The Future of Gaming?

Our society has been making leaps and bounds in the realm of technology, if that wasn't obvious already. We are already making a strong movement into the realm of commercially viable 3D media (3DS, 3DTV, 3D movies are making a comeback, html5 appears to have some 3D video support, 3D camcorder revealed at CES, and 3D printing of photographs at CES). Who knows what may come next?

That question is what I'm thinking about. What will happen to gaming in the future? Will we ever abandon the idea of "game controller"? Will there eventually be only motion controls? What about the future of PC Gaming? Will the computer eventually fade in the wake of Smartphones and similar gadgets? What will happen to PC Gaming, then?

Obviously, this is all speculation from very little data. But the point here isn't to be correct in predicting what will happen. The point is, what do you THINK could happen? Are there any features of gaming today that you wouldn't want to see go?

As for me, I mainly just want to keep the idea of the "controller". I could not imagine using full motion controls yet. It may end up being more responsive, but controllers tend to feel comfortable in my hands, and I can do things much more easily with them than with motion controls. Also, I'd miss exploits that could be used with said controllers. Not game breaking ones, but stuff like the spy's trickstabs in TF 2, or curve hooking in Dot A.

The possibly are endless. After all, gaming is a medium that constantly changes, so who knows. Maybe we'll loose controllers, maybe we won't.

I think the difficult, hardcore games are going to grow to become even harder, whilst the casual ones will continue becoming easier. Then someone else will fill up the void in the middle and the net result will be that video games will cover a bigger amount of various difficulties and challenges.

People always bring up that damnable "PC Gaming is dying" arguement, but they forget that people have been saying that for over 15+ years now! If anything, the PC has become much more convienient and flexible than the console ever was. It's gotten to the point that the only reason I'll purchase a game for the consoles is when I know they won't play well on the PC, are exclusives, or have annoying DRM.

And then there's all the advantages you get on the PC that consoles don't have, such as mods, superior graphics, the ability to use whichever controller style you want, and more. The only flaws are the fact that P Cs are damned expensive to upgrade or the possibility of hardware/software compatibility issues, but those are dwarfed by all the positives.

But enough about that old arguement. The point I'm trying to make is that P Cs are still best in terms of performance, and the possibility of upgrades via software or hardware give it even more flexibility than the consoles have. What's needed is for a PC developer to try and develop a product similar to the gimmicks out there now, but one that uses the PC's advantages. Say for example an RTS in which you command units via touchscreen/stylus, but this time it's all done on your PC monitor. RUSE attempted that, but it didn't pan out too well due to being watered down for console release. But how about if they made a more "hardcore" RTS like Wargame: European Escalation or Supreme Commander use such as system? It would do wonders for immersion in both cases, since you'd start feeling like the guy in charge swinging around the croupe stick, as well as improving control since your hand would be the mouse.

Or how about if they made a game similar to little Big Planet or Gary's Mod where modding was the draw, but made easy enough so that a player with little to no coding experience could create a level or game similar to what they want?

I would say that the biggest difficulty for game developers today is the shear cost of making a game, which explains why most of the market is for handhelds (cheaper to develop) and games with a minimum number of buyers (aka, established franchises). There are ways to improve on this like with a more user friendly software, but the best improvement that could come is, to me, the generalisation of ray tracing because that technique does not require so many layers of textures to provide the visual effects ( especially refraction/diffusing) and makes the task of modelling and animation (namely in terms of simulating eleasticity, deformation) much easier, especially in terms of weird camera angles.

On terms of controls, I'm surprised that there isn't a simplified system to track just the position and orientation of the head, making the point of view much more intuitive. Or even cordless headphones to provide a biaural soundtrack.

edited 26th Apr '12 5:13:58 PM by luislucas

My fear is gaming will move toward trying to get the app market and casual mainstream non-gamer market (Look at the new Xbox Live)

Dedicated gamers will become secondary and unwanted.

And if Microsoft and Sony remove used sales, I'm convinced there WILL be a second video game crash.

Worst case scenarios?:

-Japan drops out of the game industry

-PC gaming completely dies out, or at the least, isn't viewed as highly as consoles

-Games become more focused on photo-realism and shooting rather than creativity

-The target demographic shifts to exclusively high-school and college students

-Indie games are no longer viewed as profitable and necessary

-Publishers base projects on profitability rather than ingenuity

-Used games are completely taken away

-Anything besides military shooters and cover-based games are dismissed

I know, I know. I am sounding overly negative here. It is just that I am truly concerned with the direction that gaming is heading.

edited 26th Apr '12 5:04:33 PM by LDragon2

Indie games would spike in popularity an overall presence at the instant some of the other stuff you listed happens. Ergo, those things won't happen all at once.

Also, Japan is doing fine in Japan, so they'll at least keep working over in their home country. Whether or not they localize their games, however... But several Japanese developers/publishers are taking action to strengthen their presence in foreign markets, so they should be fine on that front too.

edited 26th Apr '12 5:15:04 PM by burnpsy

Well, I doubt it'll ever get that bad.

Gaming has no future beyond its slow painful death, unless the industry decided to really fix some shit.

Make a game that doesn't sell 80 Million in its first month? Developer dies.

Make a game that does sell 80 Million in its first month? Developer is forced to milk the shit out of said game.

By the Ninth Generation, Nintendo, Activision, EA, Microsoft, and Ubisoft, will be the only companies left.

Mario, Wii Sports, Call of Duty, Madden, Halo, Kinect crap, and Assassin's Creed will be the only franchises left.

The used market will be effectively eliminated. You will have to pay $100 to access half the content that's on your disc. 150 to access all of it.

This is exaggerated, but only kind of. The video game industry is continuing to bite off more than it can chew, and soon it's gonna start choking, until it collapses and dies, and we're left with nothing but a rotting corpse. There used to be a time when average sales were enough to warrant a few sequels and keep a developer in business. Now you're lucky if you can break even by being a massive best seller. The obsession with bigger and better too quickly is destroying everything, because so few games being made these days can sell well enough to justify their development costs. Publishers of course, are trying to use the used market and scapegoat, and increasingly trying to find ways to screw over consumers who want to save a buck, instead of attempting to rethink their fundamentally broken business model.

Some predictions of mine-

• Cross-platform support- A game will allow those across multiple platforms to interact, or give benefits for those who own multiple platforms. Just check out the many versions of Final Fantasy XI, or Portal 2 on the PS 3, with its Steam support and free PC copy.

• Cross-game support- What you do in one game will affect a different game. Perhaps the best example of this is Dust 514 and EVE online. The Assassin's Creed Facebook game is a good example of this too, as you can level your guildmates and unlock special items in Brotherhood by playing the Facebook game. It was small, yes, but the idea's there.

• Catering to multiple skill levels- By that I mean more than just difficulty levels. Stuff like Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Super Mario 3D Land are what I'm getting at. The official end is about 50% completion- if you put the game down and walk away then, it's cool. But what if you want a challenge, be tested to the limit? That's cool too, as the second half will have some stuff that will put your skill to work. That, or put the most challenging stuff as cosmetic awards only, like an achievement or in-game award. That way, there's no incentive except for the challenge. And letting everyone else know about it >_>

• More consumer-led projects- Since Double Fine had their success, there's been a lot of revivals and original game projects being pitched. It's another avenue to consider- one doesn't have to go to a publisher anymore, and as long as they have a good reputation or have something to show, they can just pitch to the gamers directly.

• More socialization bonuses- Interacting with people gets you stuff. Yes, the dark side is some of the games on Facebook, but on the light side we have Journey. You don't need a partner to finish the game, but having one has benefits, as your hover power recharges when you're near each other, and the other guy might know a secret or two.

• Indie games will continue on- There will always be small fries out there who want to make something unique. Thanks to platforms like Steam, there will be an output for them.

Overall, I'm excited to see the future of gaming. There's just so many possibilities, and still a lot of good stuff coming down the pipeline. My arms are wide open.

I doubt the future of gaming will get so dystopic as some here say...why? because of piracy. If a company suddenly wants to charge people $100 for content that's all on the disc, then the game will be pirated to oblivion. Companies do not need to milk everything in order to survive, they are just overly greedy. CD Projekt does fine and gives free DLC, a free expansion and their games have no DRM.

All in all, I think that stuff is going to continue to be like it is going now, with the addition of more technology and such.

edited 26th Apr '12 8:03:41 PM by Anfauglith

I think the main problem in the future will be the ridiculously high development budgets. People need to keep up with the prettiest graphics in order to stay competitive and graphics are expensive, so either they need to pump in millions more and hope that enough people will buy their game, or cut corners in other departments.

I really shudder at that thought. If aesthetics becomes favoured over depth and content, it will only create growths of more grassroots developers whose creations won't even be insured that they reap profit, all while at the same time the brand-named companies suffer from their own expenditures

I think a lot of the negatively in this thread is unfounded.

For instance, look at what Nintendo's done in this generation. They've provided the DS and Wii, which both use alternative control schemes. While these have had less than stellar application from time to time, they've also had strong application and have provided developers with a more diverse array of tools with which to make games. Keep in mind that Nintendo is the most profitable game company right now, and they don't throw their emphasis on graphics — quite the opposite.

Furthermore, there's been a recent rise in indie games, breakaway hits and crowdfunded titles, clawing some victory away from publishers. Products like these, along with Nintendo, help mediate the industry so it can't be a series of fiscal equations alone. The dominance of the FPS has to break at some point, too, and it looks like the next big genre might be fantasy RPGs for better or worse. At the very least, though, the RPG genre is much more abstract and therefore versatile than the FPS, so an industry which is under the thumb of popular fantasy concepts still allows developers to exercise a lot of creativity.

Gaming could be way better right now, but it's by no means all gloom and doom.

Well, I think we can all agree that the future of gaming will involve video games.

Remember, we say there's 10% unemployment, not 90% employment. We always hear the bad stuff, but very rarely the good stuff.

My issue is how expensive it's going to become to produce a non-app game.

But we have been hearing more negative news about the future than positive (like the attempt to kill used gaming).

Gaming really needs to scale back because of how expensive they are nowadays.

Yeah, but there's no way that will happen, unless you put a gun to the head of every developer ever. The audience wants pretty graphics, the developers can't do anything but comply or die.

@Madass Alex: As long as it doesn't turn out to be the constant drivel of Orcsvs Elvesvs Humansvs Demons that tends to comprise most Fantasy games then I'm interested. Games similar to the Prince of Persia remake, Ico, and Okami are where I'd like to see the fantasy genre try and expand to.

edited 27th Apr '12 9:53:19 AM by SgtRicko

Other games worth checking out are The Witcher (and its sequel) and Demons Souls (and its spiritual sequel, Dark Souls). They're more traditional, in that they're a kind of knights-and-undead style affairs, but they're traditional in a sense that isn't often done in modern games. For instance, in Demons Souls, the knight armour is based on historical designs rather than being a slapdash effort of random interlocking plates. In The Witcher, sometimes the monsters follow bizarre, arcane, unexplainable rules that resemble those from actual medieval folklore rather than modern popcultural alterations.

Personally, I'm a big fan of knights and swordsmen taking on gribbly nasty things, but I appreciate it all the more when it's done in a way that's thoughtful. I like my fantasy to be historically influenced to a significant degree, because I think that helps bring it all a sense of reality and often mystery that compels me to play. The upcoming Dragons Dogma also looks pretty interesting on the fantasy front, mostly for bringing in some survival horror aspects and combining elements of WRPGs and JRPGs.

Fire Emblem's a long-runner, but it's also a good alternate take on the genre via a grid-based strategy system.

I'm just as sick of standard fantasy tropes as anyone else (except Bio Ware, apparently), but there's also some excellent fantasy games out there. I think most of the flaws of mainstream fantasy comes down to it being an imitation of other mainstream fantasy rather than actually bringing in some external elements to make it more interesting. What about a detective game in the shoes of a Solomon Kane style character in a world of monsters? Or a game where you're a Renaissance engineer who dabbles in necromancy and brings sapience to their machines, for a sort of Renaissance sci-fi? There's a lot that can be done with the fantasy genre, since it's based on abstraction rather than pure narrative or mechanics.

If things got bad and we had another crash, it would only last until some developers created some nifty new ideas that people liked. Then gaming would be back in overdrive. Personally, I don't see the industry crashing, it's just tightening up a bit before the next big push opens it wide again.

Based on the way some games go? The games will play themselves.