Future of gaming?

[mcj metroid]

This is a thread asking you what you believe will happen in the future of gaming. Things never stay the same, in fact in gaming things change quite often. I'll throw a few questions at you to hear your opinion. Answer any questions on your mind as well of course

 

1:How do you think games will be stored? In 5-10 years time will we STILL be using disks? Or do you believe the likes of live arcade,psn or wiiware will expand and start running the show?

2: Do you think games will still be the same length? I've noticed a slight decrease in the single player adventure length in certain games in favour of on-line

3: will on-line multiplayer be forced into every game or Is there always room for single player only titles?

4: Stories in videogames? Ever since metal gear solid in my opinion, stories have started to become more and more essential and although I haven't played it,HEAVY RAIN seems to be an altogether new breed of game entirely.

5: Will games continue to bridge the gap between itself and movies or is there a need?

6: How will gaming be perceived in the general media?

7: HOw much will games cost?

8: Will we still be using gamepads?

9: Any franchises dead?

10: 3d or not 3d? glasses or not glasses?

11: How difficult will games be? How will developers solve that problem? Is experiments like Super guide the future? Or maybe alone in the dark had the right idea with its "dvd menu" like ability to skip scenes?

 

 

I think you get what I mean, just a few examples there.

Just a fun thread to discuss the possibilities of the future. I know it doesn't happen here but try to avoid things like who you think the market leader will be. Try to keep it general I suppose, something that applies to all 3( or however amount of companies there will be *eyes on dreamcast 2 )

[STOOPIDDITTIES]

I'd love a service like Sky with which you pay a yearly fee and have all games accessable to you. Maybe if you change the movies section on Sky with games it would be easier to imagine what I mean.

 

So say you still have retail releases and then 6 months down the line it gets released on the network for, depending on the game, a few months and afterwards it goes back to retail just like films with DVD's. Seems very possible.

[darksnowman]

1:How do you think games will be stored? In 5-10 years time will we STILL be using disks? Or do you believe the likes of live arcade,psn or wiiware will expand and start running the show?

 

I think if you look at how we have had Wiiware, etc introduced this generation as well as DLC for games, its not a far stretch to think that physically buying games will be phased out. It will depend on a few things though, a couple of which spring to mind are that EVERYONE will need the Internet and EVERYONE will need great deals with their service providers so they can download the amount of content they want each month. How much is on an average game disc, how many games do you buy on average a month and how does that compare to your Internet package?

 

If you look at it from an iTunes perspective, we have had the possibility of downloading music now for years and that hasn't fully replaced HMV. Maybe downloading entire games will just become an alternative too.

[darkjak]

1:How do you think games will be stored? In 5-10 years time will we STILL be using disks? Or do you believe the likes of live arcade,psn or wiiware will expand and start running the show?

 

A lot of people will allways prefer to have a physical game, therefor I think that the physical storage device won't disappear. As a matter of fact, I believe in a return to cartridges. Solid state hard drives are becoming cheaper and cheaper. This means that Nintendo will be able to launch the console with basic 5 gig cartridges, and as solid state harddrives fall in price, we'll se perhaps 100 Terabyte cartridges. This is not possible in the same way with discs.

I've spoken to a bunch of people in the game industry and they all think that there will be physical games (perhaps not stored on discs though).

 

 

I also see a potentially bright future for on-live and similar services (the console is basically a modem that sends commands from your joypad that sends signals to a central computer and then receives screenshots and audio).

 

2: Do you think games will still be the same length? I've noticed a slight decrease in the single player adventure length in certain games in favour of on-line

 

Online games will continue to have a decline in singleplayer campaign length. However dedicated single player games will probably remain as they are today, with some games having 50 hours of gameplay and others 5-10. Two weeks ago I talked to the ex-CEO at Massive Entertainment, and he thinks that because of rising development costs and both fields becoming increasingly advanced, developers will have to choose.

 

3: will on-line multiplayer be forced into every game or Is there always room for single player only titles?

 

There will allways be room for single player only games. Look at Zelda, Final Fantasy and so on. Forcing multiplayer into single player games takes resources, and doing half-assed multiplayer at the cost of a single player experience isn't financially viable. That's why Mirrors Edge and Red Steel 2 don't have MP.

 

4: Stories in videogames? Ever since metal gear solid in my opinion, stories have started to become more and more essential and although I haven't played it,HEAVY RAIN seems to be an altogether new breed of game entirely.

 

Well, Heavy Rain isn't new at all in my oppinion. Just look at Blade Runner and Snatcher. My general thought is that stories will be there, although games which aren't supposed to have a deep story will offer less in that way, while story heavy games will have much deeper stories than today. I believe that we'll see true war dramas rather than the generic "we've thought up a cool location, here's an excuse to blow shit up".

 

5: Will games continue to bridge the gap between itself and movies or is there a need?

 

Hopefully developers will soon realise that games are a completely different medium that offers different opportunities for story telling. Right now I'm writing my final thesis on the subject of non-narrative storytelling, and I believe that this is the future in storrytelling in games. In other words, I believe that the player will be forced to stop playing to take part in the story more seldomly. Look at Half-Life 2 and you'll see what I meen. However I believe that truly serious games will be more common.

 

 

6: How will gaming be perceived in the general media?

 

In the 80's and 90's the media generally considered gaming to be for children. However the children of those ages (me for example) have grown up and continued to play games. The biggest forces within media are born in the 40's-60's. When these will retire and be replaced by the young people of today, games will be as accepted as movies and music.

 

7: HOw much will games cost?

 

I believe in a slight increase in price of physical games. For potentially Publisher-free games (Wiiware etc) I think that we'll se prices all over the place. I also believe we'll see completely micro-payment and subscription based games.

 

9: Any franchises dead?

 

I don't see a future for today's casual games. I see the casual games move more towards the arcade-like experiences you got on the Dreamcast (Samba de Amigo, Space Channel 5, Crazy Taxi). The essentials of a casual game is short bursts of play, very simple controls and accessibility. NOT to treat it's audience as a bunch of three year olds or cretins (*wave plastic stick* funny sound *giggles and waves again* randomly gets bad sound *waaah!*) In other words I see Wii Music and similar games to die off in favor to games that are accessible to the casual audience and still appeal to the core. Real games of which outcome is based on skill rather than random.

 

10: 3d or not 3d? glasses or not glasses?

 

I believe that 3D will be standard in gaming when it won't require any special peripherals. In other words, when 3D-TV's will be standard (everyone has it), it will take over. Before then it'll be more of a geeks toy. And no, no glasses.

 

11: How difficult will games be? How will developers solve that problem? Is experiments like Super guide the future? Or maybe alone in the dark had the right idea with its "dvd menu" like ability to skip scenes?

 

I believe the difficulty will be all over the place like it is now.

 

 

Perhaps we'll see a type of payment where you can download any game in the world for free, but have to pay for every day you play it. Such a solution would benefit good games (you spend 10 cents on playing a crap game and 200 Euros over a period of years on playing a great game).

 

 

Joypad?

I don't think that joypads will disappear for many years to come. There's a bunch of genres where the Wiimote isn't ideal. They'll stick arround until we get flawless mind control.

Edited March 30, 2010 by darkjak

[Will]

Interesting questions, this is the sort of thing that I cover off day to day, though I tend to look at things a little less long term than what you're asking. Interesting to see this from gamers point of view though of course this generally won't dictate where the market moves from it's current position. In answer to your questions:

 

1:How do you think games will be stored? In 5-10 years time will we STILL be using disks? Or do you believe the likes of live arcade,psn or wiiware will expand and start running the show?

 

As with all other forms of media there will be a mix here, downloads are definitely going to make up a bigger part of the market but there will always be a place for physical discs. I think we'll get some sort of solid state media as the main distribution for this but it will have to be cost effective and movies will need to be using the same format before this really takes off. Downloads will eventually be no problem, all our devices will come with a sim card and operate much like Amazon's Kindle for downloading content.

 

 

2: Do you think games will still be the same length? I've noticed a slight decrease in the single player adventure length in certain games in favour of on-line

 

On the whole average game lengths will probably come down, though we'll still get the epic length RPG's. People in general just don't have the time for lots of very long games.

 

 

3: will on-line multiplayer be forced into every game or Is there always room for single player only titles?

 

If anything we'll start to see a very clear split between multiplayer and single player experiences. Games no longer need to be a jack of all trades, certain titles can aim to hit very specific targets. Lot's of casual web games, multiplayer console stuff and story driven single player games to name just a few. There will be crossover but a game won't need to cover everything to be a success.

 

 

4: Stories in videogames? Ever since metal gear solid in my opinion, stories have started to become more and more essential and although I haven't played it,HEAVY RAIN seems to be an altogether new breed of game entirely.

 

Stories will continue to be prominent where it's relevant to gameplay, where it's not needed it simply won't be present.

 

 

5: Will games continue to bridge the gap between itself and movies or is there a need?

 

If the market is there for it then yes, as Darkjak says games offer different opportunities and this will likely come to the forefront of game development. I'm not sure if this question relates to the general market as a whole or movie based products so difficult to answer accurately.

 

 

6: How will gaming be perceived in the general media?

 

As an accepted entertainment form, Darkjak's answer sums up my thoughts too.

 

 

7: HOw much will games cost?

 

I think we'll see a big change in costing of games, lower initial purchase costs subsidized by more DLC, subscription and micro-payments.

 

 

8: Will we still be using gamepads?

 

Yes.

 

 

9: Any franchises dead?

 

Yes, lots. With many new ones coming and going.

 

10: 3d or not 3d? glasses or not glasses?

 

This one I'm torn on. If it can be done without glasses and work for multiple people sitting in any arrangement then it will work for some games. If we need glasses or to be sat in specific 3D zones then it's a no go. My personal feeling is that it will work for Cinema and possibly single player story driven games. Multiplayer I can't see it taking off.

 

 

11: How difficult will games be? How will developers solve that problem? Is experiments like Super guide the future? Or maybe alone in the dark had the right idea with its "dvd menu" like ability to skip scenes?

 

I don't see any change in this area. Some games will be easy others hard, some will get it right and some will get it wrong.

[Pit-Jr]

ooooh a profound questionnaire coupled with me being bored!

 

1:How do you think games will be stored? In 5-10 years time will we STILL be using disks? Or do you believe the likes of live arcade,psn or wiiware will expand and start running the show?

 

As much as i perish the thought, publishers love selling software digitally and its only going to get bigger.

 

2: Do you think games will still be the same length? I've noticed a slight decrease in the single player adventure length in certain games in favour of on-line

 

The 10-20 hour mark seems to be the new goal now. Publishers also dont want you spending eons on a game when they have more they want to sell you.

 

3: will on-line multiplayer be forced into every game or Is there always room for single player only titles?

 

Successful sales of games like God of War, Final Fantasy etc. insure that single-player games will always have a secure place in the market

 

4: Stories in videogames? Ever since metal gear solid in my opinion, stories have started to become more and more essential and although I haven't played it,HEAVY RAIN seems to be an altogether new breed of game entirely.

 

Go play Heavy Rain! Its a masterpiece of a game and id love to see more games like it. Hopefully when people FINALLY get sick of FPSes, we can get more stuff like this

 

7: HOw much will games cost? A little more than they should, as has always been the case.

 

8: Will we still be using gamepads? We better be!

9: Any franchises dead? I dont know about dead but i predict Metroid will be relegated to handhelds and DLC after Other M flops

10: 3d or not 3d? glasses or not glasses? No my eyes dont work in 3d

\

[Grazza]

Good thread, MCJ.

 

1:How do you think games will be stored? In 5-10 years time will we STILL be using disks? Or do you believe the likes of live arcade,psn or wiiware will expand and start running the show?

 

My attitude to this (and this is where I disagree with Microsoft) is that discs will definitely still be needed for the next-gen consoles. For me, it's not an "ownership" issue, it's just that the reality is that developers are beginning to take advantage of BluRay.

 

Plus, top notch games will always need more storage space than downloadable titles. Even quite simple games like Punch Out apparently use a whole DVD. It doesn't matter how long a game is; if a developer wants to push the graphics and sound to the max, they need a disc.

 

When you think how small (file size) WiiWare games are compared to BluRay, I just can't see next-gen games being 100% downloadable, as the likelihood is that they'll be even bigger than BluRay allows.

 

2: Do you think games will still be the same length? I've noticed a slight decrease in the single player adventure length in certain games in favour of on-line

 

Hopefully games will be exactly the right length, with a more flexible pricing structure, so developers don't feel they have to pad it out.

 

3: will on-line multiplayer be forced into every game or Is there always room for single player only titles?

 

Hopefully there will always be single player. The issue generally with online is that they still can't assume every player has it. BT is just starting to offer fibre-optic broadband, and that will by no means be standard anytime soon. Plus (and I think this is very important), people play consoles in bedrooms, so if they don't want to pay for an extra socket or leave the Wi-Fi on overnight, they can barely use the online features.

 

Online offers a great deal, but it's not as standard as a lot of gamers think it is.

 

4: Stories in videogames? Ever since metal gear solid in my opinion, stories have started to become more and more essential and although I haven't played it,HEAVY RAIN seems to be an altogether new breed of game entirely.

 

Oh, I hope so. Games seem very adolescent to me at the moment. Imagine all the experiences we could have in games, and yet most of the time it's just war and shooting. Hopefully Heavy Rain has proved people want more interesting games, and that sometimes does mean cutting-edge graphics, not just unusual games like World of Goo.

 

5: Will games continue to bridge the gap between itself and movies or is there a need?

 

There's no need. I sense a great apathy towards films, actually.

 

6: How will gaming be perceived in the general media?

 

Much more accepted. Gamers are very defensive about games being attacked, but I remember the '90s and there was great controversy over the films Reservoir Dogs and Trainspotting. Now we can have Saw and very few people object.

 

The masses will accept gaming very, very soon.

 

8: Will we still be using gamepads?

 

Yes! Motion controls, whilst OK, do not actually make gaming any more fun! How could anyone think motion controls are better than good processing power and dual analogue? I don't get it.

 

10: 3d or not 3d? glasses or not glasses?

 

Optional 3D as standard (with glasses). In fact, I'm sure that'll be the main hook of the PS4 and Xbox 3.

 

It all relies on when 3DTVs become £1,000-ish. They're "only" £3,000 now, whereas I seem to recall SD plasmas were £40,000 when they were new, so maybe they'll be emerging by 2012 like HD was in 2005.

 

There are three other things to consider, though:

 

1) With multi-core as standard, developers might move onto better graphics techniques, like ray-tracing.

 

2) This wouldn't happen until a generation after 3D, but HD standards higher than 1080p are emerging. Maybe something for the PlayStation 5?

 

3) Lenticular 3D screens might improve and become popular for the PS5 generation, but I don't think we'll have glasses-free 3D before then (on home consoles).

 

11: How difficult will games be? How will developers solve that problem? Is experiments like Super guide the future? Or maybe alone in the dark had the right idea with its "dvd menu" like ability to skip scenes?

 

Yeah, Super Guide is a big step forward. There needs to be more intelligent game design, with things like infinite lives, good checkpoints and a sophisticated hint system.

 

The challenge should be easy to attempt, even if it's difficult to master. Why should we be punished for failing something by being put back to the start of the level (or worse)? If you think about it, it makes no sense.

Edited March 30, 2010 by Grazza

[Emasher]

1) In 5 years, games will probably still, as an option, be on Blu-ray disks, or some other physical storage. In 10 years however, I'd expect it to have gone completely digital. Its cheaper for all parties, and its more convenient for the consumer. As they have with Music, I expect people to eventually get over this "I must have a physical copy" thing.

2) It will vary by genre. I don't expect RPGs to get much shorter, but shooters might get even shorter, but have more multiplayer stuff. I do somewhat expect we'll see more episodic type experiences, but fortunately, I can't see everyone abandoning the pay your money and get the full game idea.

3) I expect most shooters and action games will eventually all have online modes. Which IMO is a shame. People will always play those 4 - 5 games for online, they might play the multiplayer that was tacked on to another game a bit, but they're not going to keep going back to it. Hopefully developers eventually see this, and go back to making amazing single player experiences. For RPGs I expect them to be singleplayer focused for a long time. Until we reach an MMO fad that is.

4) Stories are becoming bigger, the problem is they're becoming more important in some cases than other elements of the games, that really are more important. Eventually, all development teams will have writers on staff, and a good story in a game will become fairly standard in A titles, so hopefully the development teams will focus on the more important things again to set themselves apart.

5) I can see that. Games are always getting more cinematic, and many people see that as a good thing. Personally I'd prefer the medium to try and set itself apart, but I don't think that's going to happen. Its easier for the more casual players to get into cinematic games, and so we'll probably see more of them, as there's lots of money to be made there.

6) Casual games will become more and more of a mainstream thing, until they become as mainstream as movies. Violent games will get more and more criticism by conservatives, and soccer moms, until eventually they get banned in a country with western values on freedom of speech. There will most likely be riots, and eventually the ban will be lifted due to it going against people's writes. Eventually, people will realize the truth, and it won't be a huge issue anymore.

8) For some things. I expect in the next 10 to 15 years they'll be used for a lot of more traditional games, while the Wii Remote/Move type scheme will be seen as the primary input method for most games. Eventually something better will come out, and eventually we'll probably see true virtual reality.

9) There have always been franchises that have been popular during one generation, and simply abandoned in the next. I expect CoD will probably die eventually, with Activision refusing to move the series forward, and people eventually realizing there are better games out there. Music games are on a decline now, and I don't expect them to be popular at all during the next generation. Especially if people have to buy new equipment for the new consoles. IPs that have had new games every few years, with consistent quality are probably the most safe.

10) 3D will be here to stay. In the next 5 years, consoles will mostly be using RealD 3D, and in the next 10 years, I expect we'll see a new 3D technology becoming more dominant that doesn't use glasses.

11) Games will get easier. The games that will be considered hard will have cheap things thrown in to make players die a lot.

 

And one thing you didn't list:

 

Graphics: They'll probably be seen as less important in the future. Many smaller teams even today simply don't have the resources to make beautiful looking games. That's not going to change. Its going to be a long time before smaller teams can even make something as good looking as crysis.

[darkjak]

6) Casual games will become more and more of a mainstream thing, until they become as mainstream as movies. Violent games will get more and more criticism by conservatives, and soccer moms, until eventually they get banned in a country with western values on freedom of speech. There will most likely be riots, and eventually the ban will be lifted due to it going against people's writes. Eventually, people will realize the truth, and it won't be a huge issue anymore.

This is complete and utter nonsense.

Violent movies were incredibly criticized during the 80's and early 90's. There were debates on prohibiting the retail of VHS players due to children being able to watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre and similar movies. In many countries they went as far as not showing (not banning. It was controversial and the channels that showed them wanted to be politically correct) Dark Wing Duck or the Power Rangers. The debate went on and on until these children of the supposed "lost generation" grew up and were no more homocidal than the generation before them.

 

Jazz was supposed to give you a one way ticket to hell, Elvis was supposed to turn girls into prostitutes, the Beatles would make women commit mass suicides and the radiation from televisions would make people blind.

 

Violent games are here to stay, and perhaps Germany will get away with banning some games for a while.

 

9) There have always been franchises that have been popular during one generation, and simply abandoned in the next. I expect CoD will probably die eventually, with Activision refusing to move the series forward, and people eventually realizing there are better games out there. Music games are on a decline now, and I don't expect them to be popular at all during the next generation. Especially if people have to buy new equipment for the new consoles. IPs that have had new games every few years, with consistent quality are probably the most safe.

Call of Duty isn't moving forward? All other first person shooters are trying to catch up to CoD! Call of Duty: MW popularized action games taking place in the modern era and middle east and massively innovated the multiplayer FPS. And no, there aren't many games that are better in the FPS genre. Actually, I don't recall the last time I played an FPS that can compete!

 

I can agree that the current type of music games will fade away. People will soon realise it's not worth the money to get a bleedin orchestra that sounds "waka waka waka" and takes up half your livingroom.

 

11) Games will get easier. The games that will be considered hard will have cheap things thrown in to make players die a lot.

 

I think that games will get further simplified controls and more player aids. However I don't see dedicated single player games becoming less challenging. Multiplayer games will hopefully continue to depend on the skill of your opponents.

[Daft]

Optional 3D as standard (with glasses). In fact, I'm sure that'll be the main hook of the PS4 and Xbox 3.

 

It all relies on when 3DTVs become £1,000-ish. They're "only" £3,000 now, whereas I seem to recall SD plasmas were £40,000 when they were new, so maybe they'll be emerging by 2012 like HD was in 2005.

 

There are three other things to consider, though:

 

1) With multi-core as standard, developers might move onto better graphics techniques, like ray-tracing.

 

2) This wouldn't happen until a generation after 3D, but HD standards higher than 1080p are emerging. Maybe something for the PlayStation 5?

 

3) Lenticular 3D screens might improve and become popular for the PS5 generation, but I don't think we'll have glasses-free 3D before then (on home consoles).

 

The PS3 already does 3D. Very well, in fact. SSHD runs in 3D at full 1080p. So does WipeOut HD. Plus in Gran Turismo and Motorstorm: PR run in 3D. The firmware update for both 3D films and 3D games on the PS3 is being released in a few months.

 

Sony is pushing 3D very hard. Their range of 3D TVs hits this year, along with their BR players and the PS3 is at the head of that delivery.

 

 

I think 3D will take off with games way before any other medium is casually consumed in that form.

 

I'll hold my judgement until I have a go. As it is, I'm not too fussed. If I buy a 3D TV it will be because of gaming, not movies.

[Emasher]

This is complete and utter nonsense.

Violent movies were incredibly criticized during the 80's and early 90's. There were debates on prohibiting the retail of VHS players due to children being able to watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre and similar movies. In many countries they went as far as not showing (not banning. It was controversial and the channels that showed them wanted to be politically correct) Dark Wing Duck or the Power Rangers. The debate went on and on until these children of the supposed "lost generation" grew up and were no more homocidal than the generation before them.

 

Jazz was supposed to give you a one way ticket to hell, Elvis was supposed to turn girls into prostitutes, the Beatles would make women commit mass suicides and the radiation from televisions would make people blind.

 

Violent games are here to stay, and perhaps Germany will get away with banning some games for a while.

 

 

I should point out that I'm very strongly opposed to the censorship of games, or any media that is, and I'm very strongly of the belief that games and real world violence have no causal link. I agree with you 100%. When I meant a country will ban the games, I meant more like Australia, or Germany, both of which are very close to doing this already. It wouldn't happen in a country like the USA.

 

 

 

Call of Duty isn't moving forward? All other first person shooters are trying to catch up to CoD! Call of Duty: MW popularized action games taking place in the modern era and middle east and massively innovated the multiplayer FPS. And no, there aren't many games that are better in the FPS genre. Actually, I don't recall the last time I played an FPS that can compete!

 

I can agree that the current type of music games will fade away. People will soon realise it's not worth the money to get a bleedin orchestra that sounds "waka waka waka" and takes up half your livingroom.

 

 

Its not at all the first action game to take place in the modern era. Battlefield games, as well as other series have been doing it for far longer. Popularized, sure, its popularity started other smaller developers to pay more attention to the era. But the fact is, the game is running on an ancient engine, doesn't support HD video on consoles, and is incredibly unbalanced. The first CoD games were fresh and innovative. They were much more open in the way you could play them than other FPS games at the time. And back in 2003, the multiplayer was amazing compared to much of the competition. The problem however, is that because of Activision's business philosophy, the series has barely moved forward since then. Its still basically the same game we all played in 2003, but with updated visuals, and slightly improved gameplay mechanics. Initial innovation doesn't mean the series is still moving forward. It moved a genre forward, but now its really doing nothing. Modern Warfare 2 was a huge release for Activision. It had a massive budget, and very high production values, but at its core, there was nothing really new. Its one of the few big budget games I've played that actually felt outdated. Fun, yes, but there have been much better games released in the genre. Compare it to its main competitor. Bad Company 2 features a greatly improved, up to date engine that supports High Definition video on the consoles. It has destructible environments, several types of vehicles, tactics, bullet drop, massive environments, ect. All MW2 has going for it today (in terms of the actual game) is how user friendly it is. There's nothing complicated about it. You just run around and shoot people, and generally, whoever sees the other person first gets the kill. And that's not for everyone. Although, it is a merit in some respects. In all honesty, I think Infinity Ward was a talented developer (we'll see how the fare now that Activision has fired a few of their key staff). Don't get me wrong, MW2 was a good game, but it in no way improved on the genre. Activision is the real problem here. With the money that the series makes, Infinity ward should have had enough funds to develop their own bleeding edge technology by now. Its also looking very likely that a lot of the staff leave the company after they get paid the royalties they're currently owed by Activision, and go and form a new studio. A lot of them have made it clear that they want out at this point.

 

But seriously, go play the MW2 multiplayer for a while, and then go play the Bad Company 2 multiplayer for a while (enough to learn how the game works, as its not as noob friendly, and takes some time to master) then come back and say again that you can't remember the last time you played an FPS that can compete.

 

 

I think that games will get further simplified controls and more player aids. However I don't see dedicated single player games becoming less challenging. Multiplayer games will hopefully continue to depend on the skill of your opponents.

 

Dedicated single player games have been becoming less challenging for years though.

[Grazza]

The PS3 already does 3D. Very well, in fact. SSHD runs in 3D at full 1080p. So does WipeOut HD. Plus in Gran Turismo and Motorstorm: PR run in 3D. The firmware update for both 3D films and 3D games on the PS3 is being released in a few months.

 

I don't doubt it, Daft, I'm not knocking any of the machines. What I was getting at, and this link today has confirmed what I thought, is that the current gen is limited in its 3D abilities, whereas next gen machines will be built to do it in their stride: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=241190

[Debug Mode]

1:How do you think games will be stored? In 5-10 years time will we STILL be using disks? Or do you believe the likes of live arcade,psn or wiiware will expand and start running the show?

 

Digital distribution seems to be the future as it eliminates the used gaming market publishers are so annoyed with. I reckon they'l keep with the physical product as some gamers do care about their collection on display, and we all know how well those limited edition bundles sell these days..

 

2: Do you think games will still be the same length? I've noticed a slight decrease in the single player adventure length in certain games in favour of on-line

 

We have an onslaught of games coining in on the casual gaming craze, games you can pick up any time, any where and accessible towards every one. To me I've not noticed any shortening in game play times, then again I'm not the usual all around gamer. I hate FPS's to an extent, I don't buy any new plat-formers (looking forward to S4E1), seeing as this is in the Wii board, I presume you own a Wii? Which may be why you experience this problem, not to stereotype the console, but you suffer from a giant lack of games aimed at core gamers.

 

3: will on-line multiplayer be forced into every game or Is there always room for single player only titles?

 

I don't get the deal, its not exactly forced. There is an issue of Xbox achievements having unlockables gained through playing online which is massively unfair on those who cannot do so. Then again, if you have an Xbox, is usually because of the xbox live service..

But back to the question, every game has its single player elements except for those designed to be multiplayer only, having a single player only game really limits its potential in terms of how many hours can be clocked from that game alone.

 

4: Stories in videogames? Ever since metal gear solid in my opinion, stories have started to become more and more essential and although I haven't played it,HEAVY RAIN seems to be an altogether new breed of game entirely.

 

No comment. But I will say Metal Gear Solid by no means set the standard for story telling in games.

 

5: Will games continue to bridge the gap between itself and movies or is there a need?

 

You really cannot bridge them. Although you can say in terms of end result, most video games are like movies, a pre-determined unchangeable event. But many games don't have endings, and even more notable, games are interactive, and movies lack that, which is good.

 

6: How will gaming be perceived in the general media?

 

The scapegoat for our failing society, completely oblivious to the ignorance and standards set by the generation before. Ignore the fact there are age ratings, ignore the fact its a conscious decision on whether to let a piece of media affect your lives, ignore the fact the many atrocities the human race has committed in recent years that are covered on the news are the most likely cause of the unstable psyche present in most teenagers.

 

7: HOw much will games cost?

 

If Nintendo of Europe still lead the video game industry in the future, expect them to get more expensive because of the greedy bastards attitude in this region.

 

8: Will we still be using gamepads?

 

We best bloody be.

 

9: Any franchises dead?

 

I can see a reluctance to localise many J-RPG genre games being hinted at during current times

 

10: 3d or not 3d? glasses or not glasses?

 

I don't mind the glasses, but no glasses seems to be the future and will win the war in what screens sell the most. The problem is multiple people viewing, we'l have to see what sort of screen the 3DS uses, as I'm hearing alot that a camera is required to track the eyes to make the image 3D.

 

11: How difficult will games be? How will developers solve that problem? Is experiments like Super guide the future? Or maybe alone in the dark had the right idea with its "dvd menu" like ability to skip scenes?

 

Difficulty modes re-introduced into many games, and not stuck onto FPS's which are the primary games that feature it.