Microsoft and Sony did not debut their next-generation gaming consoles at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles last week, but two publishers teased upcoming titles that seemed destined for the future gaming systems. Given that neither company has announced their upcoming consoles, Ubisoft and Lucas Arts did not admit that their titles, Watch Dogs and Star Wars 1313, were indeed headed for next-generation consoles; according to The Guardian, both companies claimed the games were operating on “high-end PCs.” Both titles, nonetheless, may give us a glimpse of what’s coming in Microsoft and Sony’s upcoming consoles.
Ubisoft’s upcoming Watch Dogs game is set in Chicago and centers on the player’s ability to hack into various electronic systems, either to obtain, control or destroy information. Based on what Ubisoft displayed, the next generation of consoles could allow developers to create ultra-realistic cities, which can be populated by hundreds of AI-controlled characters that are able to interact with players.
LucasArts also demoed its Star Wars 1313 game, and while it is still in an early stage of development, the game featured stunning high-quality, photo-realistic graphics. The development team used advanced motion capture technology to create computer-generated characters that looked more human than those found in today’s top titles. “The next generation of platforms should banish that wooden, robotic, dead-eyed ambience that games characters routinely possess at the moment,” The Guardian’s Steve Boxer noted.
Based on these two games, whose trailers follow below, it is clear that the next generation of gaming consoles will push the boundaries of not just the look and feel of gaming, but of storytelling as well.
