D
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For generations now each new system released has strived for better graphics, with the SNES offering an improvement over what was once available for the NES. This logic has continued throughout the system releases up until this point. With each new generation tends to comes either a new genre that wasn’t previously possible, or a new game that monopolises the market (like Call of Duty did during the PS360 era).
During the last generation, we saw new control methods come out with some great and some limited successes - Wii sales Vs Wii games sales, or the initial hardware success of the Kinect. None of these innovations appears to have changed the gaming landscape in any kind of significant and lasting way; sales of the WiiU have been very poor, the Kinect 2 being considered by some as a failure (the less said about PS Move, the better).
We’ve currently got the promise of Oculus Rift / Project Morpheus / Virtual Reality as being considered The Next Big Thing, but it’s entirely possible that it’ll be another failure in the same way that the last generation’s new control schemes were (a lasting failure at the very least). Especially considering both the potential VR hardware requirements of “presence” (90+fps / talk of 4k screens) and also the hardware that’d need run at that resolution and framerate. Then we have problems where optimal play is considered on games with a cockpit view, or that our own movement doesn’t really translate to the view we’re getting in the game; i.e., I just scratched my nose, whereas my avatar continued holding the steering wheel. All of which further breaks that immersion. Even the original Virtuality hardware had a device that moved where your hand moved. Yes, I know that Project Morpheus and Oculus have some potential answers to this problem.
Some of the generational changes that came in previously included significant ways in which a game is viewed, which led to whole new game types being released (like the 3D hardware of the original Playstation and the N64). Now we’re facing some degree of stagnation, since for the past three to four generations have only really had increased fidelity of what came before. Doom has essentially been replicated over-and-over-again. At what point are we going to have enough of the same game being released? Admittedly, there’s no great sign of it happening soon, since sequels still garner the greatest sales.
We’re getting diminished returns with the latest and greatest graphics cards and consoles, even though the apparent specs and ability are increased by several degrees of magnitude with each iteration. We have some minor differences from the current pair of consoles, with some even suggesting that lower framerates / resolutions can be beneficial. If this is in any way true, then might we be near a plateau where graphics / framerate / resolution is considered largely adequate by most? The maximum we can expect is games looking real, but I’m not sure that those games would actually introduce any new genres or any games deemed significantly different enough. Maybe they might add further elements of emotion, then photorealism doesn’t necessarily bring more emotion (see Disney/Pixar films as an example).
Then we have mobile phones which are only really treading over old ground, with lower power requirements.
Where can we really go from here and when will the market stagnate due to incremental improvements?
During the last generation, we saw new control methods come out with some great and some limited successes - Wii sales Vs Wii games sales, or the initial hardware success of the Kinect. None of these innovations appears to have changed the gaming landscape in any kind of significant and lasting way; sales of the WiiU have been very poor, the Kinect 2 being considered by some as a failure (the less said about PS Move, the better).
We’ve currently got the promise of Oculus Rift / Project Morpheus / Virtual Reality as being considered The Next Big Thing, but it’s entirely possible that it’ll be another failure in the same way that the last generation’s new control schemes were (a lasting failure at the very least). Especially considering both the potential VR hardware requirements of “presence” (90+fps / talk of 4k screens) and also the hardware that’d need run at that resolution and framerate. Then we have problems where optimal play is considered on games with a cockpit view, or that our own movement doesn’t really translate to the view we’re getting in the game; i.e., I just scratched my nose, whereas my avatar continued holding the steering wheel. All of which further breaks that immersion. Even the original Virtuality hardware had a device that moved where your hand moved. Yes, I know that Project Morpheus and Oculus have some potential answers to this problem.
Some of the generational changes that came in previously included significant ways in which a game is viewed, which led to whole new game types being released (like the 3D hardware of the original Playstation and the N64). Now we’re facing some degree of stagnation, since for the past three to four generations have only really had increased fidelity of what came before. Doom has essentially been replicated over-and-over-again. At what point are we going to have enough of the same game being released? Admittedly, there’s no great sign of it happening soon, since sequels still garner the greatest sales.
We’re getting diminished returns with the latest and greatest graphics cards and consoles, even though the apparent specs and ability are increased by several degrees of magnitude with each iteration. We have some minor differences from the current pair of consoles, with some even suggesting that lower framerates / resolutions can be beneficial. If this is in any way true, then might we be near a plateau where graphics / framerate / resolution is considered largely adequate by most? The maximum we can expect is games looking real, but I’m not sure that those games would actually introduce any new genres or any games deemed significantly different enough. Maybe they might add further elements of emotion, then photorealism doesn’t necessarily bring more emotion (see Disney/Pixar films as an example).
Then we have mobile phones which are only really treading over old ground, with lower power requirements.
Where can we really go from here and when will the market stagnate due to incremental improvements?