While PC hardware is in contestant flux, the consoles give developers a fixed window of constraints. And because Crytek games use high-tone graphics engines, they must start designing for the future. Which means the company is starting to estimate when the next-gen consoles will be on the market. "Sony knows, but they wouldn't tell us," said Yerli. "But our estimate is 2011, or 2012." He adds that he expects the next Xbox a year before the PS4. Having estimated the console cycle, Crytek must now consider the technology inside the boxes, because the hardware will create new challenges. "That knowledge should be used to differentiate your game from the competition," says Yerli, explaining why it's imperative to shift now, instead of saying 'I will get the last twenty-percent of performance from this graphics cycle.'

Yerli says that processors are on a collision course: GPUs are getting more towards general purpose computing, and CPUs are getting more towards parallel processing. "The GPUS and CPUS are on a collision course." "With facts and trends," he continues, "you can make a most informed decision." For example, says Yerli, we know that until 2012 there's a fixed maximum resolution for gaming. "The risk of 'uncanny valley' for content is increased. As the more realistic graphics become the animation may not adapt," Yerli says. "All the aspects of the content have to be grown together." "Games will differentiate more and more in artistic style, physics, and AI, to be different," predicts Yerli. He also says that "Huge gains are possible in physics and AI." Trends and facts give an inclination, and Yerli sees three possible futures, involving Point Based Rendering, Ray Tracing, or Rasterization. "The future, in our terms, starts next year. Next year we start researching our 2012 engine," the Crytek founder told the audience.