The future of video games Thread

Yes, it's my first post on the cosmos forum. Three cheers for me

Anyways, I was recently wondering about the future of video games. No doubt game designers are trying to create more and more realistic and immersive games? This leads me to believe that soon/someday the computer as we know it will not be good enough. Designers just won't be able to cope with the limitations of a keyboard and mouse (Or joystick or gamepad, you get the point). They will probably be looking into either "virtual reality", where you wear some stuff and run around in a virtual world, while your body is in some boring old room doing whatever. Or maybe just huge environments here on earth, enhanced by holographic stuff, arranged into the style of a game.

However, to properly accomplish either, designers will have to apply their genius minds to the task of creating a collision detection system, where you can feel holographics things and/or stuff in the 'virtual world'. This may or may not require hooking something up to your nerves/brain/whatever, and feeding little zaps through to have everything work properly. The thing is, people may be to scared to play these games, as they (the games) would have the power to kill them (the players).

Of course this may be a completely pointless topic, but I do wonder about the future of video games. Because soon force feedback simply won't be enough.

Anyone for a good old fashioned game of paint ball?

yeah pretty soon everyone will rush to sign up for the military and create wars because the video games we play arent good enough but an interesting topic where is the next step in gaming goodness my theory we will all swich to consoles so that everything is gaurunteed compatible and maybe we might be sucking up little nanocomputers like in the ps9 commercial

Yeah, hehe..
Another thing I've been thinking about that is vaguely related (I think alot while mowing lawns. That and I kill spiders)...is the whole "cyborg" thing. Where people get chips implanted in their heads that will memorize things for them, maybe do their math homework, communicate with other cyborg-chips...The only thing for this is...hackers! It's a scary idea, people hacking into your head.

Just thought I'd bring this up. Totally irrelevelant (waiitt...maybe this is the future of games? )

i dont know i wouldnt have people implanting cybornetics like lobot(empire) ive watched too much outer limits to do that but i sure as hell would snort games(that was a great commercial)

it'll be difficult to imagine video games in a few years time... i read somewhere of some guy imagining interactive environments which have their own AI.

quite frankly, i hope i'm not playing video games in a few years time...earning big bucks...driving my own sports car Watching my own footy team (Geelong)

I think that over the next few years, video games are going to see the biggest change ever. We've had consoles for ages now, the main thing that has been changing is the graphics. Now we get to the point where there is really nothing more you can do, as SeienAbunae stated.

There's role-playing games, sports games, action games, car-racing games...etc. What else can you do on a console? They've brought out those 'dancing games', which I just reckon make you look like a idiot and are crap, but then again, I've never played em.

Obviously someone's gonna be out their in the HUGE gaming development scene, thinking and conjuring up ideas on what else can be done - something original, something new, something that'll earn em the big bucks...cos in the end, it's all about the money isn't it?

All us game-players can do is sit and wait and hope that this new gaming experience is going to be absolutely brilliant. I think there is no doubt that whatever the next thing is, it'll be huge and sensational to play. The only question is, when will it come?

The Perfect Gaming Experience
Right, now...for me, the perfect gaming experience would be something that actually makes you feel like your out there doing it. The best way I can describe it is by comparing it to a dream. How good would it be if we could have something that is so realistic and enjoyable - I reckon that would be well sweeeeeet.

The only question would be, in a soccer game, for example, would you just be playing as one player, or would you be able to control the whole team? I reckon if it has to be a real experience, like a dream, you would have to just be the one player.

Aaaaah, the future...I can't wait for it!!

Greg

consoles will take over for sure. I mean all that is holding them back is the lack of interactivity, and the quality of TV's but with all the current consoles ironing out there 'online sides' and new HDTV's that is set to change shortly

I also think that gaming will no longer be restricted to merely sitting down in a chair. At an Australian university (in either Adelade or WA god knows how those boffins managed this ) they managed to map a Quake game to the natural surrondings. You merely put a headset on, and you see quake monsters standing in front of you... looked awesome but i cannot find the article about it

Thats where I reckon gaming is headed... still thats miles down the track, humble PC's will reign supreme still for quite some time to come

the only problem with the quake thing is that youd have to go somewhere to play unless yu have loads o' cash an a backyard the size of a parking lot. and yeah i agree consoles are on the move to take over pretty soon it will be moddatabse ps4 section the only thng that will stop them is people who buys games not just to play but to mod also. if nvidia and ati keep on making chips for xbox and GC they might undermine their computer componants and b forced to keep on making chips for consoles, then again who knows in the 2030 we could "accidently" fire nuculear missles to destroy the earth.

Consoles will probably dominate in the near future, but what I mean by "console" is a system that is designed solely for playing games. In other words, the way they are put together will most likely change radically in the future. What I mean is that you no longer will be trying to aim your gun with a stupid gamepad, you will be aiming it with your hands. Kind of like the old Duck Hunt game . But much more than that. Soon "console" may refer to a little box that has wires and stuff that you connect all over your body.
I remember a long time ago going to a toy store and seeing a "virtual reality" game on display that you could test out. It was a green & black 3D wireframe Mario game, where you wore a headset to see everything but still had a gamepad in your hands. It was kind of neat, maybe that kind of thing is in the near future, basically replacing the TV screen with a headset, then later in the "further than 'near' but not 'far' future", you wont be holding a gamepad...

INtense! wrote: At an Australian university (in either Adelade or WA god knows how those boffins managed this ) they managed to map a Quake game to the natural surrondings. You merely put a headset on, and you see quake monsters standing in front of you... looked awesome but i cannot find the article about it

Heheh yeah I saw that you might find it if you browsed the older parts of General Discussion on the inside3d.com forums...

HellBlazer wrote: then again who knows in the 2030 we could "accidently" fire nuculear missles to destroy the earth.

That is almost inevitable...soon the earth will be destroyed or at least become uninhabitable. But by then there will at least be some humans out in space,etc etc. Off topic so I won't talk about this anymore.

The future of gaming in consoles......scary

Thanks for the input M@t, it's been...well, huge!!

:o

You are all saying consoles and I agree that consoles are gonna be a big player in the gaming market, especially over the next few years with them coming online - the Xbox LIVE thingy is coming late this year to Australia me thinks. Anywho, I still think that in like 10 years or so, there will be something bigger, something like what I mentioned in my post above.

Greg

liquid wrote: The only question would be, in a soccer game, for example, would you just be playing as one player, or would you be able to control the whole team? I reckon if it has to be a real experience, like a dream, you would have to just be the one player.

Multiplayer!

Hardcore gamers will always own both consoles and PC's.

Lame family older people will eventually be THEE market for consoles.

i think the next systems will be virtual. i mean look at the grafics now they the bomb man!!! so thats my thought and oh yeah i think that PC will always rule and there should be half life mods for the playstation!!!

OH YEAH and X-Box sux
1 i mean its so heavy
2 the controlers super huge
3 sucky games
4 pc companies werent meant to make consoles
5 X-box was helped by sony
6 X-box needs a character
7 last bill is just trin to get money
8 no more microsoft systems should be made
9 unless they like a comp
10 BILL GATES IF YOU READ THIS WHICH YOU PROBALLY WONT STICK TO THE COMPUTERS YOU ARE A LOT BETER AT THEM. EGLEAST YOU DONT NEED HELP MAKING THOSE OR DO YOU?

I think the industry will collapse upon itself in say 20 years and then revive after some time. No bullshit, I mean it.

My humble opinion is that games as technology is progressing is losing more and more substance. Think about it. How many games have a truely gripping gameplay that you just cant tear yourself from today compared to the 8-bit or 16-bit days. My view is that people are focusing too much and what a game can do, looks like, sounds like, etc. rather then truely using those abilities to enrch the gameplay.

One advancement that I think does so much damage to this (and I KNOW I'm gonna get yelled at for this) is 3D gaming. Yes, 3D gaming. I'm mean it works great for some genes like FPS and Sport type games but do you see any 2d games coming out? I mean TRUE 2d, not no 2d view in 3d stuff (even with that, name one game besides Manhattan Project). What's wrong with 2d? I find myself more and more going back and playing games on SNES and NES emulators as I think modern games are getting worse and worse. Now, I mean that GENERALLY as there are some great games today, but more and more of games relesed are crap. I think eventually people will reach a breaking point and either the market will collapse for some time before it resurfces or there will be a major breakthrough that will detour the views of gaming as did 3d gaming.

the next generation will be so stupid, that they no longer are able to continue developing games, and the industry fails...

it may be a not to the last posts, but: the current consoles lack the possibilities of pc's. thats one thing why they dont get to beating pc's. the other is that huge compatibility. now what to do? make it access the web. whats next? make it have some game called microshit word and make it access a printer. what do we have then? basically a pc... . in fact its just the same thing in a larger scale of marketing. or view the other side: what does microshit do to pc's is something called xp... i remember them making u access the internet to install it etc... what they really want is just control over your digital experience to ensure that their products are used. they even said something like: *i dont care so much for the stolen copies of ms products by chinese, as long is its only ms products they copy*. while the gamers and developers struggle for the win of console or pc, its just microshit that agains control of both... wether pc's turning into consoles or consoles turning into pc's... in the end it doesnt matter. and to some other topic: matrix awaits.

Future of gaming so far looks gay the games will be good and all but the fags that hack and cheat are going to rune everything, online and thats because more and more games are moving to multiplayer and they are going to rune it all for us legel players...!

[I dont like your homophobia, stop - azz0r]

- Edited By azz0r On Thu 9th, Jan 2003 @ 9:25:43pm

liquid wrote:
The Perfect Gaming Experience
Right, now...for me, the perfect gaming experience would be something that actually makes you feel like your out there doing it. The best way I can describe it is by comparing it to a dream. How good would it be if we could have something that is so realistic and enjoyable - I reckon that would be well sweeeeeet.

Greg

oh great, insead of having the little guy run around and kill things, you run around and kill things, just great, so we are gonna raise a generation of killers, and let them play in a place where killing is leagal and allowed. thats not a good idea with the killing and shooters, it allows you to get hurt, and still be fine, then somebody will go out...try it...get hurt or killed.

Neurowave wrote: I think the industry will collapse upon itself in say 20 years and then revive after some time. No bullshit, I mean it.

My humble opinion is that games as technology is progressing is losing more and more substance. Think about it. How many games have a truely gripping gameplay that you just cant tear yourself from today compared to the 8-bit or 16-bit days. My view is that people are focusing too much and what a game can do, looks like, sounds like, etc. rather then truely using those abilities to enrch the gameplay.

One advancement that I think does so much damage to this (and I KNOW I'm gonna get yelled at for this) is 3D gaming. Yes, 3D gaming. I'm mean it works great for some genes like FPS and Sport type games but do you see any 2d games coming out? I mean TRUE 2d, not no 2d view in 3d stuff (even with that, name one game besides Manhattan Project). What's wrong with 2d? I find myself more and more going back and playing games on SNES and NES emulators as I think modern games are getting worse and worse. Now, I mean that GENERALLY as there are some great games today, but more and more of games relesed are crap. I think eventually people will reach a breaking point and either the market will collapse for some time before it resurfces or there will be a major breakthrough that will detour the views of gaming as did 3d gaming.

Heh, I was thinking about creating an old-looking sidescroller in 320x200 16 colours called "Captain Mayhem", a little piece of nostalgia for those sick of flashy graphics.

---

I think in the future more effort should be put into singleplayer. Specifically AI. Why not tone down the graphics engine a bit and put power into stellar artificial intelligence? I don't mean the kind where maybe the ninjas will remember if a drawer was open or closed, or a light on or off, but the kind that you will actually notice. Intelligent decision-making. Make it seem like you're fighting multiplayer opponents, when really you're fighting equal bot/enemy opponents who are smart enough to know when and where to crouch, hide, move. Team tactics too.

Or, if not AI, then work on the graphics. Not simply making an engine that supports higher polycounts, prettier shaders, and better collision detection. I mean make something TRULY revolutionary, that no-one has ever seen before. On a smaller scale, perhaps true three-dimensional fire. We're sick of big flame sprites hovering upwards, we want every tongue of flame rendered in true 3D by the engine! On a larger scale, who knows what? That's for the developers to decide and surprise/amaze us with!

The world hasn't seen a single really revolutionary game since Quake. Finally the transformation to full 3D! What more could one ask for? Obviously the developers don't know, because they haven't made much more. Or even Duke Nukem a little before it. That game was awesome. It was still a "2.5-D" engine, like Doom or something, but it including SO many incredible features some of which still hasn't been redone today! Blood splats dripping down walls, footprints, jetpacks, mirrors, lots of interactivity with the level (pool balls, toilets, ...), swimming, the shrink ray, the freeze gun, shattering glass, impressive open area maps, ... I could go on a bit longer!

Think back...how long has the computer games industry existed the way we know it today? Since 1990, maybe a bit earlier. Insane: 12 years ago we were playing 16-colour Commander Keen on our ancient computers, what, 16 MHz? Today, we have 3000 MHz computers running full 3D games with polycounts in excess of 10000 polies with flashy shaders, smooth animations, crisp surround sound. At this rate, it seems that there's not much further the gaming industry can go.

Ever programmed a game at the same level that appeared 12 years ago? It doesn't take much: no more than 10,000 lines of code often, a project that could easily be done by a single person. The graphics? 16/256-colour sprites than rarely exceeded 32x32. The sound? Either bleeping PC speaker or a tinny Adlib orchestra. A person like me could mock up a game that would've sold well (considering I had a good publisher), on my own, in half a year. Today, we require teams of at least 10 people working over often for a few years, programming insane amounts of code to do small things, just to make a game that still has little chance of competing in the market unless you've been around for years! It takes designers and artists probably at least a month to model and animate a big scary Imp, yes the same Imp that was simply modelled out of clay in 1993, then drawn from 8 angles on a 256-colour palette, over a few frames of animation.

I agree with M@t about the fact that people will simply be getting stupider. Computers will be getting faster and faster, and people who want to program cool games don't need to worry about intelligent optimization and genius hacks, they can whip up the poorest code ever seen and it will work perfect, provided they have the time and grasp the concepts of the math and programming language required.

In 20 years, new gamers may not be able to tell the difference between current games and 5-year-old games...unless they turn the wire-frame on and march up to the wall, counting each polygon!

Why don't all the smart programmers lay off games and start creating tech demos other than graphics ones! Start making a bot that will parse the english language and be able to carry on an intelligent conversation! John Carmack is tired of programming. He's thinking of quitting after Doom III and making rocket ships. I say way to go, I'll miss you (alot) but you know what you're doing. Good luck in the future, junior programmers. You're all doomed. Go outside and play football.

I am going to reply to this because I was already ripped off on this kind of esthetic interaction after I graduated Columbia College in Chicago.

Back in 1987 I went to Invention submission corporation on an idea for a 3 dimentional combat trainer. "I was looking for a government grant"

This unit would supply a velcro washable suit with air bladders and reflectors to pick up the wearer of the suits movements in 3 dimentional space via a tracking camera feeding the movement into a 3d based martial arts computer program..

Well, Invention submission's patent lawyer told me that this idea was impractical and would not be able to be duplicated.

Well, guess who is testing this very idea and has working prototypes for creating actual body movement in 3 dimentional space.. "MIT" As well as other so called science discovery based institutions that develop programs for game companies.

My idea was based on a computer program, programmed with collision detection in mind. If the computer opponent would strike at the suit wearer via the 3d world and be within range of collision detection, X,Y the opponent in the real world would feel the air bladder activate, thus simulating a strike to that part of the body. 3D glasses would be worn by the combattant eliminating the need for a big screen or monitor.

I also came up with an idea called the virtual exercise bike in the same interview. This bike would be fitted with fans and stabilizer shocks on either side of the bike along with a monitor mounted in front of the handlebars, or an optional pair of 3d monitor glasses could be plugged in. This kind of training would immerse the participant and turn their bike ride into a cross country trip, or a competitive race. The shocks on either side of the bike would help the rider make right or left turns while viewing pre recorded bike routes from areas all over the world. This type of training equipment would be very benificial to the Health industry, but.....

Needless to say, there are companies currently developing another one of my ideas. Again, the patent lawyers at Invention submission corporation stole another idea from me..

Beware friends, the corporations are still up to their old tricks with stealing ideas from the scientific class, as for Invention submission corporation. I hope you people burn in hell for ripping my ideas off and selling them to the highest bidder!!

DBZGotenksSu wrote: i think the next systems will be virtual. i mean look at the grafics now they the bomb man!!! so thats my thought and oh yeah i think that PC will always rule and there should be half life mods for the playstation!!!

There is one half-life mod, that i know of, for the PS2... it's on an OPM demo disc. you interchange the discs after entering a code, and you get a whole new adventure in the Half-Life world. I myself have not tried this. I have HL on the PC, so buying both would kinda be pointless. until it gets to a greatest hit title... I'll keep playing the PC version.
w00t for the HL multiplayer!!!

- Edited By dyeforever3 On Fri 30th, May 2003 @ 8:26:13am

I saw somthing on Game network about this consol wher you stand infront of a screen and use you hands to hit away enemys which come fly at you.

Have any of you read the article in computer gaming monthly about this?