Stardock banking on 64-bit graphics revolution

Stardock's Brad Wardell has predicted a revolution in PC graphics, which may see consoles left gasping in the dust.

"If you think it's cool now, right now games are about to make this jump to 64-bit," Wardell told Destructoid.

"... We're gonna go from messing around with these 2GB limits to having essentially unlimited memory, and people don't realize what that means. But it means we're gonna have these crazy high resolution textures.

"That's what's holding us back, that's why graphics haven't got that much better in the last few years. ... Give them another year or two and we're going to see some really crazy stuff."

And if console manufacturers don't jump on the 64-bit trend, then we'll see another swing back towards PC gaming.

"I'll tell you, the next generation console had better be 64-bit.

"... I'll put it another way, if they don't make it 64-bit, then what will happen is that the PC games will get so far ahead of console games visually that they'll be in for some real hurt."

Wardell said that until the 64-bit revolution comes, graphics are "kind of at a standstill", but that nevertheless, right now is a very exciting time for games.

"I mean look at Minecraft, right? Would Minecraft have been possible 5 years ago? This is the greatest time in gaming history, and we get to be part of it."

Stardock is a PC-centric developer focussing on core strategy titles, including Sins of a Solar Empire and Elemental: War of Magic. Its digital distribution service, Impulse, was recently acquired by retailer Gamestop.