Future of video and computer gaming...

[Mandeville]

Let me guess ... yet another teenager who got his parents to shell out $3k+ on an obscure benchmark score and now trying to justify it?

Also, if anyone here is "ignorant" of the "amount of computing power in existence", it might be you. For example, you mentioned "supercomputers and graphics". I know of no supercomputer currently built to output graphics, though I know of certain plans to build supercomputers around GPUs instead of CPUs for specialized tasks. And don't BS us with such hyperbole as "far beyond anything you could imagine". I can imagine Supreme Commander at 60 hertz 1920x1200 with all the options on. I'm just more impressed by Starcraft and Warcraft.

I am like a nice teacher that lets kids watch videos.

http://www.moviesfoundonline.com/2057_city.php

Skip to 3 minutes if you want.

This is Earth in 2057. I think it will come sooner.

 

[bob bobato]

There's something about this whole question that I just realized. Since, in 10-20 years, VG's will be a lot more mainstream, and most people will play them, what will they be like? I mean, you have to admit that video and computer games today are generally aimed towards young males, what will all the bang bang bang and fighting, which 50 year olds probably won't like all that much. So what will they play, instead?

 

[DNK]

Cinema-quality CG is already capable of creating essentially photo-realistic graphics - take a look at even some "old" CG like Gollum or the various armies/battles in LOTR. It's all but photo-realistic.

What I mean is that graphics will so reach the point that to make meaningful advances in quality, you need exponential increases in GPU power (most of that cinema-quality CG, for example, currently takes hours to render a single frame). To be sure, increases still be made, but the nonstop orgy of eyecandy that the game industry has been in on since the GeForce 256 launched is going slow significantly

Well, I'd disagree with how realistic CGI is right now, but I agree that diminishing returns are an inevitability.

 

[Gelion]

If you want to be pessimistic you'd say that graphics and sound effects will continue to improve, while story/depth will continue to evaporate

I could not have said it better. The golden years of gaming were end of 80's beginning of 90's. Since those years it was all about quick gameplay, fancy graphics and pompous music. Eye candy in exchange for depth. Frankly I prefer the depth.

 

[Danielos]

I could not have said it better. The golden years of gaming were end of 80's beginning of 90's. Since those years it was all about quick gameplay, fancy graphics and pompous music. Eye candy in exchange for depth. Frankly I prefer the depth.

I don´t know about that. The old games of C64/Amiga/DOS-era had limited resources which affected the depth as well. If you only had a few MB to use, you could not make a huge game. Here are some modern games (after late 90s) with lots of depth:

* Civilization-series
* Hearts of Iron-series
* Europa Universalis-series
* Total War-series
* Sims-series
* Knights of Old republic-series
* Neverwinter Nights-series
* Elder Scrolls-series
* Sim City-series
* Galactic Civilizations-series
* Heroes of Might and Magic-series
* Worms Armageddon
* X-Wing Alliance
* Football Manager-series
* Roller Coaster Tycoon-series
* Rise of Nations
* Blitzkrieg
* Company of Heroes
* The Longest Journey
* Monkey Island-series (part 3-4)
* Grim Fandango
* Pirates
* Railroad Tycoon 3
* Il-2 Sturmovik
* Silent Hunter-series

Deep, immersive, huge games that are made in last 10 years... Better than most games made in late 80s/early 90s except Lemmings, Tie Fighter and Day of the Tentacle...

 

[Gelion]

A lot of them originate from the time period I said.... most are my favourites too!

 

[REDY]

Heh I see on your list more than 3 games which I should played on 486. I consider Total war, Neverwinter Nights and Elder scrolls overrated.

 

[Yeekim]

I don´t know about that. The old games of C64/Amiga/DOS-era had limited resources which affected the depth as well. If you only had a few MB to use, you could not make a huge game. Here are some modern games (after late 90s) with lots of depth:

* Civilization-series
* Hearts of Iron-series
* Europa Universalis-series
* Total War-series
* Sims-series
* Knights of Old republic-series
* Neverwinter Nights-series
* Elder Scrolls-series
* Sim City-series
* Galactic Civilizations-series
* Heroes of Might and Magic-series
* Worms Armageddon
* X-Wing Alliance
* Football Manager-series
* Roller Coaster Tycoon-series
* Rise of Nations
* Blitzkrieg
* Company of Heroes
* The Longest Journey
* Monkey Island-series (part 3-4)
* Grim Fandango
* Pirates
* Railroad Tycoon 3
* Il-2 Sturmovik
* Silent Hunter-series

Deep, immersive, huge games that are made in last 10 years... Better than most games made in late 80s/early 90s except Lemmings, Tie Fighter and Day of the Tentacle...

I would add Age of Empires to that list, although I have not played the last installment.
But Worms? Sure, it is funny as hell, but a game of depth?

 

[DNK]

* Civilization-series still good
* Total War-series still good
* Sims-series never was good
* Knights of Old republic-series deaded by LA
* Neverwinter Nights-series okay
* Sim City-series deaded and massacred by EA
* X-Wing Alliance not a series

From what I've played... I've seen a few great series get massacred by their creators (or new owners).

C&C = messed up by EA, too

 

[Mandeville]

From what I've played... I've seen a few great series get massacred by their creators (or new owners).

C&C = messed up by EA, too

You forgot Civ III.

 

[Harbringer]

Honestly even movie grade CG isnt anywhere near realistic, CPUs just cant come anywhere near rendering everything of reality, all the physics and dynamics of things, hell, they cant even realistically render a one centimeter wide square of skin with all of the details and such.

 

[Dachs]

C&C = messed up by EA, too

Eh, Generals wasn't all that bad, not as good as Red Alert 2 (which is one of the best RTSes), but certainly not on the scale of Tiberium Wars in terms of total mehness.

 

[REDY]

CC1 was somewhat war. CC2 was something like movie Independence day. Somebody should like it, but it was too childish for me. The idea of sims was good, but I cant find depth (however I respect opinion of femine teenagers). Neverwinter was for me great dissapointment after Planescape tornment and Baldurs Gate Not realy good figures, story and dialogues were trivial, your companion was badly interactive/nonexistent. Same should be said about Elder scrolls, which fighting and levelling system incredibly suck. I got morrowind and oblivion as present by my friend, who didnt want play it and I understand him now. OK, freedom in large world. Rise of Nations is somewhat syntesis of Civilization and Age of empires, I dont want say thats only copy but it wasnt realy for long gaming. Football manager concept is same as Championship manager, the main changes for every year were only databases, buying newer FM is like buying patches. (Ok i did it in first FM).

Only series which started after 98 and is admirable for me is Silent Hill series. Pro evolution soccer(winning eleven) also wasnt bad but which depth do you want in soccer simulation? And still is Swos more addictive.

 

[DNK]

Eh, Generals wasn't all that bad, not as good as Red Alert 2 (which is one of the best RTSes), but certainly not on the scale of Tiberium Wars in terms of total mehness.

The bugginess and crappy experience were what I was getting at. The game crashed nearly every game for me (on either computer), and I was hardly the only one with "serious error" problems. They could have fixed a lot of those problems by replacing the droids with something that didn't hog CPU resources... Just a lot of little things. Plus, the game was so prone to cheating and the multiplayer experience just blew. P2P generally does, but this was an all-time low for me. C&C used to be solid gaming when it was all Westwood. It turned into a half-finished rush-out with EA, "we'll patch it to playable", and they never did get around to that fully.

And the new one looks lame as hell. I'm not going to go into why since I'll probably insult a lot of people, but it's not my piece of cake, simply put.