A Glimpse of Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4 Graphics

A pair of new images have provided a taste of what we might see on next generation consoles.

Magazines Xbox World and PSM3 have teamed up with Mike Smith (lead artist of Dirt developer Codemasters) and video game capture expert Duncan Harris (of Dead End Thrills) to generate screenshots that show what the Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4 will be capable of. According to CVG, the images display not only the systems' visual capabilities, but also "what they'll be capable of in terms of scale, lighting, landscapes, AI and procedural generation."

- CVG

"If you look at the amount of effort that goes into lighting at companies like Pixar, we're quite some way away from being able to leverage that control," said Smith, comparing next-gen consoles to animated films. "Once we have a toolset to do that, art directors can go crazy."

The images are reportedly generated by tech similar to the rumored hardware of the PlayStation 4. Specifically, PS4 is said to be abandoning the Cell processor in favor of AMD chips.

- CVG

The images are an interesting glimpse into what the future may be, but they're simply wishful thinking for now. While they look great, without seeing them in motion and interacting with a real-time environment, we can't truly know what next generation hardware is capable of.

For now, Sony and Microsoft have not officially commented on their next generation consoles, though the next Xbox is said to be codenamed Durango, and the PlayStation 4 won't be making an appearance this year. For the features video gaming world readers want the most out of next generation consoles, be sure to check out the results of our next generation gaming poll.

Are you impressed by the screenshots? Let us know in the comments below.