GCDC: Developers must shape next-gen gaming - Daglow

"It is we as gamers and as games developers who put the next in next-gen"

Stormfront Studios president Don Daglow has opened the Leipzig GCDC with a call to arms for developers, rather than platform holders, to "put the next in next-gen".

In his opening keynote, Daglow said: "I read press stories saying, 'Next-gen isn't next-gen yet; the games aren't exciting yet. I don't see something different yet.' We cannot turn to Microsoft or Nintendo or Sony and say, 'What are you going to do about that? What are you going to do about the fact there isn't a next in next-gen yet?'

"We can't do that. That's like going to our parents and complaining about our scores at university," he concluded.

According to Daglow, it is "hardware manufacturers who set the table but game designers who prepare and serve the meal" - and regardless of what the platform holders offer, games will only evolve if developers use the technology in new and creative ways.

"Whatever the hardware makers do to give us new technology to play games, it is the game designers and the game development team that have to make that work," Daglow continued.

"You walk into a store, and you have this beautiful console, and there's all that power, but there are no games, there's no reason for the console.

"But the good news is, we are the ones who, in this generation and future generations of hardware, will put the 'next' in next-gen."

Daglow, whose firm Stormfront Studios is currently working on movie licensed title Eragon for Vivendi Games, was speaking on the first day of the Game Convention Developer's Conference in Leipzig, Germany. The conference continues tomorrow and Wednesday with further keynotes planned from speakers including Peter Molyneux, Bill Roper and Louis Castle.