lol, the current generation/next generation. I dont even know what that means in relation to PC games, other than the dozens of dx9/10 PC ports weve had to swallow..Im glad the next generation of console hardware is coming tho, it means better PC ports.
Whether you like it or not (I really do for my part) consoles dictate the technological roadmap for obvious financial reasons.
Consequently multiplatform PC games progress visually if the console versions do too, developpers for the most part don't heavily invest in the platform to the point of completely overhauling the PC SKU, that would be counterproductive in the long run for them, as a PC gamer primarily I fully agree with that.
They don't owe us shit, funnily enough they are the ones who have something to win from enhancing a PC version, chances are a good port will make the operation more profitable for them but the core game has to remain the same in a multiplatform developpment.
Those differences however can be significant for those who know where to look but the casual observer won't notice anything and thus won't feel "cheated", this is what matters most.
That's ironic when you think about it but next-gen begins when consoles say so, that's the rule and I have absolutely nothing against that, how costly would a true next-gen game be on PC ? The hardware is there but not the market, let's bear that in mind before shitting on consoles. Without this market I don't think we would have anything "high-end" to discuss on PC, I agree with the last part of your post though , yes next-gen consoles will raise the bar significantly for PC games and that's a good enough reason to keep an eye on them.
Even PC only gamers know how important they are, that said I don't believe the current mid/high end PCs of 2012 will struggle much to run next-gen ports, PC is next-gen ready.
Crysis 3 has too many effects that Killzone simply doesn't display. Especially the water tech and vegetation tech is extremely impressive. KZ probably won't have these at all. Mainly because Cry Engine 2 is way more mature than whatever engine GG is using for KZ Shadow Fall. Crytek have already shipped at least 3 games using that engine (Crysis 2, Warface, Crysis 3) while this is GG's first foray into next gen.
You can't expect a studio like that to blow away Crytek, Crytek is pretty much the apex of tech in games.
I disagree with that, strongly, while it's true that Crytek are "tech Gods" it shouldn't be underestimated what talented studios can do with a
far higher common denominator. Killzone Shadow Fall unlike Crysis 3 is a game designed with next-gen in mind and it comes as no surprise that it looks superior to pretty much everything running on PC right now, no matter how much graphic cards you may throw in that does not change the fact that the assets are made with current-gen consoles restrictions in mind.
You seem to assume a lot if I read your post right, how do you know that the next Killzone won't feature effects as computationally expensive as the ones in Crysis 3 ? Killzone 2 and 3 are technical marvels held back by a 2006 console, given powerful hardware they will blow everything out of the water for quite some time. Is it possible to do even better on PC ? I would say yes....But would it financially be possible ? I don't know Star Citizen's budget but this is the most breathtaking next-gen game I've seen so far.
