You have to admit, Epic makes some awfully pretty games on all platforms. The company behind Gears of War, Unreal Tournament, and numerous other games know how to squeeze every drop of juice out of whatever hardware they’re working on, and the titles they put out are almost always jaw-dropping.

That’s why the industry’s collective ears perked up this morning, when Rod Fergusson stated that he thinks developers are getting close to reaching the end of the Xbox 360’s potential. According to Fergusson, there’s not much left in the technology of the 360 to make games any better than they currently are, though he does believe graphics will continue to improve as programmers have more time to tinker with the machine.

"With the two to three more years of optimization that we’ve had, we’re much further along than I think, three years ago, we thought we were going to get. So I think we’re certainly approaching the upper end of it, as far as what developers are able to do with it... It’s clear that all the games just keep improving, and keep pushing that bar.

"I think it’s just a matter of, you know, it’s a slow cycle; you only get a kick at it every couple years, and so it takes a while for people to see that progress.

"There will be games in development that won’t ship until 2010, and I’m sure they’ll look killer, just because, again, they’ll have more time with it, and learn from mistakes and optimizations of others. So, I don’t know; I think we’re getting up there, but I still think there’s room to grow."

Fergusson’s remarks are interesting on two levels; first, because they might lend a bit more credence to Microsoft releasing a new console in the next couple years, and second, they indicate that games on the 360 aren’t going to change much over the next few years. It’s also worthwhile to note that while Fergusson claims developers are reaching the top of Mt. Xbox, those same souls are still just beginning to understand how to program on the PS3. Could it be that over the next few years we’ll see game quality on the PS3 pull away with Blu-ray discs and the understanding of the Cell processor? Or will Microsoft debut another machine that blows all current competition out of the water? The plot definitely thickens...