In an interview with VideoGamer, Frontier studio boss David Braben has said that as the 360 and PS3 begin to adopt new control schemes, "opportunities may also change".

Pressed whether this meant Lostwinds could make its way to the HD consoles via Project Natal and Sony's motion controller, Braben said "Well who knows? All of these things are enabling new gameplay mechanics, some of which could be quite close to something like LostWinds."

"We're certainly doing more in the world of LostWinds anyway. The very fact that we're doing this sequel shows it's been successful. But also, what those opportunities are, we'll look at."

So we might get Lostwinds, we might get something...else. As he says though, Lostwinds is already a strong "brand", it'd make sense to push on and take it to other systems and new players.

Could LostWinds come to 360 and PS3? [VideoGamer]

"As an industry, we're in denial about the problems with retail," Braben argued, citing a common myth that online distribution will become the norm in the coming generation.

"Retail is killing the longevity of our titles," he said, with the massive used game market contributing to the problem. "The industry sees none of this" when it comes to preowned sales.

Meanwhile, the retail film industry puts its new films front and center, and the stores in which movies are sold are often more attractive and inviting than game stores.

"What's worse, if you ask for a new release, they'll offer you a used one, and it's not even much cheaper," said Braben. "What it's doing as an industry, means the long tail, which is what games rely on, is going to go away. And relying on online is killing ourselves."

Braben suggested selling higher-priced copies of games to rental stores, then lowering the prices of not-for-resale copies — thus making new games more affordable for players, while introducing additional revenue streams for rentals.

"We can add value for people who have actually bought the game," he said — designers should come up with additional content that rewards those who buy games new.

Well, I'm not sure if his suggestions are necessarily going to fix things (certainly won't make it any easier on retailers), but Braben sounds pretty passionate and inflamed about a lot of these topics. It's a quick and pretty interesting read, even if you don't agree with his solutions.

MIGS: Frontier's Braben On Retailers 'Killing The Longevity' Of Games [Gamasutra]

In my mind's eye, I just see the same old 8-bit wireframes only... better, somehow. A bit less blocky would do. They don't even have to have textures or anything, just as long as the gameplay is up to the original I will be happy. Just slap a bit of anti-aliasing on or something and I am there.

Sadly, the odds of Elite 4 being released for the BBC Model B or Commodore 64 are quite slim, but series co-creator David Braben has popped up to tease us with the idea that Elite 4 will be hitting current-gen consoles.

This sounds great, but surely Elite needs about 500 keys to be playable? Matching the complex controls to a game pad is going to be tricky, clumsy or both.

As to the game itself, Braben is staying tight lipped. “Very, very deep and dark,” is all he could reveal - hopefully referring to the gameplay rather than the remaining project plan.

Elite 4: “We are looking at console,” says Braben [Videogaming 247]

Elite 4 technology almost finished, says Braben [Develop]

We really need to move forward on story — as one of the fronts. That's not the only front left ....

I had an argument with somebody that there were only four types of gameplay, and then out comes Populous. Okay, there are five, then. And usually, it's an excuse to plagiarize. We all take inspiration from other games, and that's fine. It's when we take inspiration and don't do any more. That's the sad thing. When you don't move it forward. And there's a danger. Some of the games that fortunately don't get much airtime don't necessarily do that. That's a missed opportunity. Especially these days, where we're making fewer games than we used to. We're essentially being trusted to use the opportunity to do something fantastic, and if we don't we should get slapped around — which I'm sure we will do.

Well, now I'm curious to see if Braben and his team can actually deliver - talking about grand plans is one thing, putting them into practice (in a manner that actually works) is another. I'm all for improved narrative design, but plenty of developers have gone down the 'revolutionary' path only to fall flat on their face with a disappointed audience who was expecting more.

Next-Gen Narrative: The David Braben Interview [Gamasutra]

I loved the 1930s-1950s atmosphere of BioShock...but the gameplay itself was not 'next-gen'...I found Halo 3 great fun, too, but also a little disappointing - as although there were a few nice touches and improved graphical fidelity, it hadn't really moved on much from Halo 2 in terms of the gameplay.

...if anything I am reassured; I think Outsider more than stands up to them, and I still think Outsider will be one of the first 'next-gen' games.

Here's hoping The Outsider is everything Braben claims it to be, offering us a robust world of possibilities while making two critically acclaimed AAA releases look like Atari 2600 titles. But until then, it seems like a lot of talk, and not a lot of...

BioShock, Halo 3 not "next-gen" [eurogamer]