What are YOUR ideas on the trends of video gaming?

Question

I am wondering what people foresee as upcoming trends in the video gaming industry, both short term (1-2 years), and longer term (5 years or so). For example, what will gamers be demanding of their games?

Answer 1

Concerning Consoles:

One year ago I predicted that the Wii would be a huge hit. I told my father to buy Nintendo stock, he did, and it has almost tripled in value. Examining the industry now, the PS3 (after a tough 2007) is in for a big comeback in 2008 and 2009. With built in Blu-ray, wifi, blue tooth, and free internet gaming it is only a matter of time before consumers realize how good a deal it really is and start buying on a large scale. The Wii will continue to be a large hit because of gimmicky peripherals like Wii-fit. (I have a wii and enjoy it) The 360 is going to start slowing down, ever so slightly. It's lineup for 08 is NOWHERE near its almost perfect lineup of 07, and because PS3 has an amazing 08 lineup 360 sales will suffer.

Conerning games:

Games will, as they ALWAYS do, improve. The textures will be sharper, the physics more accurate, and the draw distance will essentially double by 2011. Again, without bias, the PS3 will begin to shine because 1) Programmers will finally tame the beast its processor is, and 2) having a standard hard drive and blu-ray will alow for much bigger, more detailed games. 22 gig games like Uncharted: Drake's fortune, will become normal.

By late 2009 high end and dedicated gamers (pc or console) will demand multiplayer everything. Look at the shooters of 2008. Haze and Borderlands, for example, both offer instant 4 player campaign coop online. You can just drop in and drop out, whenever you want. The amount of single player only campains will drop in favor of multiplayer. Campaigns will always be there, but why not play them with your buddies?

Online functionality will become essentially a must have if, as a publisher, you really want your game to sell a million copies. There will always be a few exceptions to this, but even now online enabled games sell way better overall.

Summary: The PS3 is finally going to find its stride and will ultimately do very well, eventually replacing the 360 as the system of choice for the dedicated gamer. The Wii will continue to appeal to casual gamers. The 360's shining star will begin to shimmer less brightly, but still be present. Online is EVERYTHING.

Answer 2

I think that gamers will be demanding more innovation in future games.

What I would like to see in a games both long term and short term is a game that can have 5 or 6 different endings, and each time you play throught the game the enemies act and react differently.

It's like when you play a game and you die you already know where the enemies are located behind a certain corner and you already know what to expect. I want to see games that make the player experience the unexpected all the time and nothing can be predicted.

Answer 3

No. i think of, mutually as gameplay mechanics tend to stay to what's tried and genuine, that storytelling has superior immensely. Take Mass consequence 2, as an occasion--an exquisite and properly-instructed tale, as properly as having reliable gameplay. this is greater uncomplicated for businesses to pump out "clone" video games, yet there are those that are particularly resourceful and relaxing.