Square Enix believe that the next generation of consoles will offer graphics comparable to Pixar movies.

Julien Merceron, worldwide technology director of Square Enix, believes that next generation hardware from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft will make 'realistic games comparable to CGI films' possible.

"I think that we're still going to see a big leap in graphics," he said. "In terms of technology I think we'll see developers taking advantage of physically-based rendering, physically-based lighting. I think people will take advantage of global illumination, or at least some form approximation of global illumination, so that could have a significant impact on graphics quality."

The techniques mentioned are currently used in CGI movies. If these techniques are possible on next generation consoles then developers will have technology that is capable of creating incredibly realistic game worlds.

"It's going to enable new forms of art direction, but it's also going to enable deeper convergence between multiple media - being able to share more assets horizontally between movies, TV series and games,"

Because of the nature of these techniques, realistic games will see dramatic improvement whereas 'unrealistic and cartoony' games won't see as much benefit.

"If you take most of the Pixar movies from the last five to six years... do you see a big difference between one that was released five years ago, and one that was released last year? I'm actually not sure we see a huge difference. But if you take a film like Avatar, there's a huge leap in the graphics techniques that are being used and the level of realism. The conclusion I would draw from that is we might end up seeing the difference way more in realistic-looking games, rather than those trying to achieve a cartoony look."

Julien Merceron is obviously very excited about the next generation of gaming and whilst these predictions are targeted more towards the upcoming Sony and Microsoft consoles he is optimistic that the Wii U will still impress as far as graphics are concerned.

What do you think of Juliens comments? Do you think it really could be possible to pull of such graphics in the next generation of gaming? And do you feel that the Wii U could also live up to these expectations? Let us know in the comments below.