14 DAY TRIAL // Watch Dogs is powered by an all-new technology called the Disrupt Engine that can scale across both current consoles, like the PlayStation3 or Xbox 360, as well as next-gen platforms like the PlayStation 4, Xbox 720, or PC.
Ubisoft impressed lots of people last year when it showcased Watch Dogs, a game where hacking and strategy pays off, besides fast reflexes and exploration of its open world.
The game is also among the few that will appear on both current and next-gen consoles at the end of the year.
According to Ubisoft, this is possible through the special Disrupt Engine technology that was custom built for Watch Dogs by the Montreal team and allows the studio to deliver the "same core game experience on each platform."
"One of the core strengths of the engine is its scalability," Senior Producer Dominic Guay told Edge. "We built the technology to support our vision for Watch Dogs and make sure we delivered the same core game experience on each platform."
The engine also allows players to connect with one another in many different ways and even with mobile phones or tablets.
"Moreover, our credo on Watch Dogs is 'Everything is connected, connection is power.' This obviously applies to the game world and Aiden’s unique abilities, but it also applies to our technology. Indeed, Disrupt will allow us to connect players together in completely new ways that players have not experimented before. This also extends to mobile devices and tablets."
The new engine features a wealth of enhancements over regular technologies, with Ubisoft improving things like graphics, AI, animation, or physics.
"Our game direction did not allow for a static world that only played carefully pre-designed scenarios," Guay added.
"In Watch Dogs, players have the freedom to choose their own plan using a large array of approaches and the game needs to respond to them. This required us to increase the interactivity of our game engine affecting all areas: physics, graphics, animation, AI. Furthermore, our desire to allow the whole Watch Dogs universe to be connected also required us to build online support in every parts of the engine."
Watch Dogs is expected to appear this fall on PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U and on PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720.