Why is it being made for the 360?

by kapowaz, Thursday, February 14, 2013, 04:19 (4082 days ago) @ uberfoop

Next gen is going to be a jump for sure, but I don't think it'll feature quite as heavy a learning curve for developers as last gen, despite the 8-year gap.

Undoubtedly the fact the architectures of both Orbis and Durango are closer to a modern PC will simplify things to an extent, but the underlying hardware is only one part of the equation. I suspect that where the learning curve was for the most part in the current generation was learning to make best use of middleware created by the likes of Epic, which will also be changing for the new generation. I'm not sure just what third-party middleware Bungie use (I remember seeing Havok in the credits, but it's possible there are others too) but the same would apply even with in-house middleware. It takes time to create such new software, and will get better and faster gradually, not instantly. Art assets will need to be built with a specific target level of performance in mind too.

Ultimately, as great as the hardware will seem at release (compared to current-gen consoles, anyway) it will be left in the dust by PCs 3-4 years from now, and it'll be at this point that developers will need to eke out every last drop of performance in order to be able to release titles that are visually comparable on both PC and console.