4th generation gaming

[mr_malee]

was just thinking today about what will come next after xbox360, PS3... do the game guru's around here know of any rumors? When do you think the next revolution will happen?

xbox 360's been out for 3-4 years now right?

[ColbyCheeze]

my thoughts / wishes / predictions:

someone will make a game that uses brain wave technology instead of controller (maybe nintendo, they like crazy stuff like that)
Brain Controlled Video Games

Also maybe we will see some VR stuff.

I think games are starting to get to their peak in graphical content, now its time for them to become more immersive. Those two things are the next step imo.

[Cimmerian]

They should make the next wii came with a decent 3d glasses, that generates one screem for each eye and fill the entire field of view of each eye
Nintendo is the only one who could do that, from the others i only expect better graphics

[Squize]

Word on the street is that ps4 / xbox 720 aren't going to be made for a long time.

Apparently both companies have spent so much on developing these that it's going to take years to recoup, so they're looking more at upgrading them than replacing them, for a long while yet.

Squize.

[lesli_felix]

Brain controlled video games - Much, much more difficult than you'd think.

The problem is that for accurate eeg monitoring, you need to keep very still and not flex any facial (especially eye) muscles. So that the monitor can read what your brain is doing without any interference.

This doesn't work with computer games for obvious reasons.

The Emotiv headset almost certainly reads muscle activity. The fact that its a lot cheaper is a clue too.

Check these links out for more info:

Brainball, the closet to a brain controlled computer game we have so far:
http://smart.tii.se/smart/projects/b.../index_en.html

IBVA, they'll get you all the equipment you'll need to get started brainwave monitoring with visual feedback and other software for a cool £1000 (mac only, goddamnit)
http://www.ibva.co.uk/



For the 4th gen consoles?

Boring stuff: Facebook integration. Impossible to break drm and parental controls.

Interesting stuff: A continuation of the huge retro revival. Better and more seamless movie tie-ins. Graphics have a long way to go before they achieve realism. If not the shapes and textures, then human gestures and better physics.

[WilloughbyJackson]

Blue Sky Games ~!

[renderhjs]

- a console that only needs a internet plug- no disc or cartridge media anymore - perhaps the console itself can be put into the controler itself with a wireless connection to the tv.
As for technology defenitly more into motion tracking stuff like the wii did this generation.

regarding age I think that the Wii will update at first, Xbox next (in fact they already did with their crappy hardware design (heating issues, HD-DVD drive,...) and personally I think that the PS3 will survive as generation long after the other 2 or whatever will come soon.

Btw. did you guys heard that the MS zune player will become a game handheld?- and that apple as registered some game related patents recently (iHandheld?)

[JerryScript]

VR is my bet. Trying to pull off VR with a small screen is like eating at a fancy restaurant, sure the food taste great, but there isn't enough to be satisfying, and you only go back because it's a trendy restaurant for a special occaision.

With the rise of HD and it's large screen format, more and more people have big-screen TVs. The same VR that was cool but kinda lame on a small-screen becomes much closer to being fully immersive on a big-screen.

Graphics have been the holy grail of gaming for a long time now. Within the decade, GPUs will be able to process polygons down to the pixel level. The next step is wrapping the player within the graphics.

Anyone go to COMDEX in it's heyday? I remember seeing a reflected hologram technology there that was so real it had people grabbing for things in the air, from all angles with no glasses or special equipment for the viewer.

I'm looking forward to the day I can pickup a powerup!

[Fall_X]

4th generation gaming? Are you assuming console gaming started with the PS1, or am I missing something?

VR is my bet. Trying to pull off VR with a small screen is like eating at a fancy restaurant, sure the food taste great, but there isn't enough to be satisfying, and you only go back because it's a trendy restaurant for a special occaision.

What kind of VR are you talking about? VR uses glasses, right? So where does the screen thing (and the weird restaurant analogy) come in? Or am I missing something, again?



Anyway, my bet is that the next step in gaming will be that the game characters will be controlling us instead of the other way 'round.

[MikeMD]

Wouldn't 4th generation gaming be the original Playstation?

Genesis and SNES = 3rd generation

original nintendo = 2nd generation

and the other stuff before that 1st generation.

[JerryScript]

What kind of VR are you talking about? VR uses glasses, right? So where does the screen thing (and the weird restaurant analogy) come in? Or am I missing something, again?

There are many methods to achieving VR, glasses are just one of them.

If you are referring to glasses with screens in them, that tech hasn't shown as much promise as some others due to the dial-in process to get good focus for an individual (most users complain of headaches after a short time).

VR on a big screen HD basically turns the screen into a window. When the user moves in real space, the user's position and orientation are derived with some method, then the screen draws the image the user would see at that particular viewing angle.

There is also holographic VR, mostly used to create micro-environments for manipulating objects either too small or too dangerous to be handled by hand. The image is made with many different holographic projection techniques, most of which involve cleverly positioned mirrors.

No matter what method is used to create the VR images, the holy grail of VR is a simple method of determining the user's position and orientation. Wii has gone a long way towards making this easier with the Wiimote, and it's success against the superior graphics/processing of the XBox/PS consoles is an indication of just how important immersion is.

I can already imagine conversations with the grandkids some day while watching them play their video games:

me: In my day, we had to push buttons on a controller

grandchild: what's a controller grandpa?

[slicer4ever]

i believe it's the 8th gen

ps3/wii/360 - 7th
ps2/gamecube/180 - 6th
ps1/n64 - 5th
gensis/snes - 4th
nes/atari2800(i think it was the 2800)-3rd
atari(original) - 2nd
brown box - 1st

[alillm]

Well the PS3 is supposed to have a 10 year life, and as the PS2 came fairly close to that, I can't see a new playstation in the near future, which is fine by me, as I think the PS3 has a lot to offer over the coming years.

There have been lots of rumours of the next xbox coming sooner than most people thought (in the next couple of years), but it’s unclear if there is any truth in that, or if the 360 will last as long as the PS3.
Microsoft’s strategy seems to be to release new consoles as fast as possible to gain head starts in sales. While that’s not a bad business plan, it's pretty bad for the gamers who keep forking out the cash for new consoles that don't offer that large an improvement on the previous one. Releasing the 360 early gave MS as many problems as it did benefits, so hopefully they will have the sense to wait this time.

I'm pretty sure Nintendo’s next console won’t be too far away. The wii has an innovative control system, but the rest of the technology is outdated, and the games being produced for it are pretty weak. They will need to release a more powerful system built on the success of the wii if they want to stay in the mainstream gaming market.

Ali

[VENGEANCE MX]

Seeing as how HD-DVD is officially dead, Microsoft might need to bring in a successor to the 360 prematurely (or make all games downloadable, or even force users to shell out for a Blu-Ray add-on).

As far as the next generation of gaming goes... every successful or relevant step forward in gaming falls under 'immersion'. Evidence?

Even the most slipshod of games nowadays is 3D. Why? Because it seems to be a winning formula. ANY graphics improvement counts for something, which is what the PS3 seems to be bargaining on.

Hard drives become bigger so we can have more textures, sounds and models stored with less compression. Again, this links in with immersion; the games want to be as realistic as possible.

Sound used to be mono. But to immerse ourselves better in the game, we now use stereo and surround set-ups so we can feel that we're actually 'in' the game, with events taking place around our body.

Obviously good physics is impressive. We all drool when we see a decent physics engine, because it simulates real-world physical reactions realistically. Again, immersion.

Nintendo are the only people who've gone all-out on trying to make control schemes immersive, and simple by looking at the sales figures you can tell this was the right idea. The controller was the only part of the console that underwent a drastic revamp from the Gamecube. The Wii's graphics card is still based on the Gamecube's Flipper chip, just a slightly faster version, and none of the other changes have been spectacular. Yet the Gamecube had the poorest sales performance of the previous generation, and nothing has changed substantially to the innards in the Wii incarnation. The ONLY difference is the control system, which has turned out to be quite significant.

The key case I present here is Crysis. Incredibly immersive graphics, sounds and physics. As a result, it's gained critical acclaim; everyone's heard of it, and everyone wishes their computer could run it.

Based on this, I will make some assumptions about the future of gaming:

Games will continue to become more realistic graphically. Stylized games will become a niche, for the few people who still use their imagination to fill in gaps untouched by game designers.

In-ear headphones (somehow eventually adapted for surround sound) will come as standard on all consoles. They will be wireless, like all controllers, so you feel as unrestrained as possible. Communication, even to those in the same room as you, will sadly probably be over microphone due to the headphones canceling out all external noise.

All consoles will adopt HVD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile_Disc For obvious reasons.

The internet will reach a point where even 50 GB game downloads are trivial. However, we will still buy most games on discs, because 50 GB will become a 'small' amount, impractical for holding a standard-sized commercial game.

Raw power of hardware and disk capacity will mean that we can simulate more realistic and advanced physics, and thanks to our in-ear headphones the whirlwind-esque fan noise coming from the console will no longer drown out our surround sound.

Controls for all games will use your WHOLE body. For a first-person shooter, you would actually make all the movements your character is expected to make to move (we will probably have treadmills or something to that effect to balance out any movement we make from our initial position).

Goggles would be the obvious medium for a screen if our puny human retinas weren't hurt by them. The compromise will be head-tracking on a high-resolution screen.

And last but not least, Mario will STILL be in every Nintendo game.

[mr_malee]

haha nice vision. I'm up for that.

I hope Apple doesn't get into the console game scene. iGame *shudders*

[Squize]

iHandHeld has been registered by them I believe ( Plus I'm sure I've read that they're pumping money into game dev., but then everyone seems to be these days. The casual market seems to be like cat nip for companies with a couple of quid sloshing about ).

Squize.

[lesli_felix]

Vengeance, 3d isn't a winning formula, it's a selling formula. You very often reduce the scope of how you interact with a game by making it 3d, which is precisely why immersive gaming is necessary.. 3d doesn't actully work that well with the current input's and outputs we have. The wii was a tiny step in the right direction. but yeah, the technolgy we use to interact has a lot of catching up to do, we now have vast worlds to explore but can't actully experience them in anything like the way we should be able to.

An apple console? It'll be twice the price of sony's offering, come in a range of colours, every journalist will own one, and write great reviews about it despite not being able to turn it on. The controller will only have one button, which will rarely do anything useful, most will have to be recalled because apple tried to squeeze way too much technology into a console the size of a credit card.

And there won't be any games for it.

[adit_ya_sharma]

Fourth generation of gaming is when you get your ass off the couch and actually start playing a real game like tennis, badminton or pool, you can play both single player or multi player with real physics and visuals

On a serious note though, something like nintendo wii in hand held format would be a seller, vr glasses and a wiimote maybe, but yeah, glasses will activate my migraine for sure.

[mr_malee]

iHandHeld has been registered by them I believe

oh dear. Can't wait to hear everybody talking about their new iHandHeld.

[alillm]

I have mixed feelings about the wii. The control is definitely a brilliant innovation, and Nintendo have done a great job in bringing non-gamers into the gaming world, however it’s pretty clear that a huge proportion of their sales are just down to it being a gimmick.
There are way too many stories of people’s wii and copy of wii sports gathering dust and seeing no use at all. The reason? People buy it because it’s new and its cheap, they play around with it a bit and soon get bored. When no new games that fit the ‘hardcore gamer’ market come out, they abandon it for one of the other two consoles.

There are two main limitations with it. Firstly, the control, while being ideal for some games, really doesn’t work so well for others. Secondly, the graphical limitations mean that cross platform development is pretty much non-existent. So what you end up with is a limited library consisting of Nintendo’s first party games, and a few third party games, many of which are aimed at the casual market. This has resulted in Nintendo cutting themselves off from the same market as Sony and Nintendo which has had great short term affects for them (people buying an xbox or PS3 are also buying a wii) but in the long term they are going to have problems when all people are buying is the newest Mario game and SSB.

Basically, you have the game cube all over again, only with a cool new controller to attract the buyers.