DICE is "desperate" to move on to the next console generation

Battlefield 3 developer DICE is confident: If Microsoft or Sony released a new console tomorrow, the Frostbite 2.0 engine would handle the hardware upgrade with ease.

DICE executive producer Patrick Bach told CVG that the current engine - and Battlefield 3 as a whole - is already pushing both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 to the limit.

Bach says, "We are desperate to move on into the next generation. I think Battlefield 3 will look like a next-generation game and all the technology we're building, the whole Frostbite 2 system - the animations, audio, everything - is trying to aim for a couple of years in the future, rather than looking at what we have today."

The engine itself will happily scale up to meet the demands of any new platform, Bach says, including everything from rendering technologies to the code that handles streaming.

In case you were wondering about how the admittedly PC-centric Battlefield 3 would port over to console, Bach would like you not to worry. He says that EA's upcoming shooter will be "if not the best-looking console game this year, up there with the competition," preferring to keep quiet on the topic so that the game can prove it without the hype.

Bach also chatted with GamePlanet, discussing whether or not there is such a thing as "too many" first-person shooters, some insight into the game's sound design, and just how controversial (or not) Battlefield 3 will really be.

Thanks for the tips, stolenglory and Schindet Nemo!