Take a look at the two images above. Go ahead, study them a bit…I’ll wait here. All set? OK then””what do you think? If someone were to ask you which of these two images was an actual photograph and which of the two was a demonstration of what the future of video games might look like, would you be able to answer correctly?

Some of you may unleash your eagle–eye skills and be able to tell, but for the vast majority of us (myself included), it’s very, very difficult to discern the difference between the two.

Video game company Square Enix, publisher of the excellent Deus Ex: Human Revolution, was in Japan recently for a press conference where they showed off a tech demo for their Luminous Engine, which they hope will become the future of gaming as we know it.

Continue reading for more and to see a few side–by–side comparisons!

Gamers have wondered for a long while when exactly the next generation video game consoles would be created and hit the market. The current top systems, such as Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3, were released in 2005 and 2006 respectively — a lot longer a run than consoles are used to seeing.

We still don’t have an answer on when these systems will arrive, but some hints are now pointing at Microsoft beginning to get things moving forward.

Some new job listings have been posted on Linkedin for Microsoft, and they’re seeking people to bring the new console technologies to life. One listing seeks a Senior Architect and Performance Engineer in the Xbox Console Architecture Group, while another seeks someone with much knowledge in 3D…whatever that could possibly mean!