E3 2012: Has the next-gen already made its E3 debut?

Microsoft and Sony may be holding their breath on next-gen for another year but publishers, it seems, are more than ready.

One of the visually more impressive demoes of E3 this year has been LucasArts’ Star Wars 1313. And all the signs suggest that it is in fact a next-gen title.

CVG reports that it saw one of the game’s developers using the Unreal Editor in a behind-closed-doors briefing of the game. The almost certainly means the title is running off Unreal Engine 4 – and that means it’s next-gen.

"[The] game was undeniably next gen, and was produced in cooperation with Nvidia,” it stated. It was running on a PC with a 360 controller, and looked like Uncharted running in the Star Wars universe, but with facial animation, lighting, and physics well in advance of anything on current gen platforms. The facial animation alone is incredible.

"LucasArts said the game was in ‘pre production’. They didn’t even use the word ‘alpha’, so it’s very, very early. There’s no way it could run on current gen hardware, but even if it could, I’d guess it’ll be out after November 2013 – in other words, after the next gen consoles launch."

Indeed, MCV’s editor in chief Michael French revealed on Twitter last night that he had seen four potential next-gen titles on display in LA.

Seen 4 impressive high-end things today from 4 different companies that sure suggest some people were expecting next-gen games consoles soon

— Michael French (@Michael_French) June 6, 2012

One other potential next-gen contender has been ruled out, however. Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs wowed onlookers on Monday thanks to its smart design and sharp visuals. However, Ubisoft has since confirmed that the game will indeed be coming out on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Here’s the Star Wars 1313 once again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U08QNPk0ZNE