Xbox 720 Playstation 4 Rumors: Could Developers Shy Away from New Complex Technology?

An interesting phenomenon seems to be occurring in the gaming industry. The Nintendo Wii U is slated for release in just weeks and third party publishers are already jumping on the Big N's bandwagon. This had never happened before, but with the market expanding into mobile technology, third party develops simply don't have the luxury of ignoring any hardware manufacturer. Or do they?

According to Tapscape, there are already question about whether or not the next generation Playstation 4 or Xbox 720 may make it too difficult for developers to make games on. There is already speculation that these could be the final consoles, but could such a lucrative industry go out with a dud?

Microsoft's own Lionhead has been the first to question more potent console systems. Gary Carr, Lionhead's creative director stated during a conversation with OXM that

"Quite often people who are very good at writing technology are not good at writing creatively cool things. The point I'm making is: if you can offer something that's as simple as a Fisher Price toy which still produces amazing results, than I've got a broader range of people I can invite into this industry to make great games."

He makes a great point by stating that even with more power, simplicity must still be the most important thing. If the complexity of the machine makes game creation a complex process, than more developers will shy away from taking on the new technology until someone is bold enough to crack it on their own. But who is willing to make the huge investment in a sagging economy to try something more complicated and expensive when there are already machines on the market that support the current technology? Nintendo's Wii U is looking like it may fall behind Sony and Microsoft's technological prowess for the second straight generation, but with developers already comfortable with their hardware, we may start to see more content on the Nintendo machine than on the next Sony and Microsoft consoles.

There has always been a huge debate in the gaming industry regarding graphics. Microsoft and Sony have long prided themselves in being on the cutting edge of this debate, but the key is not whether or not games look beautiful, but if they play well. If both companies opt for super sophisticated technology in the next cycle and sacrifice simplicity for developers, then their biggest asset for many years may turn against them.