Ether_Snake
å®å®å®å®å®å®å®å®å®å®å®å®å®å®å®
It's an extremely accurate prediction of what the next gen (and future gens) are going to look like. Budgets can't climb much higher than the astronomical level they're at, so we're limited to whatever the developers can muster with $20 million in their pockets.
Didn't you see that interview? Kojima even said he doesn't like being called "The Metal Gear Guy." He wants to make new IPs, but the Metal Gear brand name is just too strong. So he's going to incorporate elements and ideas he would have saved for new IPs...and put them under the Metal Gear brandname.
No, a lot of things are actually cheaper to do on high-end PC/next-gen: lighting is becoming ever-more automated. No need to bake lightmaps, no need for lighting artists to waste time "faking" anything. You got real-time global illumination, real-time ambient occlusion, volumetric fog, emissive-particles, physics on particles, more processing power so much easier to build stuff re-using assets rather than merging them together (no need to make a bookshelf with the books in it, just make the shelf, and grab the same books you use anywhere else to fill it up), etc. Not even mentioning how you can build cities or forests/landscapes MUCH faster than before. A few clicks and you can basically end up with a new forest, with all the rocks, trees, plants, placed where they should logically be, and everything looking amazing. You can make clothing that automatically fits on characters of various sizes rather than having to make specific clothing for each characters, etc. The concept of "textures" is going to go out the window, and instead the creation of physical materials will be introduced. Well made materials can be re-used in any game made with the same engine, unlike mere textures as they have been done which are usually too game-specific, reducing the production costs/time again. If you make a realistic steel material, there is no reason not to re-use it on another game made with the same engine, be it a sequel or another title outright. This wasn't really possible before.
Most people have no idea what more processing power and memory truly implies.