Interview with Codemasters (2): Power of the Xbox 360

Codemasters: I think it’s the combination of larger RAM and a lighting fast graphics card. For all that was promised on the current generation, the lighting models never really hit those early demo highs (think Malice). However, this time around, the power really is there and I’ve seen some terrific stuff already running at full speed.

A good lighting model really pushes everything into a higher level. For instance it’s always difficult to ‘blend’ objects so that they actually sit in the world in a realistic manner. I think this issue will easier to deal with this time around.

Mix that with large detailed textures being pushed around in a large RAM and you’ve got a very powerful machine.

However, on a personal note, I also really like the wireless controllers! They are a good example of how progress in hardware technology is changing the way we view and interact with the consoles themselves.

Codemasters: If you take LMA on the Xbox 360 for an example there are a number of very exciting things going on. First take a look at those players – up close! The larger textures, normal mapping and other clever lighting effects mean those bristles look frighteningly real! But the very clever thing is that all 30,000 players in that LMA database have a slightly different and feel. Now that’s cool.

On top of that in LMA the extra RAM means many more players to choose from when doing those multi-million pound deals. I think it’s that kind of diverse detail which Xbox are aiming at with the ‘HD era’.

Codemasters: As I said above, the graphics are an obvious improvement.

However another big win for me is in the increased RAM size over current gen. It means we can start to see large persistent worlds on a console. That is, when you knock over an object, there will be enough RAM to keep in memory the new position and orientation of it. When you go back to the same object later, it should still be in the same position, rather than resetting.

The same goes for AI – the game should be able to control and track many more bots and the like. That was really difficult with the old gen consoles – especially for cross-platform based games.