Will we ever reached Hollywood pre-rendered qualit gfx in consoles??

I think not. Just look at the specs of PIXARs latest toy...thats 1024 Xeon processors running parallel!!!

Well, maybe they use it to render many different scenes simultaneously...still, it seems like out of reach on the home console even for the next ten years...

- Pixar Animation Studios announced that it is working with Intel Corporation and RackSaver to create one of the most powerful computer installations ever used for digital animation. This is the first time ever Pixar [headed by Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple Computer] utilise x86 processors from Intel. Previously Pixar only used systems from Sun.

Pixar\'s new RenderFarm, used to create the digital images for each frame of animation in its movies, will consist of 1024 Intel Xeon processors inside of eight new RackSaver BladeRack supercomputing clusters running Pixar\'s own RenderMan software. The RenderFarm features 2TBs (two terabytes) of memory and 60TBs (terabytes) of disk space. Each Intel Xeon processor at 2.80GHz is about five times faster than the older RISC-based processors in Pixar\'s outgoing RenderFarm. Pixar is using the system for its film, "The Incredibles," scheduled for a 2004 release.

[Titan]

I think years down the road they will bring graphics like that. I mean, look at the rate graphics are going up. They are only getting better with each new generation of consoles.

[Bobs_Hardware]

We will eclipse what Hollywood were achieving a few years ago, but remember that as games graphics get better, so are Hollywood\'s graphics.  And at a faster rate.

If your talking about Final Fantasy (the movie) graphics, talk to me again in like 20 years.

[Kurt Angle]

Hollywood will always be ahead. The movie technology moves much quicker than games technology. I believe we will always be playing catch up.

Its all about the cash gentlemen. Give some game producer 100 million dollars to spend and you have got yourself one hell of a game on your hands.

Can you imagine what they could do with that much. Forget the Titanic.

If you\'re guaranteed to move over 2 million units, it\'d be worth paying that much for development.. no?

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

I think it\'ll be closer then you guys thing.. Within the next 5 to 10 years...

2 million units...at USD50 per game...I dunno how much the developer make...say 25 dollars?? ( for both publisher & developer ).

so, 25 x 2 = 50 million only...cannot even break even!!

Enter the Matrix is supposed to cost 23 million. Its on all the platforms. It will be interesting to see how much money this game will make.

Its being made by the film makers themselves. Hollywood has much respect and fear of the gaming market. Its thier biggest threat.

i hope we never reach "Hollywood pre-rendered quality gfx"

gimme 8 bit color and solid gameplay any day

we dont play games anymore, we watch them

Paul: Yeah, something like that. In the case of somebody like Sega, though.. (who publishes their own games) 2-3 million units worldwide will make \'em break even on a $100 million investment.. no?

Blade: I don\'t think so...like my previous rough calculation indicated, at a profit of USD25 apiece, you\'ll need 4 million copies just to break even...that\'s 4 MILLION COPIES!!!

How many games nowadays can sell by that amount??

Anyway, anybody knows what\'s the biggest budget for a videogame ever had?

shenmue 2 from what i\'ve heard

It could be Shenmue II.

As far as resources go, Super Mario 64 and/or Zelda:OOT might also be up there. Supposedly, Nintendo allocated hundreds of people to the development of SM64 to make it available at the N64\'s launch.

And what about GTA:VC? All that celebrity voice talent.. hmm..

There are a lot of possibilities. It could be a Final Fantasy game.. although I doubt it..