Consoles of the future

[darkjak]

So, what are your ideas on the future of gaming? What do you think will the next generation of consoles will be like? Here are my ideas:

 

1) The return of cartridges.

No, I'm not raving mad. A new technology is visible on the horizon, called solid state harddrives. These harddrives don't have a rotating disc read by a laser, in fact all parts are stationary. The technology is still expensive, but prices will drop, since conventional harddrives will reach their limits soon. My prediction is that special solid state harddrives will be used like cartridges used to. This would mean:

• Built in memory
  
• Virtually no limits to how big the games can be
  
• No loading times
  
• Reduced piracy
  

 

2) HD

Like allways, Nintendo wait untill the technology is mature. They waited, perhaps too long, to join the CD revolution. They didn't wait too long to join the online-revolution, so next gen will have will all consoles in HD.

 

3) Better motion sensing

The follow up to the Wii will have better motion sensing. No more Wii Boxing where the game doesent register punches, or read anything similar to the block you are making. The next gen motion sensing should not use a sensor bar, only navigate from the TV.

[Daft]

Reduced piracy

 

I doubt that.

 

Next gen will be all about integration of games into other media like Home and like that BluRay live thing (Basically more seamless integration with life). Similarly I think cameras will come as standard. Also better AI and physics.

 

Unless Nintendo come up with another new idea I think Sony and Microsoft will take them due to much better integrated alternate uses like movie downloads and the like.

[D_prOdigy]

I'd imagine more unreliability. It's a cliche to say that the more parts, the more to go wrong, but tis a true cliche.

 

I remember Miyamoto saying he expects the Wii successor to have HD, but I wouldn't hold anything even Nintendo says until the product is on the shelf.

 

I expect that the Sony/Microsoft line of consoles will reach something of a graphical brickwall, but that could be a good thing. In too many "next generation" games do we see the same old focus on how it looks over other, just as important traits like AI, destructable environments and physics.

 

I expect all consoles to have some sort of motion sensing by default, but only Nintendo really pushing it. I imagine that to keep the casual audience, they'll continue to run with the "Wii" brand.

 

Personally, I love my Nunchuck, but I can't help but wonder the possibilities of true two-handed motion control + IR. The first thing that comes into my head would be re-enacting the APU vs Squiddies scene from Matrix Revolutions

[Dan_Dare]

Rather than a return of cardridges, I predict an end to solid media entirely. All they need is big, cheap HDDs (already possible, just need it diiiiiiiirt cheap) and the innevitable expansion of Steam and XBLA models should mean that buying a game on a DVD or Blu Ray will be a ridiculous way to buy games.

 

just needs a few things:

 

1. The game purchase should be recognised, permnanently, by the service, and should be re-downloadable to a new HDD registered to your account.

2. You should be able to 'lend' a game to a friend, giving them a 2 week period to play it before they're offered the chance to buy their own copy.

 

It'd be awesome for everyone. we get games on demand, the companies get to drop production costs massively and the parasitic 2nd hand trade goes out the window. result? cheaper games, bigger profits for devs and more innovation.

[That Guy]

The lend a game thing wouldn't happen, and I'm willing to put money on prices being about the same.

I think it will be an option to buy more games online but I see both existing in the same way CDs still do.

[NotAshley]

I'd expect the next Nintendo console will support HD, and if the technology is there, the X360 and PS3 successors could even have ultra high definition (that can display at resolutions of up to 7680x4320). Or maybe that's a bit much given that cinema screens aren't even that big.

 

Either way, I'm not sure any of the big companies will be bold enough to drop optical media completely, though again I could be wrong. The potential is certainly there (what with micro-transactions in the forms of the Virtual Console and WiiWare and all) but as I said, will either Nintendo, Microsoft or Sony want to make the future completely digital and risk alienating their consumers? I don't think so.

[Jamba]

Not want I expect but what I want: The industry to stop concerning itself with hardware and focus on the software. Personally, I think that integration is the satan of the industry for this reason and it stops people focusing on the real reason for buying a machine.

[Dan_Dare]

next gen machines won't go past 1080p. Soon enough, that'll be as standard as 60hz.

 

some kind of...level playing field would be interesting, power wise, just to say 'right, now get on with Ai and animation, you muppets' but you'd have to have genuine photo realism as an achievable goal for most developers on the platform before you did that, so we're talking another 3-4 generations, minimum.

[ReZourceman]

Its going to get to the point where there won't be a huge difference between generations graphics soon, and with the Wii and DS they have shown that immursion (sp?) is the key.

 

I imagine something playing with the way we view, and additional sensory periphials (sp?)

 

Ie, Head set with additional 3D sounds, maybe spectacles with 3D elements, maybe at some point eventually, surround screens, circular maybe from projectors so that the games world surrounds you.

 

Something along these lines in the future....hopefully.

[Guest Jordan]

I see:

Better graphics

Better AI

More consoles dying

 

Besides, the 360 isn't due to be replaced till 2010 at the earliest...

[Caris]

The new Consoles will come out 2012 i think.

[Dan_Dare]

Its going to get to the point where there won't be a huge difference between generations graphics soon, and with the Wii and DS they have shown that immursion (sp?) is the key.

 

I imagine something playing with the way we view, and additional sensory periphials (sp?)

 

Ie, Head set with additional 3D sounds, maybe spectacles with 3D elements, maybe at some point eventually, surround screens, circular maybe from projectors so that the games world surrounds you.

 

Something along these lines in the future....hopefully.

 

 

see, i reckon the wii is a one off, with similar tech being brought in to next gen efforts from Sony and Microsoft, without ditching any credability as proper games machines. It's proven to be a greater success as a toy than a proper games machine and any progress to the medium has been...siddways, not forwards.

[ReZourceman]

see, i reckon the wii is a one off, with similar tech being brought in to next gen efforts from Sony and Microsoft, without ditching any credability as proper games machines. It's proven to be a greater success as a toy than a proper games machine and any progress to the medium has been...siddways, not forwards.

 

I do agree with you.

 

What I kinda mean, is we will get to the point where games will be able to be acheived on the previous console soon, with only slight differences.

[Ramar]

I for one haven't been taken by all this flailing about. Don't get me wrong the Wii has its pluses, and when done the motion controls can be worthwhile. But I've found I just can't sit there and play a game on it for long.

 

I'm hoping for better AI and interaction with world objects. So if a room has a table you could go up to it and pick up anything on it etc. Stuff that like.

[The Bard]

I reckon the Wii was a great concept, but the motion sensor shit could use some refining, as could the games. As it is, I am lurving my 360, and not currently thinking about future consoles, but even so, I think that progress for games as a medium is in the hands of companies making the games, more than it is in whatever a new machine can offer. Testament to this is the fact that one of the best games I've played for a long time is on the DS (The World Ends With You). I'd be totally happy with the current consoles for another good 10 years, I'm tired of getting hyped for a new console, only for the novelty to wear off within a week and a shortage of games to play.

[gaggle64]

I don't think solid state media is going to be dead any time soon. Thanks to huge increases in bandwidth allowing services such as Steam to retail games effectively, as well as massive technological leaps in memory being made, I certainly agree download distribution is coming into it's own. However, I suspect it would require a fairly massive shift in all the multimedia industries to completely usurp the traditional brick and mortar retail stores.

[Charlie]

I see:

Better graphics

Better AI

More consoles dying

 

Besides, the 360 isn't due to be replaced till 2010 at the earliest...

 

That's only a year and a half away. The 360 was announced in May 2005 and then released a few months later so we're really only a year away from when we start hearing about new consoles if that 2010 is to be believed.

 

I personally think this generation Xbox will last longer than the last one and lasting until 2012ish, maybe Christmas 2011.

 

Nintendo will carry on the Wii brand, calling the new console Wii 2 and will feature 1080p graphics but they still won't be as good as the graphics on the Xbox3 and PS4. It'll feature a built-in HDD, probably not too big so as to conserve costs (300GB or so, yeah, seems big at the moment but this is 4 years in the future). Nintendo will have seen the error of their ways and have developed a fully-fledged online service akin to Xbox Live.

 

Xbox Live will have developed in ways such as full game downloads, they'll make XBL free to use for everyone recovering costs with micro-transfers for extra levels in games.

 

All consoles will be using BluRay.

[Hellfire]

[McPhee]

SSD cartridges won't happen, WAY too soon. They'll still be too expensive to be used as cartridges!

 

As for where i think things are going:

 

Microsoft

 

Increased focus on games consoles as multimedia devices, as a result they'll be ensuring that the next console will be quieter and more reliable than the 360. Possible dropping of the Xbox brand to try and distance themselves from the gaming market (and the crappy 360 reliability problems).

 

Microsoft's next console won't be a radical improvement in graphical power, just an incremental improvement over the 360. The CPU and GPU will be on the same piece of silicon and they'll be running a large capacity SSD instead of a Hard Drive. Optical media will be less prominant, they'll either go download only (removing the DVD drive completely) or they'll use an optical drive to rip games and DVDs (if the law changes in the US) to the SSD.

 

1080p will be the standard resolution, with downscaled 720p, 480p and 480i modes available. Possible support for 1440p (and higher) resolutions.

 

Nintendo

 

Similar focus to this generation, essentially the same system but with minor improvements. Motion sensing is refined, graphics improved, Hard Drive as standard. The console is still sold cheap and contains no multimedia functions. The console is similar in power to the PS3 (with a better GPU) and fully capable of High Defenition resolutions.

 

Possibly a dropping of optical media in favour of SD cards (ala the DS) and radical improvements to the online service.

 

Sony

 

Not sure here. Blu-Ray will likely remain their chosen media so they'll be looking at keeping the machine as a damn good media player. Specs wise i see them launching the most powerfull machine for the 2nd generation running. It's also a pretty good bet that the PS4 will see the launch of Home :p

 

Of course, all consoles will be integrating some sort of motion control for the next generaton. It'll vary from console to console though, and probably not be the main for of control of Sony or Microsoft.

[spirited away]

I for one, would hate having a fully multimedia-integrated machine, relying just on virtual download transactions to purchase games. I love the tactility and collectiblity of solid media. Wouldn't be as pleasurable getting a game through digital means.

[Emasher]

3) Better motion sensing

The follow up to the Wii will have better motion sensing. No more Wii Boxing where the game doesent register punches, or read anything similar to the block you are making. The next gen motion sensing should not use a sensor bar, only navigate from the TV.

 

Except Wii motion sensing uses an accelerometer. The sensor bar is for the infrared pointing. Not sure what you mean by it will navigate by the TV.

 

We will probably see (and not necessarily in the next generation):

Games distributed by Digital Downloading

Better online (from Nintendo)

I agree with the first part of the better motion sensing

Worse and worse games from 3rd parties

Better web browsers and non game related apps

[Dan_Dare]

MS won't drop the brand. They just spent about ten billion dollars + establishing it fer gads sake.

 

should add that the xbox brand will probably diversify to be a kind of home entertainment brand with an expansion of on demand movies, tv shows and games making it more of a front lounge device for all things instead of a games machine with knobs on that it is now.

[gaggle64]

I'm not sure how successfully Microsoft are going to be selling Xbox as a complete multimedia portal. They were trying to sell the 360 as such, but there are always going to be far too many things competing for the same thing. You can see the vision they're laying out, a fanciful Star Trek style future where you can work, play, record, surf and set the dishwasher from their particular brand of box, but who's box, playing who's games, recording who's movies and connecting to who's dishwasher? I just can't see it happening until all the various companies stop waving their cocks around in public and create some kind of common ground for their products. They haven't even figured out how to make their current connectivity features less fiddly.

[Caris]

Sega will being out the Dreamcast 2 and pwn all.

[Nintenchris]

Virtual boy 2 FTW!