It’s what Microsoft and Sony are coming up with that goes into the machines, like Kinect and PS4’s new controllers with ‘Move built in’. They’re becoming ”much more attractive” to PC studios.
”We only know what we read about,” said Dennis Shirk. ”And we get sent briefs like everyone else. On the Civ side of the building, we’re not looking at anything specific.”
Firaxis has released titles on console before with XCOM: Enemy Unknown doing the rounds on Xbox 360 and PS3. It’s the closer environment these platforms are beginning to share with PC, including in the peripheral department, which peaks Firaxis’ interest. PC titles are becoming ‘easier’ to translate to console.
”I mean there’s some neat tech coming out. We have Kinect on the Microsoft side, but what’s kind of interesting about the PS4 – from what we understand – is that they have the new coloured globe that they used to have on the wands are built into the controllers now.” These could let you have incredible accuracy to ‘point at the screen’.
”Which is intriguing because we’re always making mouse-driven games and things like that,” said Shirk. ”So the new consoles are definitely adding things in that will make future PC development much more attractive in terms of ‘do we want to move this over?’.”
”You don’t have to do quite the overhaul that you might normally have to do when you’re taking a game that’s made exclusively for the PC and port it over like that.” Shirk adds that the Civilization team at Firaxis is ”not specifically looking at hardware”, but that those secretive XCOM types on the other side of the building might be.
