God of War II director on developing for next-gen

Gamers are yearning for next-generation experiences that are deeper than just "shoot the guy [in] the head," according to God of War II director Cory Barlog.

"I really believe people are hungry for games and experiences that offer them something more than just 'shoot the guy [in] the head,'" Barlog told Gamasutra. "At the very least, this new generation will be a motivator for us, as creators, to greatly increase context and reason to all of our creative decisions."

After spending time working with Crystal Dynamics, Avalanche Studios, Mad Max director George Miller, and Star Wars creator George Lucas, Barlog returned to Sony Santa Monica this summer.

He is currently working on a "freaking huge" game at Sony Santa Monica. He has not gone into specifics about this game, but did lay out a roadmap for what he hopes to achieve with the project.

"I want to make something that feels instantly familiar yet completely different; something that feels like home on an alien planet with a nitrogen atmosphere," Barlog said. "As lame and 'PR' as this sounds, the landscape of console gaming is at a pretty freaking awesome point right now. The next generation is going be a chance to really stretch our legs from a design and creative thinking perspective."

Barlog said in August that he is assembling an "Ocean's 11-style" cast of developers for the new game. It is not clear how far along in development this game is, or which platform(s) it is in production for.