Where is Gaming Headed in the Next 5-10 Years

I'm sitting in a Chili's at the moment because my wife and kid are in bed and I wanted some soup.

I've literally been involved in gaming since the days of "Pong". When I was a kid we had the "Pong" console. The next "console" was the Atari 2600. I even had a Colecovision. In the 80's it was primarily the Apple IIe, and then after that it was IBM compatibles. Following that I had a Sega Genesis, PS1, PS2, Xbox, and a Wii that I sold, and now the PS3.

I just read an extensive article about "Project Natal", and it made me wonder about where gaming is really headed in the next 5 years or so.

I think 5 years ago no one was really predicting the popularity of the Wii. IMO, this was not really a step forward so much as it was an opening of new markets and consolidation of existing tech.

Personally, I have found that over the last few years I have definitely stopped buying new pc-based game titles. Not that I am a hardcore gamer at this point, but I would say that there are 2-3 titles per year that I like to pick up. When I get a game it is always now for the PS3, with this trend beginning with the PS2. Does anyone else feel that they are playing fewer titles on pc's vs. console systems.

My next purchase is Wolfenstein in early August. Every prior version of this was on the pc, including the one from 2001 (which was great IMO). I didn't even consider getting this for the pc this time when I pre-paid for the PS3 version.

I think that Natal will be popular, but I think it's going to be really big in 2-3 versions past the initial release. I also think there will likely be something that we're all not expecting now that will be a big deal in 5 years. Any ideas?

One other thing I find interesting is that in talking to people of my age that are into gaming, the tendency is that we were always most interested in games that came as close to looking or being realistic (reasonably) as possible. Conversely, I have a brother that is 19; it seems that those that are his age are not as interested in realistic representations as they are in stylistic representations (comic books, graphic novels, anime, etc.. seem to be more popular with his cohort).

I've been out of the MMO world for a while now, but the last one that I really played at all was Everquest 2. It seems to me that many of those things have just become a pure grind, and WoW to me always looked cartoonish. That WoW funeral and Leroy are funny though....

BTW, did anyone ever play Syndicate or Syndicate Wars? I read that a new version of that game is currently in the works.

Long post, but I'm really curious, what do you guys think will be the next big things in the gaming world?

MS

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Comments

msteinhilber

I'm currently not much of a hardcore gamer myself, most of my gaming time in the past 10 years has been spent on the PC rather than a console though.

The majority of the games I've been into on the PC in those 10 years were primarily various MMO's starting with Ultima Online as the first I really got into. I was never really into the casual gameplay style of collecting and building things, or killing monsters. The majority of the fun I got out of MMO's was the PVP aspect. Honestly, I haven't had even close to as much fun as I had playing Ultima Online before it went more and more into making it easier for players who did not want the PVP aspect to play without risk. For anybody who remembers old school Ultima Online (if there are any here), you'll know I'm taking about back when houses were lootable, the dread lord days, I remember always having that fear of seeing the red name pop up on your screen while you were trying to skill up - it was all great fun. Not many games have really fully captured that experience for me at least.

I think the future is going to continue to push towards interactive gaming more than it has now. Perhaps there might be some focus on strategy based gaming that has a longer duration of the events you take part in. Current game play in a lot of games has a winner determined in a minutes to hours perhaps, I think it would be interesting to have some mix of strategy with some MMO aspects and have a cooperative playstyle that evolves over several weeks or longer, with control wavering from team to team until a final outcome is determined. Something like that might bring back some fun to MMO's, maybe something similar already exists and I'm not aware - I have been out of the loop a while.

I think that MMO's have been a huge success and we will continue to see more and more of them. It seems like a new MMO is coming out every month, but as MS stated - many of them really have the same basic play style it seems. The most recent one I played but grew tired of was Warhammer Online. I was able to jump right in and play it as if I had been playing it for months, very similar to WoW in many aspects. To some degree that was good since I was able to get into it quickly, but in other aspects it was bad because it was like playing WoW with different graphics. The PVP aspect in the game was slightly improved but did grow old after a couple of months.

Overall, I wish somebody would come out with a good MMO type game that incorporates a mix of good PVP as well as PVE to keep the players who do not actively desire PVP happy. I would like to see it be innovative somehow, not just another WoW clone. I would also like to see some risk involved for the player, like back in Ultima Online before there was Trammel where you wouldn't lose your items which eventually led to being able to insure your gear so it wouldn't be lost - bring back the elements of risk so you eliminate the players that blindly rush into a battle because they know they have nothing to lose. When you take away risk, you take away many players desire to use strategy because if they put themselves in a bad situation, there is nothing to lose so who cares.

Edit: On a side note, I've finally got back into console gaming. Was able to swap some computer equipment for an Xbox 360 and a bunch of games and accessories as well as a Wii with games and accessories. I haven't really played anything on either platform so I'm looking forward to see what advances have been made there. Should be a good opportunity to spend some more time having fun with my wife since she isn't much of a PC gamer but will play consoles.

dynamik

Hm, I can't find the link, but I've seen companies developing accessories for immersive environments in your actual room. These consist of lighting, temperature controls, fans for wind, etc. You'd get a bright orange light and higher temperature if your game was taking place during the day, and then it would cool off and fade to a dark blue light as the day turned to night. Seems like it would be impressive if done right, but it could be gimmicky as well.

Check out the head tracking stuff here: YouTube - Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the WiiRemote

MS actually hired him to work on Natal with them. You're right; this is going to be huge as it gets developed. It feels tacked-on to the current generation system, and there are no requirements for developers to utilize it (a lot will likely be hesitant to since it's not a standard peripheral). However, it will be a completely different story when their next-generation console natively supports it.

To answer your question, I rarely game on the PC anymore. I'm hunched over this thing enough as it is, and I'd much rather just chill on the couch if I'm gaming. Hardcore PC gamers can cry all they want about how it's easier to aim with a mouse, but I really don't have any problems using the joysticks.

Be careful if you're interested in MMOs. This is going to be huge: Star Wars: The Old Republic I'm not really even into Star Wars, but Bioware's Knights of the Old Republic games were quite captivating. This doesn't sound like a typical WoW-grindfest MMO. Actions you take will affect your story for the duration of the game. Oh, and it's actually going to have a story.

If you haven't played it, check out Mass Effect. It's only on the PC and 360, but it's one of the best games I've ever played. EA bought Bioware, so the other two (it's going to be a trilogy) will likely show up on the PS3 as well. I played it, and then I watched my wife play it. Her story was almost completely different than mine. Her sister came over and started playing it, and her's was very different as well. I probably wasted 100 hours just in one of their basic RPGs. I'm really hesitant to pick up an MMO by them; I really don't want to lose my life to a video game

darkerosxx

I think the next big "thing" for the gaming world is going to be online sports competitions for all different kinds of games. There's some really big investments going on from some key players pushing for this. Within the next 3-5 years, I expect it to reach ESPN-like levels.

Following that, I think there's a chance for a boom in gaming centers, depending on a bunch of different variables.

Aldur

eMeS wrote: »

I think 5 years ago no one was really predicting the popularity of the Wii. IMO, this was not really a step forward so much as it was an opening of new markets and consolidation of existing tech.

I can't agree more with you on this point. From my understanding the Wii actually has less power then the original xbox. Definitely not a step forward in technology but like you said it was a opening of new markets. I've seen ppl who hate video games get a Wii, it's not your typical video game console. For that reason I've never really cared to get one.

The question in my mind is if other console makers are going to follow suit? Each and every Wii that Nintendo has sold they have made a profit off of. How long did Sony and Mircosoft sell there next gen systems till they started breaking even? Nintendo has used inferrior hardware and sold way more of it. Does this mean that the next generation of consoles from Microsoft and Sony are going to fall in line? The type of games that are on the Wii don't appeal to me but if a company can sell more while investing less then what's to stop them? Video gaming is a business after all and any business is about making money. Will the almighty dollar cause newer video game consoles to use less powerful hardware?

My main concern is that video games will follow suit and the type of video games that use cutting edge technology will cease to exist. If that day that comes, and hopefully it never will, I will hang up my video game hat and pursue other means of entertainment.

Satcom

5 yrs... more devolopment on co-op games or games played online together
we already have WOW and COD4 etc... etc.. but i think the graphics are going to get more intense as technology increases.. and more co-op games are going to be developed whether its a WOW type game or FPS or a driving simulator.. i think more and more people are going to get introduced to online gaming via xbox and ps3 consoles

i hope xbox and ps/3 merge in there online co-op games so people of different platforms can play each other.... i see it coming

10 yrs virtual reality
yeah virtua boy was a flop

apena7

Aldur wrote: »

Each and every Wii that Nintendo has sold they have made a profit off of. How long did Sony and Mircosoft sell there next gen systems till they started breaking even? Nintendo has used inferrior hardware and sold way more of it. Does this mean that the next generation of consoles from Microsoft and Sony are going to fall in line? The type of games that are on the Wii don't appeal to me but if a company can sell more while investing less then what's to stop them?

You have to remember that Nintendo also makes their profit by developing their own games. Think of it, their biggest hits (Smash Bros, Twilight Princess, Metroid) are all developed by Nintendo. It's not like when a copy of Halo 3 is sold, the money goes right back to Microsoft. Instead, the money goes to straight to Bungie and they cut a slice for Microsoft (or is it vice versa?).

dynamik

Actually Microsoft owned Bungie when Halo 3 was released, so that did go back to MS

They have since parted ways though...

Kaminsky

I've been surprised at how well the Wii has drawn in all sorts of people but I think that's much along the same lines as when Trivial Persuit first came out and everyone would happily pit their wits and skills against each other at get togethers. Eventually, like Trivial Persuit, almost everyone will have one in their homes.

I can see on line gaming becoming even more popular across the various game genres with more and more people getting used to being on line but that is really amongst those game playing types. It's becoming rarer and rarer for a game not to have some sort of on line capability these days. Even my young kids play some sort of on line ninja penguin thing and the youngest is only 6.

One of the most rapid rises that has surprised me is how hugely popular sites like myspace, twitter, facebook have become. Where once you would write letters or meet down the pub for a drink and a chat over games like pool, darts, shove hapeny, cribbage, seem to be a tradition that is vanishing fast.

crrussell3

dynamik wrote: »

Be careful if you're interested in MMOs. This is going to be huge: Star Wars: The Old Republic I'm not really even into Star Wars, but Bioware's Knights of the Old Republic games were quite captivating. This doesn't sound like a typical WoW-grindfest MMO. Actions you take will affect your story for the duration of the game. Oh, and it's actually going to have a story.

/sigh SW:TOR will put a grinding hault to my plans of getting my certifications and going back to college. As if SWG and WoW didn't take up enough of my time back when I played them.

sagewalkinthere

crrussell3 wrote: »

/sigh SW:TOR will put a grinding hault to my plans of getting my certifications and going back to college. As if SWG and WoW didn't take up enough of my time back when I played them.

Lol... it sucks the life from you...

Pash

Ok, my personal point of view would be that gaming is going to a bad place at the moment.

Cross platform games sound great to the average gamer but in all honesty the quality has taken a huge dip in the last few years. Countless badly ported rushed titles are coming out where they play and feel very different to the console/PC version of the game. One example of this was assasins creed on the PC, they tried to implement dx10 to it when it came out but it was just a huge failure upon release (i havent touched it since). Don't get me wrong, there has been some good ports like GTA4 (with some patching), its an amazing game that plays well on the PC with multiplayer as well. And in all honesty i think this is an oversight from game devs, PC gamers reign supreme BBC NEWS | Technology | PC 'rules supreme' in games world and therefore they should make sure the quality of these titles are even accross all platforms.

That said......

Game devs like blizzard are renouned for releasing titles "when they are ready", which is great, but they only seem to cater for the PC market, will they break that trend with the mmo x title in the works? Luckily some game developers have good backing and history in making supreme titles, as some have mentioned above, bioware are making the next Star wars mmo with complete backing from Lucas arts. These guys will not rush the games they work on, they don't have as much pressure as the average joe studio and therefore I see less disappointment upon release (age of conan let down anyone?)

I honestly see companies like Blizzard opting for a steam type content delivery system to keep their subscriptions in check, who wants to be paying sperate subs for wow, battle.net (for diablo 3) and then their next mmo, it will be like stupidly expensive. I can see them offering subscription bundles to keep the average gamer happy and to ensure that all games make some profit, even if they see population shifts between games (shutting down gaming servers saves data centre space and power costs and losing staff means less overhead).

And yes emes I played Syndicate and Syndicate wars, they were originally made by bullfrog which is now Lionhead Stuidos which is now owned by MS unless im mistaken. Great games, much like ufo enemy unknown, games like that will not be made again, luckily retroware like that lives on with die hard fans, ive even found myself playing transport tycoon recently, classic!

Kasor

Home Vitual Video with motion...

brad-

I used to be an addictive gamer through all of my 20's, but have grown out of it with the family and work. I know I wont even be able to pick up the next big MMO or Diablo 3 because i wont have the time i know i need to give to it to be successful.

I think gaming is targeted mostly to a specific demographic...and I've just kind of grown out of that demographic...probably like most of us here no longer in our 20's.

Pash

brad- wrote: »

I used to be an addictive gamer through all of my 20's, but have grown out of it with the family and work. I know I wont even be able to pick up the next big MMO or Diablo 3 because i wont have the time i know i need to give to it to be successful.

I think gaming is targeted mostly to a specific demographic...and I've just kind of grown out of that demographic...probably like most of us here no longer in our 20's.

Interesting point, i never play games to be successful though, only ever played them for fun and they are used during my TV time, so im happy with that. That said, I bet most of you guys have a lot on your plate and my view might change at that point!

sandman748

I honestly don't see natal doing much to change gaming as it already is. The tech is impressive but I just don't see how it can be marketed to someone like me who plays racing, shooting, rpg, platformers etc... without some sort of input device. How is it going to capture running on a side scroller or firing a gun in an fps? It'll be another wii, and the casual market doesn't need or want another one.

I see the market the same as it is now. Sony marketing to "hardcore" , nintendo making a killing by further expansion of wii features, and microsoft trying to compete with both and coming up short in long run. We'll still have that division of casuals and hardcore gamers with the middle ground being dance dance and guitar hero style games.

The only thing that excites me about potential in the future is sony's new motion control. But that's only because they actually showed me how it can be used for RTS/FPS during their E3 demo.

snadam

While NATAL is a cool concept, I just cant see myself wanting to play games like that 100% of the time. That being said, I hope the controller never dies. In fact, I play most my Wii games via the controller adapter.

In regards in what I would like to see in gaming withing the next 5 years, I would like to see them go back to the "golden age" of gaming and revisit how games were made/developed. The strongest example would be LONGER GAMEPLAY, and QUALITY GAMEPLAY. Games that take 8 hours or LESS to play through is getting tiresome. While I enjoy graphics, I think a lot of games have lost the real meat and potatoes of why people play games; and to me that is quality gameplay. I understand that most of the industry is in it to make money, which is why its become more of a "quantity over quality" era. I'll stop myself there

Aldur

sandman748 wrote: »

I see the market the same as it is now. Sony marketing to "hardcore" , nintendo making a killing by further expansion of wii features, and microsoft trying to compete with both and coming up short in long run.

I was under the impression that Sony really hasn't done very well with the PS3 and that they were definitely last in the console wars this time around. Don't get me wrong, I love my PS3, it's an amazing machine, but they didn't do very well this time around with selling it.

snadam wrote: »

In regards in what I would like to see in gaming withing the next 5 years, I would like to see them go back to the "golden age" of gaming and revisit how games were made/developed. The strongest example would be LONGER GAMEPLAY, and QUALITY GAMEPLAY. Games that take 8 hours or LESS to play through is getting tiresome. While I enjoy graphics, I think a lot of games have lost the real meat and potatoes of why people play games; and to me that is quality gameplay. I understand that most of the industry is in it to make money, which is why its become more of a "quantity over quality" era. I'll stop myself there

snadam, you are a wise man! I can't agree more with you when you say LONGER and QUALITY GAMEPLAY. I too am sick of buying a game and having it end in less then 10 hours... I mean honestly, what the hell are developers doing with their time and effort. Sure the game may look pretty and have some really shiny, flashy graphics but for hell sakes. I can't stand the thought of droping 60-70 bucks for 8 hours of gameplay...

I honestly don't see video games going back to their roots and making the "good" games. The general public doesn't have the attention span to spend 40-80 hours on a video game and so developers are going to cater to the masses to get the most money for their video games they make. There will be a few good video games in the years to come but they will be a dying breed.

sandman748

Aldur wrote: »

I was under the impression that Sony really hasn't done very well with the PS3 and that they were definitely last in the console wars this time around. Don't get me wrong, I love my PS3, it's an amazing machine, but they didn't do very well this time around with selling it.

If you are looking at sheer numbers, this is true. But at the same time they ARE selling. They might not be flying off the shelves but they've got a long term plan and are sticking to it. They're moving nearly the same amount as the 360 at double the price. 360 was down to 150 at all stores last week.

Maybe I'm just upset with microsoft for putting so much focus on family freindly games. They make good moves securing big name RPG's last year and then come out with this crap. I think they've lost a lot of the momentum they had by chasing a market that nintendo has already secured.

As for the next 5 years. I really want to see motion control implemented well. I was pumped when nintendo announced it, and it hasn't lived up to what I had imagined. Then they do it again with motion+ which is an improvement but still not where it could be. Natal seems cool, but I don't see it working any differently then the (mostly) failed eye toy. I'm really counting on Sony to take what they showed at E3 and work with a big developer to bring something great.

Aldur

sandman748 wrote: »

If you are looking at sheer numbers, this is true. But at the same time they ARE selling. They might not be flying off the shelves but they've got a long term plan and are sticking to it. They're moving nearly the same amount as the 360 at double the price. 360 was down to 150 at all stores last week.

I hope Sony is finally selling the PS3, over the last two years they hardly sold the system at all. Would be nice to see them finally gain some traction.

sandman748 wrote: »

Maybe I'm just upset with microsoft for putting so much focus on family freindly games. They make good moves securing big name RPG's last year and then come out with this crap. I think they've lost a lot of the momentum they had by chasing a market that nintendo has already secured.

yea, i've not been impressed with much of any video games over the last year. Think I really only enjoyed Fallout 3, and even that was kind of a disappointment, I'm sure if the main quest was longer then I'd feel differently.

sandman748 wrote: »

I'm really counting on Sony to take what they showed at E3 and work with a big developer to bring something great.

I hope Sony has something good in the works, I could use a good video game sometime this year.

eMeS

sandman748 wrote: »

I see the market the same as it is now. Sony marketing to "hardcore" , nintendo making a killing by further expansion of wii features, and microsoft trying to compete with both and coming up short in long run. We'll still have that division of casuals and hardcore gamers with the middle ground being dance dance and guitar hero style games.

IMO this is very well-said. Not to take my own thread off-topic, but I think in many ways Microsoft waters down their offerings (whether in gaming or software) by trying to be everything to everyone.

MS

dynamik

You can see console numbers here: Home*-*nexgenwars.com

I'm surprised no one has gotten into the online component. XBL trounces Sony's and Nintendo's offerings.

ccie15672

2D tile-based RPGs.

Yeah... Ultima IV and V... bring it back!

tiersten

dynamik wrote: »

I'm surprised no one has gotten into the online component. XBL trounces Sony's and Nintendo's offerings.

There is an online offering from Nintendo? I must have blinked and missed it. Each game wants to do its own thing and they don't integrate with the friend system in the messaging part.

The actual Wii software architecture is designed badly and follows the old non network connected console style of thinking. Each game totally takes over the entire Wii when you run it. There isn't anything left running like the PS3 XMB or 360 menu. The pause menu is actually generated by the game. There is a coprocessor inside the Wii that handles all the IO e.g. SD card and each game is linked to a specific version of the coprocessor OS that is kept in flash which never gets updates because of compatibility issues. If they add the ability to talk to friends whilst playing a game, it won't exist for old games because the code isn't on the disc.

Lee H

The next big thing that will take off big time is 3D gaming, I have been privelaged enough to have played Wipeout on PS3 in 3D and it was awesome, the 3D tv was a 46" Hyundai, even had chinese writing on the remote thats how rare these TV's were, am going back about
1 year

3D games and 3D TV's will both have to be readily available at a price that will generate enough sales

But trust me, its AWESOME!!!!!, the wipeout spaceship appeard out of the TV by at least 2 foot, I was about 6 foot away from TV

dynamik

tiersten wrote: »

There is an online offering from Nintendo?

That was sort of my point