamers should not expect follow-ups to the PS3 and Xbox 360 until 2014, at the very earliest.
Speaking to PSM3 magazine, the Bethesda exec said that gamers were happy with the current generation of console tech and that he didn't expect to see an Xbox 720 or a PS4 before 2014.
Further sources said in December 2014 that they also believe Autumn 2014 is a more realistic date, so we're certainly not going to count any Turkeys this Christmas!

PS4: Graphics and CPU power

The same source who revealed the PlayStation Orbis name to Kotaku also mentioned that the PS4 was penciled in as packing an AMD x64 CPU and 28nm AMD Southern Islands graphics power.
However, in November 2012, strong rumours have suggested that PS4 dev kits have been issued to developers packing an AMD A10 APU (check out our review of this combo chip here), between 8GB and 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage and a Blu-ray drive.
The graphics part of the A10 APU is already quite dated, which is a big disappointment but not all that surprising.
Those chips aren't even the best that AMD currently has to offer - so by the time the PS4 goes on sale it would be woefully lacking in power compared to the latest AMD tech, let alone the most advanced chips from Nvidia and Intel.

By 2014, Intel will be shipping 14nm - or possibly even tooling up for 11nm - CPUs and with that amount of transistors on a die, we're talking serious performance and efficiency gains.
So it's for this reason that we suspect - or hope - that current PS4 development kits may currently be using these AMD chips, but the final PS4 will most likely pack something a little more special. We would at least expect a Steamroller APU packing a newer graphics core.
Now, because a console is a closed platform, it's possible for developers and engineers to squeeze more performance out of any given chip than would be possible in a PC which has a lot more redundancies to cater for.
So the PS4 will have decent graphics no matter what. But this is still very much last-generation tech we're talking here.
And according to various rumours, Sony is attempting to get 4K gaming out the door with the PS4, along with full HD 1080p 3D gaming for the first time.
We don't think it would even be possible to achieve this kind of output with the A10 APU unless some kind of multi-GPU set-up is being used - so it's highly likely that Sony will pair the eventual APU with a low-end discrete graphics card to help things along.

Backwards compatibility

When the original original PS3 unit shipped, it contained a chip that gave it the ability to play PS2 games. Subsequent iterations of hardware omitted this chip and so the backwards compatibility was condemned to death.
Current rumours suggests that the PS4 will completely ignore the possibility of backwards compatibility and focus firmly on the next generation. So if you want to continue playing your PS3 games, keep hold of your PS3s, kids.

Second hand games on the way out?

More rumours suggest that Sony is going in the same direction as Microsoft in that it wants to kill off the second hand games market. Current industry wisdom suggests that future PS4 games might be tied to your Sony Entertainment Network account and will thus then have no resale value. That's a similar approach as used by PC developers using Steam so we reckon this is a likely development. Doesn't mean we're happy about it, though.

What are the PS4 features we'd most like to see?

PS4info dreams of a next-gen PlayStation with a 32nm Cell processor an up to 16 SPEs, double the number in the PlayStation 3. While over on gamrConnect, there's talk of a greater partnership with Google. Sony's new fondness for Android on the Xperia Play is an interesting strategy.
Blu-ray on the PlayStation 4 is a dead cert. While digital distribution is undoubtedly the way forward, not every PlayStation owner has access to a fast broadband connection.
As Kaz Hirai told Develop, "we do business in parts of the world where network infrastructure isn't as robust as one would hope. There's always going to be requirement for a business of our size and scope to have a physical medium."
As for the PlayStation 4 controller, Dr. Richard Marks (Sony Computer Entertainment's US R&D manager of special projects) says that "anything that lets us get the player's intent into the system more" is technology they'll be looking at. No brain wave gaming just yet.
 

We are very delighted to bring info on gamming consoles!!

The Xbox 720: We all know it's coming, but it hasn't been announced. It has, though, been "kind of" confirmed by a Microsoft general manager.

In an interview with The Verge, Brian Hall General Manager of Windows Live, said that the new Xbox will be released "in time" for a spate of new Microsoft products, including Windows 8 and the Windows phone. You'll find the entire, relevant quote beneath the "Read More" tag.
We don't really have any other information, but right now, this is the closest thing to a confirmation of the next Xbox that has come from Microsoft.

Let us know what you all feel by commenting!