Amid claims the traditional console business is on its last legs and reports about the power of the next Xbox and PlayStation 4, the boss of Avalanche Studios, the developer of the Just Cause series, has warned better looking games on next generation consoles "won't save the game industry".

Christofer Sundberg told Eurogamer that it is essential the next consoles from Microsoft and Sony combine the strengths of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 with new business models so those who invest in making games see a suitable return.

Last month Ben Cousins, manager of Ngmoco Stockholm, predicted that in the next few years there will exist a free-to-play equivalent of single-player RPG Skyrim.

"I believe that single-player will be the next to be cracked in terms of freemium monetisation," he said. "And I'm talking about traditional, story-based, scripted, linear and non-linear single-player that we see on consoles.

"I am totally 100 per cent confident - I will bet large amounts of money - that we will have, in the next few years, a free-to-play equivalent of Skyrim. A game like Skyrim, where you accrue skills and equipment over time, that you can play for hundreds of hours, is actually one of the easiest games to develop for a free-to-play model. That would be a big hit."

Cousins said the future is freemium games where micro-transactions include gameplay features and functions that cause positive reactions. The average lifetime spend by a gamer here will be $60, predicted Cousins - the price of a new, boxed game. The difference is, however, that the audience for these games is potentially much larger than that for console games.

For Sundberg, who has teams working on next-generation games now for release in 2013 and 2014, Ngmoco's vision of the future is only "partly true".

"To sound exceptionally boring, I can't comment much on next-gen platforms," he said. "However, better looking games won't save the games industry - I can say that much.

"What companies such as Ngmoco have been talking about very actively in the press is partly true. Traditional business models are dead and if you want to survive as an independent studio you have to think outside the box."

Sundberg stopped short of agreeing with some commentators who have predicted the death of consoles. He imagines next-generation hardware fusing what hardcore console gamers expect with new ways for publishers to make money.

"I don't believe in the F2P model either and consoles are far from dead," he said. "How we combine the traditional consoles with new business models will be absolute key to success - not one way or the other.

"Since the recession of 2008/09 everybody has been looking for that Silver-bullet to save the games industry and jumps on every opportunity there is - developing a quirky PSN/XBLA game or building your own F2P game. That is suicide."

At GDC last month Unreal Engine maker Epic Games called on Microsoft and Sony to make the next Xbox and PlayStation 4 as powerful as "economically possible" to ensure both devices "remain relevant for another generation".

Reports have pegged the horsepower of the next Xbox at around six times the power of the Xbox 360. Others suggest visuals pumped out by high-end PCs using the DirectX 11 standard provide a glimpse at what will be possible.

Swedish developer Avalanche Studios has told Eurogamer Just Cause is "perfect" for the next Xbox and PlayStation 4.

The third game in the open world action series is rumoured to be one of Avalanche's in development games set for release in 2013 or 2014. If Just Cause 3 is a next-gen game, based on when we expect the next Xbox and PS4 to launch (in time for Christmas 2013), it could be a launch title.

"There is a very strong emotional attachment to the franchise as it was created by me and my design team here so we would obviously like to see a very bright future for Just Cause," Avalanche boss Christofer Sundberg told Eurogamer this afternoon.

"In this day and age when everyone is struggling to make money, my opinion is that the JC IP is perfect for everything that next-gen has to offer."

Avalanche has multiple projects on the go across its various studios. It's just announced a major recruitment drive aimed at expanding its studio operations in Stockholm and New York for work on current and next-gen console games. At least one of these titles will be announced before E3 in June.

Sundberg added: "As we've said before they are two pretty damn cool and big licenses which we have chosen to work on just because they allow us to create two new open-world/sandbox experiences in worlds where we've seen a lack of features that Avalanche Studios has to offer."

That Avalanche would embark on a third Just Cause game should come as no surprise. The second instalment was widely acclaimed, and recieved 8/10 in Eurogamer's Just Cause 2 review.

But Avalanche isn't a one-trick pony, and has since released tip-top twin-stick shooter Renegade Ops.

I had a friend who had synaesthesia. Sounds would form a iridescent fog over her vision, with different sounds creating different colours, and multiple sounds layering over one another; blue could be shot through with silver, or pockets of red would flare in a brown malaise. Most of the time, she said it was actually quite pleasant, as though she was seeing an extra layer to sound that was unique to her. Most of the time, it made her feel special.

Sometimes, when there was too much sound, or too many that conflicted, it would overwhelm. It would make it difficult to see, and difficult to think, with this violent storm of colour covering everything. It was only at those times that she ever claimed to 'suffer' from synaesthesia.

Proteus, a procedural exploration game by Ed Key, doesn't let you see what you hear. It lets you hear what you see.

The totems are on every island, always at the top of a mountain.

Trees have a low bass that takes you by surprise the first time you hear it, but provides a steady musical bed for the higher melodies of fireflies and flowers, or the sudden tinkle and upwards cadence of a hopping rabbit. Synths and beats are laced throughout the entire island that the game generates specifically for you, layering all these sight-sounds over them, so that you have a constant aural texture building and building.

You break from the canopy of the woods, and the tone changes instantly. Without those bass notes everything feels suddenly more open, not nearly so constrained. Wheat fields and daisies have their own notes, too, but they can't match the power and majesty of the trees, or equal the spritely staccato of the animals. They have their own place, and their sound is more delicate, but just as pretty. They're worth visiting.

Playing the unfinished preview build, Proteus feels surprisingly complete, not least because the main structure of the game, where you move through the seasons from spring to winter, is fully in place. Each season has its own wildlife, and its own music, both the synth bed and the tones of vegetation and animals changing to match the march of the year.

At sunrise and sunset the island is washed in pink and orange.

And while you can't actively interact with anything in the world, the construction of melody and sound is enough. It's enough to know that you can go down to that clearing and change Spring to Summer, Summer to Autumn, Autumn to Winter, at any time. It's enough to wander over to a frog and watch it hop away, each movement soundtracked with an electronic buzz. You don't need to pick anything up, or solve any puzzles, to feel involved in a world.

That's the wonder of Proteus, as it stands. That this is a world that feels alive, and it feels as though you're a part of it. It doesn't matter that this is a bespoke island created just for you, or that there's a house with no occupant, or a field of gravestones without any explanation. It's enough to just wander, and have the world sing to you. But it's so much, so constantly, that it threatens to overwhelm. The sounds flood your ears as you drink in the sights, and you can get lost in it all. The seasons, each with their own distinct feel, build a narrative that is bitter sweet at best.

Right now, Proteus is a beautiful, wonderful game. It's unique, and it provides an experience that is quite unlike anything I've come across before. The more that gets added to flesh out these pocket worlds that the game creates for you can only to the majesty of it all. Ed Key, the developer, talks about the game in terms of EPs and LPs, as if they were musical records, and if this is the EP, the small collection of songs that lead into the release of a full blown album, then consider me well and truly teased.

I can't wait to hear it.

The Just Cause movie is called Just Cause: Scorpion Rising.

Bryan Edward Hill (Broken Trinity: Pandora's Box, 7 Days From Hell) is rewriting the script originally penned by Michael Ross, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

As previously revealed, the movie focuses on the origin of The Scorpion, aka Rico Rodriguez.

Producers Adrian Askarieh and Eric Eisner are yet to take the film to movie studios or financiers. Last year the pair said they hoped the Just Cause flick would emulate Bond film Casino Royal.

Backing previous rumours, The Hollywood Reporter claims a third video game in the Just Cause series is in development. This was reportedly set for launch in 2012, but Avalanche told Eurogamer it will not release a game that year.

So, as of now, Avalanche hasn't confirmed Just Cause 3 as a project. The Swedish studio told Eurogamer it has two "huge" titles in development. Both are scheduled for 2013.