Where are we gonna go next?

[VoicelessGerbil]

Many people see video games as cheap toys for children that kill brain cells and cause obesity. They are most likely unaware of the effort and put into game development: hours of overtime, 90hr weeks, nights without sleep. Game developers are passionate about their work because the love what they do. They love destroying the barriers between real life and simulation, bringing another world to life on a 3 inch cd. Game development has evolved because of the creativity of the people who strive to bring gamers another reality to exist in, the way authors write to enthrall their readers. What is it that makes video games become more than toys?
This topic is for the discussion of new directions the Video Game Industry is moving in. New technologies, philosophies, and the people who believe that crafting a video game requires as much attention and effort as a work of art.

I don't have time to finish. I was going to begin discussing emergent gameplay, if anyone wants to start feel free, otherwise i'll add to it tomorrow.

[Drumrush7]

Video Games may have their negative effects, but the one thing that truly benefits us with video games is hand-eye coordination. This coordination actually benefits gamers, as it develop the use of being able to drive a car easier, learning how to type through a keyboard without looking, and even becoming a better solider as it can improve accuracy. There is just something special about video games. It's like TV, but with more control and creativity. It's the one thing we have to help develop some important skills required for jobs. Thank you gaming developers for bringing us the dawn of video games. Play on gamers, play on!

[zachmagic73]

I was reading a lot lately about how 3D gaming is coming soon. Personally, I think that's fuckin stupid. I also feel like motion controllers are stupid. PS3 is coming out with one soon just to try to compete with the Wii. The Wii isn't popular because of the motion controllers, it's popular because it's the 'Family Friendly' system. I think the gaming industry is trying too hard to improve the hardware when they can be spending more time on improving the software. We've made a lot of progress over the past years regarding improved physics engines and AI to make games seem more real. Let's keep going in this direction before we start introducing 3D and Motion Controllers and shit like that that will probably only be gimmicky and rediculous.

[Drumrush7]

I think 3D gaming will be a huge failure. I not much a fan of 3D myself, but I do want to get Project Natal. It may seem stupid at first, but this time, it's different.

[BillzNoLongerHere]

3D gaming:
Project Natal. That thing is just creepy. Spend time grooming a young man. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...that's what we want gamers to be associated with.

As if it wasn't bad enough we're already seen as potential seriel killers, from people like Jack Thompson and various other 'experts' on gaming.

The Wii was a total let down. Nintendo fans got more screwed this generation than with the Gamecube, and we all know how well the Cube did.
I got my Wii for Brawl, and that was awesome. No More Heroes as well. Mario Kart Wii was 'ok' Then for over a year we got nothing but family friendly Mario Party-esque games that were made for the price of a tuppance and a toffee apple.
Recently things have picked up with New Super Mario Bros. Wii and promises of No More Heroes 2 and Mario Galaxy 2, but you have to wade through a lot of crap on the Wii to get to some decent games.

I guess I shouldn't complain too much though, if it wasn't for the stupid stick waggling family fun titles I may never have bothered investing in Xbox and would have missed out on playing Left 4 Dead, my current favourite game series.

[VoicelessGerbil]

I also feel like motion controllers are stupid. PS3 is coming out with one soon just to try to compete with the Wii. The Wii isn't popular because of the motion controllers, it's popular because it's the 'Family Friendly' system. I think the gaming industry is trying too hard to improve the hardware when they can be spending more time on improving the software. We've made a lot of progress over the past years regarding improved physics engines and AI to make games seem more real. Let's keep going in this direction before we start introducing 3D and Motion Controllers and shit like that that will probably only be gimmicky and rediculous.

True, but they have to start somewhere. Motion based controllers aren't going to be perfected for a long time from now. It's like how the eye started off incredibly simple and useless and evolved over time to what we have sitting inside of our heads right now.

[VoicelessGerbil]

...and even becoming a better solider as it can improve accuracy...

Holding a controller and holding a gun are two different positions, not to mention the factors of actually firing a gun (recoil, range, breathing, heart rate, etc...). I think it's complete bs that school shootings are blamed on video games. Supposedly the V-tech shooter "prepared" himself by playing Counterstrike. The two teens that shot up Columbine high school didn't act out because they played violent video games, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were social outcasts, they were treated inhumanely by their classmates and were already unstable. The media blamed Marilyn Manson for the massacre. He was asked what he would say to Eric and Dylan if he were given the chance: "I wouldn't say a single word to them. I would listen to what they have to say, and that's what no one did."

anyway, moving on. video games do indeed improve hand-eye coordination. they also improve reflexes and timing (FPS), quick thinking skills (puzzle), and strategy [strategy(duh) and RPGs].

[VoicelessGerbil]

I think 3D gaming will be a huge failure. I not much a fan of 3D myself, but I do want to get Project Natal. It may seem stupid at first, but this time, it's different.

There are televisions that can project a 3 dimensional image without glasses or other equipment. downside is the 20,000+ price tag

[VoicelessGerbil]

Back to where i started off: emergent gameplay refers to "complex situations in video games, board games or table top role playing games that emerge from the interaction of relatively simple game mechanics." (wikipedia)
Emergent gameplay (EG) comes about in two ways: intentional and unintentional.

Intentional:
when the developers create simple rules for players to follow and encourage players to find more creative solutions. Dungeons & Dragons and other table top rpgs rely on the game world being created by the player, instead of supplied by the creator. A good dungeon master will do more than make the rules and send monsters to be killed and loot to be collected. He or she will create a mosaic and let the players put the pieces together and create their own story to be a part of.

Unintentional: players complete objectives in ways the developers did not expect.
Any game that offers freedom has the potential for emergence. sandbox games usually have the player crafting the story, as opposed to the story crafting the player. A game like Mass Effect has alot of freedom in character devlopment but in the end you are still Shephard. The opposite would be a game like Morrowind; heavy on customization, choice, and alot of exploits. What makes it sandbox is that the narrative is completely optional. Narrative based games give players almost no control over the game. From what i've seen, Mass Effect is a very open, nonlinear game but is still scripted; you start from point A and depending on how you play, you get outcomes B, C, D or E. Playing Morrowind the first time, I was intimidated. It was daunting. Not the amount of choice available, but the fact that once you leave the tutorial, there is no instruction other than "head in that direction and talk to that guy". Basically, how you played the game made the story your own. Imagine this: a hundred people are at the top of a steep hill, and one by one they all roll down. Each person tumbles differently, at different speeds, different directions, they bruise differently, break different bones, bleed in different places. In the end those hundred people all took the same journey and each one of them had their own unique outcome. That was a terrible metaphor but it was the best i could come up with


Good place to look for more info/opinions: http://www.cesspit.net/drupal/node/1099

[VoicelessGerbil]

MegaTexturing: Using a single giant texture for texturing the whole terrain, instead of the usual tiling system used by most games. this gives game artists a 32,768x32,768 image to map to the terrain and paint over.
Sounds kinda ridiculous, but get this; the files are kept on an external drive or stored in the hard drive and accessed when the game needs to stream the textures. this method allows large game areas (eg. oblivion, fallout)* to be uniquely textured with relatively little RAM usage. I'm not sure how texturing affects framerate or overall performance, but it's bound to improve something. Or maybe more RAM would allow other implements of the game to be improved, like physics or animation.
*as far as i know, the examples provided do NOT use megatextures, i picked them because they have very large terrains that make it easy to imagine the cases where megatexturing would be used.
------Real examples: Rage(Coming Soon), Quake Wars, Doom 3------