Epic: What's the point of next-gen consoles?

Wii U is set for release next year and Xbox 720 and PS4 will likely follow in the not too distant future, but Epic Games president Mike Capps has questioned the need for future generations of gaming hardware, saying the industry should perhaps be placing more focus on mobile devices like iPhone.
<FIGURE style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 300px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; DISPLAY: block; FONT: inherit; FLOAT: right; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; CLEAR: both; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial" class="article-image article-image-alt article-image-300">http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideo...mb_wide300.jpg</FIGURE>Speaking to IndustryGamers, Capps reflected on the power dynamic between PC and consoles before drawing attention to the continued growth of Apple's mobile gaming platform.

"Before the problem was between the consoles and PC where they had very different levels. The power of your PC could be 100 times the power of somebody else's PC. This time the problem could be mobile," he said.

"If you look at the ridiculous acceleration of iPhone hardware and technology, trying to find a sweet spot for tech to make your mobile game... I mean, what would your mobile game look like in 2015? Who knows how fast that's going to operate, but you can bet it's going to be faster than an Xbox 360."

Capps went on to say the real challenge the industry faces going forward is getting to grips with future mobile platforms.

"So I think that's the real challenge for us now, rather than worrying about the difference between a couple consoles and some order of magnitude, whether 3X or 4X. It's about how do we deal with iPhone 8... if you watch where the gamers are going that's where they are.

"Your iPhone 8 will probably plug into your TV, or better yet, wirelessly connect to your television set to give you that big screen gaming experience with good sound. So really, what's the point of those next-gen consoles? It's a very interesting situation to be looking at. That's what we're starting to think about more... not how do we scale from some Nintendo platform to some other future console".

In a recent two part interview with CVG, we talked to Epic about everything from the future of consoles, PC exclusives and the Samaritan demo to Apple, hacks and Gears Of War.http://www.computerandvideogames.com/314861/epic-whats-the-point-of-next-gen-consoles/