I've been thinking about this for some time, esp in view of some of the discussions re: the future of gaming we've been having.

yeh i agree with the article. games are such big businees now, and the demand for grahuical quality, gameplay, Ai and storyline is such that games will be produced like films. In fact you'll see even closer tie-ins between films and games, ahich is already happening. Look at LotR and how closely the games tie-in; the game developement has been entirely in step with the production of the films, thus keeping both continuity and integrity, and saving time and money on unnecessary developement. Why write or license a game engine when you can use the one that's been used in the digitised effects for the films? Why make loads of new code for imagery when you can use what's already there?

actually it makes perfect sense, esp as so much money goes into top games now. unf this may mean the dominance of the wealthiest developers such as Lucasarts cos they have their movie and sfx divisions to call on, and they can pour money into production values. So small independent devs are going to be even more in thrall to the boys with the big cheque books, which isn't necessarily a good thing.

Smaller companies are i feel prepared to take a risk just to hit the bigtime. Look at Rockstar. I'd never heard of them then out popped GTA and now look at them.

I did watch a program on Bravo called "Around the World in 80 Games" and the industry believes that it will be at the same sort of effects that big money films have within the next 10 years. No doubt in line for the PS3 and XBOX2.

The future is bleak- people will become used to graphics that only the big companies can afford to have, and the small companies will be crushed underfoot. Crappy movie tie-ins, and sequel after sequel...
Am I the only one who thinks the name Final Fantasy 10 is hilariously contradictory?

Hmmmmmm, Time for my two (euro)cents,

everything that looks prettier then the game before, thats why they call it next gen, but there will be a time, when the evolution of Graphics has halted, because you simply cannot produce more then Photo realistic Graphics, The eye simply wouldn't be able to cope with em.

indeed, the Next generation of Gamers expect too much, thats why there has been a terrible uprising (literally) from the old soviet union, in terms of gamedevelopment, the last couple of years, the old east has shown that they can easily match the talents, and go beyond, for consoderably less wages.
Consider if you will, the uphand being development of S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadows of Chernobyl. it has been in development for some while now, and my personal amateuristic opinion says, that this game could easily go on par with the fabled Half Life 2, with a considerably less Hype, and if GSC gamesworld plays their Cards right, it could easily mean that, "The Most Anticipated Game of the Century" will be shadowed by theirs. In terms of Gameplay, Graphics, Physics, AI and maybe more.

as for AI, AI has always been the ugly stepchild of developers, Look at DOOM III for an example, whether or not intended, what I heard from (reputable!!) sources, the AI system is just a shambles, and an absolute disgrace to what todays standards are, and still I find this game for a cent or 5 less then €60 (!) on the shelves, overhype anyone?? the Marketeers just have Glory days these days, its their bleedin' golden age, all they have to do, is fancy up the game a bit, and they get a fair share of the deal, up to 40% of total selling. I personally and absoluteletively think thats a Disgrace, it not only fools people into buying a product that 30% of the time hasn't even been completed, with promised features just plain missing, that, ladies, gents and transgenders, is misleading the consument, but because its such a big bucks industry, it doesn't get punished.

I thank you all

*Steps off soapbox, slips and slams face down on the concrete pavement*

Lamentably it is all about money. Why spend hundred of thousands researching "next gen" games when you can copy the current trend of games (eg. FPS's), and apply better graphics?

You mean like how many are describing D3? This sort of explains Valve's slowness as well.

I also am disappointed that not one word about PC games is included in this write up.

I see things a little bit differently although not all that differently.....

These thousand plus manhours are supposed to make game production more like a big Hollywood movie in cost and such.

We forget emerging tech centers in India and China. I'd say that a lot of the labor will be tranferred to them. This of course, depends on how receptive both of these countries are to honoring intellectual property and combatting piracy. My sense is that the possibility of serious money flowing to them might be the encouragement they need.... may be not. But who knows?

These next gen games could be made in scalable modules rather than all at once. The core game comes out first after the first, say 500 manhours, additional segments to the game roll out after fewer x-hundreds of additional manhours. It would be a way to keep a hit going..... In other words, take what happens with Mods for FL and consider how this could be implemented by the game developers themselves.

Edited by - Indy11 on 9/7/2004 8:52:53 PM

well let ol DSQrn tell you about this all

ahem hem

i used to buy and play games faster then.... something fast after 2 days buy another but soon all i saw is reapeats ps2 is not going to be much diffferent then ps3. there doing the same thing again with a few tweaks i say we all kick back enjoy FL and SL and there mods

One thing to consider (Locutus touched on it but didn't elaborate) is that, eventually, we will reach a point where, until there is some sort of quantum leap forward in gaming technology, there will be no need for anyone to develop new graphics engines. Right now the gaming industry is going through a phase where, due to improving technology, the focus is on graphical one-upmanship. Once a graphical plateau is reached game developers will be free to focus on other gameplay elements (like AI). Eventually it may be the case that no new core software development will be necessary. If this comes about the gaming industry will likely cease to exist as we know it. In its place you will find modders, and lots of them. Already there are games out there (Dungeon Siege comes to mind) where people - or in some cases a single person - have made mods that were far superior to the original. If my vision of the future is at all accurate then eventually this will not be a rare phenomenon but rather very commonplace.

that is rue but people will still want them and the slighests tweaks can make a game from break even to break rich

Assuming that we've already reached the point where our technological ability far surpasses the ability of our optical nerves to discern anything more, I think you're right as far as that goes. But most of the improvements have been on resolution, speed of processing at those higher resolutions and pixel density.

How about good ol' fashion scale? As technology improves, the cheaper the monitor becomes so that larger and larger fine resolution screens become more and more affordable.

How about a gpu and graphics engine that will drive a game with enough detail to fill a 64" diagonal screen at as high resolution as you would care to have? Have an entire field of battle shown in hyper resolution at once instead of clicking back and forth from quadrant to quadrant? Take the battle scene above except show the WHOLE battle scene instead of just that section.

And.... what about holographic 3D displays and games? Are they really that far away?

Edited by - Indy11 on 9/8/2004 6:13:39 PM

To me, an next gen game only needs good playability, story line and decent animation. It does not have to look life like with the charactors. Final fantasy VII was much more fun than FF VIII. But the graphics were better in VIII. I wouldn't want one that required a gig of ram and a gig of vid ram to run. Not needed.

Edited by - Finalday on 9/9/2004 9:24:29 AM