Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has picked out cross-device functionality and connectivity in general as key advantages of Microsoft and Sony's next generation consoles, but cautions that these features aren't as easy to communicate to consumers as bright, spangly graphical upgrades. "Generally what next-gen consoles do is pick up everything that has been invented around them on telephone, PC or even on social networks like Facebook," he told CVG in an interview. What is fantastic again this time is that the consoles they are creating are really taking advantage of all those things that happen on those machines, on top of having more power.

"So it's the combination of those two that will give us a chance to create experiences that are more immersive, shared with friends, and we expect that there will be more open-world types of games where you're not forced to do something - the game will adapt based on who you are, what you play and what you are doing with your friends," Guillemot continued.



The latter certainly applies to Ubisoft's own Tom Clancy's The Division (above), an always-online MMO shooter, and open world hack 'em up Watch Dogs, in which multiplayer elements are seamlessly blended with the single player environment.

However, "it's extremely difficult to market those features. Players have to experience them. What we see is that it works on PC, it works on mobile, so if we can have a new level of graphics, animation and AI, plus all those social features that we see on PC and in mobile games then there's no reason it can't be more interesting and create better experiences than what we have today.

"But for sure, the first thing people will look at is graphics, animation and how the worlds are more alive and so on. But quickly when they play, if they recognise things that they had on PC with free-to-play games or something, then they will quickly understand what those games can bring."

You might remember Guillemot as the guy who was so much shorter than Aisha Tyler (HI AISHA) at the publisher's E3 press conference. You might also remember him as the guy who's been agitating for next generation console announcements these past two years. Any thoughts on the latest?

Source: Rheena.com