20 years ago we were playing pong, and breakout type games. Now we are playing super complex games like Deus Ex, or Black and White. So my question is: What do you think games will be like in 20 years? Im talking besides the obvious (poto-realistic graphics, perfect sound, and even more mario games). I have some ideas that could be possible with the technology and budget. Adaptive Games Perhaps there will be games, that create a psychological profile of the player from descisions he/she makes. Using that profile the game adapts to be more enjoyable for that type of player. The difficulty, amount of story vs action, and perhaps the story-line itself would change depending on what the computer determines the player would enjoy. Improved Controls = More Complex Simulation. VR has been in everyones head for a long time. But even if we had the damn gloves games would completely change! Just imagine how complexly you could interact with a world! I do relize that it would be difficult for a publisher to commit to a game that requires the player to buy a special controler. MMO Games I think future MMO games will continue to increase in the amount of ways you can interact with the world and players. Something like being able to play a scholar who records events and actually gets his books places in libraries where other players can get them. Or a blacksmith that can create unuiqe weapons (no predefined recipies). How about monsters who actually reproduce and dont just keep spawinging. I think these kind of things would make a very dynamic and exciting world. Those are just a few simple ideas. In 20 years games will probablly be beyond what I say though. PHRICTION

I''ve always envisioned a monitor that would project a 3-dimensional hologram around the user, like a hologram cockpit sort of dealie.

Can you imagine how fun that would be? I mean, you would have real depth!

~Dwarf

If high-speed internet access continues to grow over the next 20 years at a good enough rate, I think that many dev houses, including "big" ones like id or Blizzard will move towards distrubtion over the net, for episode-based games or perhaps for exclusive "Net only" expansion packs. Oh, and I think that we'll all be playing Nintendo consoles, too, because Sony will be swallowed up in the Japanese recession(s) because of thier non-existant profits on the sale of PS2/3/4/5's (Nintendo is actually profiting on hardware sales) and because nobody will bother to buy a ZBox just so they can play DOA Turbo 5.

EDIT: Holy Shatner! I'll be 37 in 20 years! O_o

Edited by - OOProgrammer on March 10, 2002 12:03:46 AM

"Oh, and I think that we''ll all be playing Nintendo consoles, too, because Sony will be swallowed up in the Japanese recession(s) because of thier non-existant profits on the sale of PS2/3/4/5''s (Nintendo is actually profiting on hardware sales) and because nobody will bother to buy a YBox just so they can play DOA Turbo 5."

God help us if that happens. I''m so sick of Nintendo''s games, I
could puke(and then play with that because it''d be aimed for a
higher-iq audience than what they''re cranking out).

Anywho, I also think that the net will be damned by then because
nobody will have any idea on how to break-even, let alone make a
profit on it...

-Hyatus
"da da da"

Hehe...how high IQ are the competition''s games? "Wow, look at her jiggle!", "I just stole a car and iced 5 cops!", etc. At any rate, I don''t want turn this into a flame war, but try to keep up on the things you discuss. Some of Nintendo''s future "low iq" games include the likes of Final Fantasy (unnamed, as of yet, but rumored to be based on the Final Fantasy Unlimited anime series), Metroid Prime (innovative first person action/adventure), Eternal Darkness (adventure/horror, not at all like Resident Evil its clones), and Too Human (far future rpg). And those are just a few of the original games. There are a lot of enhanced (and, curse them, un-enhanced) ports on the way, too.

"Final Fantasy (unnamed, as of yet, but rumored to be based on the Final Fantasy Unlimited anime series),"
Only seen a bit of it(the series), but I wasn''t impressed.
Mostly cause I''m sick of the FF games. Same story, different
graphic system(heh...sometimes).

"Metroid Prime (innovative first person action/adventure),"
Innovative? We''ll have to see of course, but I somehow doubt
this will bring anything new to the table.

"Eternal Darkness (adventure/horror, not at all like Resident Evil its clones), and Too Human (far future rpg)."
I don''t know about either of these, but I happen to enjoy(to an
extent) the RE games.

I guess my point is, for the most part, at least Sony lets you
choose between the presentation of your games. None of that
''blood-for-sweat exchange'' that Nintendo requires of their
licenses.

And perhaps IQ wasn''t the word I was looking for. It''s just that
Nintendo''s target age group is younger than I am and I''m looking
for more ''mature'' titles. DOA may have jiggle-upon-jiggle, but
it''s also a fun game. Consoles shouldn''t dictate the type of
game available, just the maximum you can do with them
graphically.

-Hyatus
"da da da"

True, it does seem like FF is nothing but a new game every year with completely unrelated stories but the same name. But I'm still going to hope that Squaresoft will bring something new to the table.

// Begin enthusiastic rant
I think you should take a look at Eternal Darkness when it comes out. Everything I've seen indicates that it is focused on story much more than on killing monsters, but you will run into them in many places. It has a branching story with (as far as I can tell) multiple paths for most, if not all, of the playable characters (which there are 13 of.) It also has a great new gameplay mechanic: a sanity meter. As your character sees things that are unbelieveable or horrifying, he will gradually lose his sanity. It's in your best interest to keep your character sane (presumeably by killing/escaping whatever is after him), because as he starts to wig out, strange things will happen. He'll look in his inventory, and see that he's lost all he was carrying, only to discover that it was a hallucentation a minute later. Of course, there will certainly be more subtle (and over the top) hallucenations, like hallucenated enemies, or disturbing changes in the environment. While I never really enjoyed the RE series (the control was atrocious, IMHO), I'm interested in this.
// End enthusiasistic rant

Anyway, I go with Nintendo because I see a lot of originality in the new franchises and new versions of the old ones. I got my Gamecube because I knew that I was going to get gaming experiences that I couldn't anywhere else, like Super Smash Bros:Melee, and Pikmin. But there are a lot of original titles on the other systems, and it's fine if you want to get your mature games there, so long as you have fun.

EDIT: Sorry if I sounded a little hostile initially, but I guess I've just ran into too many people who play games they're rated M, not because they're any more fun than other games.

Edited by - OOProgrammer on March 11, 2002 6:25:57 PM

I like your "adaptive games" idea! That would make a game fun for mostly anyone.

------------------
If you put one monkey at one typewriter, he would scratch his head and type something like this: "g d asds"

"It also has a great new gameplay mechanic: a sanity meter."

Actually, I believe a Dreamcast game from last year had the
same thing. I can''t remember the name of the game, tho...err...
wait. I think it was Illbleed.

Oh, and that''s alright, I was probably a bit hostile myself. ^,^

-Hyatus
"da da da"

quote: Original post by Hyatus DOA may have jiggle-upon-jiggle, but it''s also a fun game.

Find a Nintendo game produced by Shigeru Miyamoto. Play it, ignoring the lack of jiggle-upon-jiggle. Say, ''omg.''