DICE Comments on new Xbox, PS4, “We Think We’ve Pushed PS3, 360 Boundaries”

DICE has been under the spotlight ever since Battlefield 3′s announcement, mainly due to how they’re utilizing the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The Swedish-based developer has now said they think the current console generation’s boundaries have definitively been pushed.

Speaking to GameSpy, Lead Multiplayer Designer Lars Gustavsson had the following to say when asked if they expect critical backlash from console gamers due to the differences from the PC version of the shooter:

I don’t think so. Most gamers do realize that the consoles are five years old, and if someone buys new SLI cards for their monster PC, there will be something extra for the PC. If we kept everything on console level for those PC players, then they would rightfully strangle us! I do think we have managed to push the boundaries of the consoles to a level where I feel we’ve passed the competition. That’s all you can ask out of the team at this point.

The topic of next-generation consoles has also picked up steam recently, and the studio responded with the following upon being asked whether building for the PC first will give them an advantage (in terms of a head-start) regarding the development of an engine for next generation consoles:

The main focus has been to build a game. Of course we have the technical thinking behind it, but we’ve been leading with console for quite some time now and it was time to turn it around to refresh all of our knowledge on previous titles. But yeah, the Frostbite 2.0 engine has been built to – as far as we possibly can – prepare for a modular approach to whatever may come in the future.

Lars went on to say that’s it been a very mature move on Dice’s part to invest in a new engine, and how it managed to revolutionize animation in shooters.

I think it’s been a very mature move from Dice to invest in this new engine that allows us to keep on cramming more stuff out of these machines, otherwise we start to stall. I also think that’s something that, to me, sticks out with Battlefield 3. It is a fresh take on an otherwise quite stale shooter market. We’re trying to do a lot of things that no one has done before. Animation has stayed the same for ages, now we’ve revolutionized animation in shooters. We keep on pushing the boundaries for scale, for destruction.

Additionally, in an interview with Complex, Battlefield 3 producer Aleksander Grondel commented on the game’s main competitor, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and how it’s impossible to avoid comparisons between both:

We play a lot of games, of course. We take inspiration from a lot of games and all media. I think other shooters are of course more interesting to look at. Seeing how they solve a problem we’ve been struggling with to fix, but also in even more cases we get surprised with. “Oh, you can do it in that way, as well. That’s cool, and that’s a completely different angle on the same problem.”

He further said that although it might get awkward at times, you end up doing things differently, no matter how stark the similarities as far as the concept is concerned:

Since we’re building what we’re building and other shooters are building their stuff, you can easily see when you get the awkward crossover in some places. You have the same inspiration, but you did it in two different ways. In other cases, you have two completely friendly implementations that have no resemblance, but you will still get compared.

Battlefield 3 is due for a release on October 25th in America and the title launches in all other European territories three days later.