Ken Levine doesn't want a new console just yet

It’s been said before that this generation’s hardware would live longer than its predecessors; the original Xbox lasted only four years before Microsoft rolled out the 360, which turns six this month. With no official word of its successor, it’s unlikely 2012 will see a new outing from Microsoft, nor Sony, for that matter. However, we’ve reached the point we’re devs are getting antsy – DICE have made clear their preference for the PC’s raw power with Battlefield 3, and consoles still lack a suitable digital distribution models for AAA games. Irrational Games’ Ken Levine, however, is quite confident this console generation still has life in it yet.

“It’s clear there’s still a fair bit of juice left in these machines,” said Levine. “You look at Arkham City, you look at Uncharted and you look at Gears of War and you’re starting to see that these games don’t look old to me. They look very current.”

Levine, who is currently working on Bioshock Infinite, acknowledged the difficulty in creating a sequel using what is essentially the same technology, but praised his team’s ability to push the technology to its limits.

“We’re working on the same hardware platform, so basically your engineers have to be very clever,” he said.”

“We’re working on a totally new engine that we built on the Unreal engine, with a totally new lightning system, a totally new AI system; totally new everything. The more these guys learn about it – and I don’t know how they do what they do – but they’re still able to drive a lot of juice out of these machines.”

“From a gameplay and graphics standpoint, I think it’s still got some legs on it.”

CVG [Ken Levine ‘not aching for next-gen consoles,’ ‘there’s still lots of juice left]

Images: UGO & The Guardian