What is the Future for Video Games? aka ‘Are we Doomed?’

September 12th, 2008 by Eoco

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It’s interesting to try and predict what will happen in the future, but technology is unpredictable so it’s always been hard. With genres becoming saturated and stagnant, innovation is becoming harder and harder. So what will gaming be like in the future? Hit the ‘read more’ button to find out.

Well, it’s any-one’s guess really, and it’s almost impossible to try and predict what will happen because it’s that kind of industry, but hey, I’ll try my best. In order to look ahead, I think we need to first look back and see how the games industry has advanced in the last decade or two.

My first observation, is that video games have become far more complicated. Back in the day of the NES, you essentially had three main buttons (A, B and D-pad). Games were simple then. Take the original Super Mario Bros. as an example. You moved left and right with the D-pad, ran with the B button and jumped with the A button. Simplicity at it’s finest. But nowadays, tings are quite different. Take Call of Duty 4 for example: you have a button to move, a button to rotate the camera, a button for night-vision, a button to equip a grenade launcher, a button to change weapon, a button to fire, OK, you get the picture. This growing complexity in controllers, is demanded by more advanced games. So if video games get continuously more complicated, what will it be like in the future? Will we have a controller with 50 buttons?

I, personally don’t believe we will have such complications because, although games have become more complicated, the ways we play them are being simplified. Let me explain. Games have had an increasing amount of content,stuff to do and things to interact with, and I believe that that will continue to increase. It’s how we carry out these actions that are beginning to be simplified. The Wii is a great example of this. Take Wii Sports Tennis: even though the general game has been simplified a little, the control system is far easier to use and is more natural than a tennis game with a normal controller. You swing the Wii remote in the direction you want your mii on screen to swing his or her racket. Simple. A tennis game with a controller however, requires you to press one of maybe two or more buttons (depending on type of shot), sometimes you have to hold for a power shot or something, and point the analogue stick in the direction you want to hit. That doesn’t really feel natural compared to the Wii sports control scheme and is over-complicated. The same applies to the PS3 and potentially with the Xbox 360’s rumoured new motion sensing controller: Microsoft Newton. So I think that different input methods such as motion sensing are the way forwards. While recently controllers have become more and more complex, they will now start (and have started) to become simpler and simpler. Here’s why:

While over the past 10 years controller complexity has increased, console manufacturers can surely only go so far before an impracticality barrier is reached. You can’t just keep adding more and more buttons to a controller because it will eventually become impossible to play with. Therefore developers will have to find new ways to play games - like motion sensing, or the coveted ‘virtual reality’. However, eventually this simplified control system will begin to over-complicate, with convoluted gestures or techniques required to play a game. Then the cycle will start again (click on image if text not clear):

Another major influence on the future of games will be genres. They have been done, and re-done and re-done to death. Another FPS with new bullet-time, big deal. Another FPS with a new online system, another FPS with improved AI etc. Sure, the developers can continue to add new features to old ideas, but in the end will it really move the industry? I believe they are just polishing the genres and eventually, it will get to a point when that genre can be polished no more. When was the last time that an original genre was “invented”? Years and years and years ago. Obviously thinking up a new genre that would be fun, is harder than a slab of metal and it would be a developer’s dream to do so. But I believe with the advancements of motion-sensing and whatever comes after, there are opportunities for more genres. But again, the clones would roll in and it would be polished to death with hundreds of games and no longer feel special. Another cycle.

However, we’ve been playing platform games since Donkey Kong in 1981. That’s 27 years, and there are still platform games being released that are making money like Mario galaxy and Ratchet and Clank Future. The same applies for racing games, shooters etc. The reason that these genres are still fun, is due to new technology. If we stuck with the same technology as we have now, then, yes, the genres would become boring and perfected. However if in 10 years time we had virtual reality, then the platformer would seem fresh. Any other innovations that give us new ways to make and play games will also prevent genre stagnation. The original Mario platformers had very simple graphics, but Mario Galaxy has very advanced graphics that change gameplay. It’s hard to imagine how graphics could get much better now that games are near photo realistic, but something new will come along. And if it’s not improved graphics, it will be something else.

In conclusion, I believe that we are not doomed. However, to prevent genres becoming polished to perfection, manufacturers need to know when to call it quits on a current gen console, then release something new and innovative. This will give us new ways to play games, before the genres become completely stagnant. Controller wise, we’ll go through a cycle of simple and complicated controller mechanisms, that will continue to innovate. If you’ve got any ideas, then just drop them in the comment box.

By Avenhawk and Eoco

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