The next big thing? (1 Viewer)

[Jim Sit]

I own a number of systems including the XBox and Dreamcast. My passion and eye for detail in the games makes the graphical difference between these two systems fairly obvious to me. However, most of my friends and my wife don't see a major difference in the graphics between the better DC games and your typical XBox game.

To me, the DC is the first system that, while overshadowed by newer systems, manages to not look archaic even though it's outdated.

My question is, what is the next big thing going to be in graphical technology, that is going to make the difference between the next generation of systems and this current generation obvious? Super High Res Textures? Better lighting? Something else?

Thoughts?

 

[Camp]

The NExt Console should be able to reproduce images similar to that of the Movie Toy Story.

Whatever. We've been hearing that since the introduction of the N64. While the next gen will certainly provide the power to get much closer to that lofty goal it's not fair to continue making that claim.

As important as raw hardware power is it's the development of the software that's the real key. There are few (if any) developers with the talent, experience and budgetary freedom to even attempt to create an engine capable of Toy Story level art in real time. I contend that a revolution needs to occur not on the hardware side (where evolution is natural) but on the software development side. Certainly, evolution occurs in software development but there is less incentive for those fronting the budgets to push that 'Toy Story' envelope. The industry is based on volume. Volume sales come with multiplatform ports and multiplatform ports, by their very nature, reduce innovation.

 

[James D S]

Woah, man. It's Camp... You know he didn't mean anything like that.

 

[paul h]

I remember watching the intro to the 1st Resident Evil on the Playstation and thinking how much id love the actual game to be upto that quality, i'd like to think we're not that far away..

 

[Camp]

Well it's my opinion whether it's fair or not. I think your response of 'whatever' is disrespectful to me where it was not deserved. I didn't insult you.

No, no, no...sorry 'bout that. I meant "whatever" toward industry use of the phrase "Toy Story-like graphics". If I had intended it toward you I would have said so directly.

Thanks, James.

 

[BrianB]

And of course, with the demand for higher res models, textures & environments, comes another jump in dev costs paying the huge art teams required to generate those "Toy Story" quality worlds...

 

[Jim Sit]

How about taking the games off the TV?

Sometimes I think that we are approaching a plateau in graphics, where within the next couple of generations, many genres of games will be near-photorealistic (racing games and some sports games are getting close already).

I think at that point the innovations will come more from how we view and interact with the game than the graphics themselves. At least I hope that's what happens.

 

[Todd H]

How about some gameplay innovation? A piece of crap game with millions of polygons, realistic shading effects, and bump mapping is still a piece of crap.

 

[Keith Frederick]

Virtual Reality, at least visually, is still the next revolution in gaming. Imagine having peripheral vision while playing a first-person game?! The whole reason that 3rd-person is necessary is because of the lack of peripheral vision. I have gotten pretty used to playing FPS games, but honestly, if you could play them with a full field of vision, imagine how much better it would be. Think about playing a sports game in FP mode with peripheral vision?!

 

[Jim Sit]

How about some gameplay innovation? A piece of crap game with millions of polygons, realistic shading effects, and bump mapping is still a piece of crap.

I definitely hear you there, but we all know that there will ALWAYS be crap games, and there always have been crap games.

I think that some gameplay innovations require technology improvements. Just look at how many innovative games have come out in this generation that could not have been done before. Even more interesting to me is to look at a game like GTA, where the concept between parts 1 & 2, compared to part 3 and Vice City, is not all that different, but I think most would agree that the improved technology allowed us to see that concept through more completely.

Sports games are another example, the game itself doesn't change, but technology allows the game to be realized more realistically.

I personally am very excited about the future of this technology.

 

[Jim Sit]

Virtual Reality, at least visually, is still the next revolution in gaming.

I couldn't agree with you more. A hundred years from now when the history of this technology is studied and recounted (and it will be), I believe the major milestones are going to be remembered as:

-the beginning with 2D, from the 2600 to its peak at 16-bit
-the beginning of 3D, from the PS1/Saturn up to the XBox 3, PS4 era or so
-the more immersive era, where the player first really gets "immersed" in the game via VR type technology.

I don't think that there's any doubt that when we reach that level of immersion, it will truly represent a revolution in entertainment (I personally think it will be more addictive than crack to some people, but that's a different story).

That's my theory anyway...

 

[David Broome]

Imagine having peripheral vision while playing a first-person game?!

IIRC, the original Doom had this sort of feature. IF you had three computers and monitors sitting on your desk, then you could connect them as a multiplayer game with a special setting on the command line, and the other two would act as your left and right peripheral vision. Or was that a rumor that didn't exist? Too long ago to remember.

I can say that if I could do that on XBox with two other machines and two other FP's, I would quickly buy two more XBoxes and whatever games supported it...