Where is gaming going nowadays?

Features | June 13th, 2008 by Staggs

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Gaming now is a lot different then the 2-dimentional stuff older parents were used to. Complexity in games has reached the point of needing hand-eye coordination and social networking (via flaming); it is more unlikely now that a game is not multiplayer-enhanced or is just simple enough for people to play. Gaming today is something adults really don’t have the skillset for while the younger crowd is practically glued to their wireless controller. Since we’ve come so far in such a short amount of time, exactly where are we going on the next 5, 10, or even 30 years? Whats popular today that might branch off and evolve into whats leet tomorrow?

Lets look at what we like today. Right now, people look for the games with the best graphics, hands down. If the game doesn’t look as good as its competing game, chances are people will dismiss it for the other game. Graphics have become the tell-all for any game to do good. If you can’t see the arms of a person being shotgunned, the game isn’t good enough (exaggerated of course, but you get it). Gamers want to be able to feel immersed in the world they are playing. The more realistic it looks, the more willing gamers will be to try it out and purchase.

There is one thing, however that is really getting at games. Aside from graphics, multiplayer is usually a must-have. Artificial players that are computer controlled just don’t cut it anymore! This has spawned the creation of services such as Xbox Live, and the Playstation Network. Great, so we’re all connected now, online with games that look sweet. Whats after this? Graphics can only go so far before we start getting into alternate reality and mimicing real life in video games; this doesn’t make much sense, gamers also like the sense of unrealistic things, such as insane aliens and weapons that do unheard of things.

Graphics only deal with texture and the illusion of life. Video games are also beginning to focus on more realistic physics. This is important too because we were getting tired of grenading things and having a car simply blow up and become engulfed in a simplistic sprite of fire and smoke. We would want to see the steering wheel fly out of the rear window and the air bag go off. This would be really sweet. But still, this doesn’t seem new at all.

Furthermore, as much as I love Xbox and Playstation, the Nintento Wii has some pretty good ideas on where games are set to go and I think we can look forward to. Gaming is very interaction based – you play with people online; although you never meet them in real life (most likely), you might befriend them because of their skillset in the game, or because of common interests. This is great, there are millions of gamers online now, and things are popping up every which way. The Wii however, has made it more fun for groups of people to play with the motion-sensitive controller. I played the latest Resident Evil game with a friend and the Wii-gun attachment, and it was loads of fun. My friend took care of one side of the screen while I got the other side. It took real-life communicating and we were actually intense while playing. Again, though, we’ve seen this too — it seems new and fun, but still not the future yet.

The future we are talking about is where game realizes the player and environment. What if a game could learn your style? This is like a real person, only its calculated by your own CPU. Sounds cool. NPC units would move against what you normally would do, trying to thwart your attacks – possibly using them against you! This would bring game difficulty to a new level of realism. The difficulty would be better than a human player. AI isn’t the only place this could stop.

Games could have more varying autonomous environments that could affect how the character in a game is affected. Lets say we’re playing Gears of War. The game’s weather controls says its a hot location, so the character moves slower, and fatigues more quickly. Certainly would affect how people think about games, they would have to adapt to changing environments all the time affecting gameplay. Who can adapt the best would be more likely to win all the time.

Going further, video games are also becoming more peripheral-aware. Given that of Rockband and Guitar Hero — those peripherals really make the game a unique experience and is different. Peripherals seem to be more and more liked, and more supported. The Nintendo Wii is also a great example of this. I’m not sure how many Wii-mote add-ons there are, but its certainly enough to fill a tub’s worth of white, plastic items. There is an unlimited amount of add-ons and cool things that enhance gameplay. As technology continues to grow, so will gaming. In the future we can look forward to really immersive creations that will not only get the player into the game, but involve more of the player’s senses. Peripherals is where the next step to games go. Totally including the player in the world in which the game was made. Yes, there will be weird ones…