While companies and developers have their own sinister plans in motion and we can only guess at what they are playing at, we still have our hopes and expectations for the future.

No matter how silly, and being honest, what would you wish to see from your favourite games companies - hardware as well as software?  In contrast what do you expect to see in the near or "near-ish" future?

In the near future, probably a continued focus on AR/VR gaming.

I expect that as smart phones get more powerful we'll see more traditionally console games to have versions available on mobile as well. 

Consoles will continue to try to be at least somewhat competitive with computer gaming, and maybe delving into the mobile gaming market now that the Nintendo Switch has been such a success. 

Definitely agree that Nintendo is pursuing the mobile market.  The Switch is a good thing for Nintendo, but I doubt it will replace the 3DS as the Switch is too expensive and not really small enough to fit in our pockets. If Nintendo can whip out a reduced "lite" model at £150 then...maybe. Ultimately the Gameboy / DS lines have been their bread and butter over the years so I can't see Nintendo jeopardising that while still testing the mobile waters.  Personally, I hope they will continue with the 3DS for a couple more years, but if not then just release a new one with better hardware and battery life.

VR seems to be in the realm of PC gaming, but AR is definitely here and with Pokemon Go having led the charge we should see more in the future.

Not sure about the XB1 or PS4 as I don't play much on my XB1( I do enjoy it though ), but I think somewhere down the line Sony and MS will have to see sense in that they offer nearly identical products and perhaps should go on a venture together.  Against all better judgement...I forsee a Sony/MS machine sometime in the future.  There are games on both systems I'd like to play, but owning both systems is just plain silly.  Personally, like the 3DS, I think the XB1 is still the bees knees and don't see the point in a new machine just yet...

Then there's the retro side of things.  "Minis" of classic consoles and home computers of yesteryear, and even new games being released for the originals, like Matt Philips' TangleWood for the Megadrive, or Krautbuster for the MVS/Dreamcast.  FPGA technology is playing a big part of this revival and even the ZX Spectrum has the "Next" seeing its way into the hands of backers of crowd funding.  Development for these older machines is surprisingly more accessable than I was led to believe.  The Megadrive especially seems an ideal machine to bring back for games development, and if Atgames had gone the extra mile with sound and compatibility then this could have happened much sooner.

Android and IOS seem to just go from strength-to-strength.  Not much to say nor predict on that front...

Well, in my most intimate dreams I believe that cyber-sports have a real future, - i expect that the competitive aspect in gaming will progress greatly and one day, perhaps, for example, sc2 tournaments will be as popular as tennis championships (idk if they already are).

6 hours ago, MKeiN2 said:

Well, in my most intimate dreams I believe that cyber-sports have a real future, - i expect that the competitive aspect in gaming will progress greatly and one day, perhaps, for example, sc2 tournaments will be as popular as tennis championships (idk if they already are).

I hear it makes big bucks these days, and also that the Olympics might be including "esports"  sometime in the future.