Sta.sh
My thoughts on virtual reality.
Before I begin, these are only my thoughts and I will admit my opinions aren't completly researched facts, do feel free to correct me but do it politely please.
I have a theory that in the future, video game consoles will die out. Why? You may ask.Well once the graphics in video games max out becoming like real life, what more can you do with consoles? True there's more to a video game console than graphics, but they can still cause the death of the consoles. Don't get me started on Nintendo, will will they do with their cartoon graphics while Sony and Microsoft become more realistic? Think you could take Mario looking like a real life person and the goombas looking like real life monsters? Think about that. The scary thing is, a problem like this may not be far away maybe even less than a decade. There has even been articles on the internet that there will be no Playstation 4 or Xbox 720, due to hardware limitations and costs used to produce the games, but I don't take them to be true. But I digress........
People have suggested that virtual reality will soon be the way of video games, that they will actually program you to be in the ACTUAL GAME, but that makes me think, how will that work? Would it really work the same way it's shown in movies, television, cartoons, etc.
For starters 3d helmets would most likely hurt your eyes and make you go blind. Having your eyes way too close to a screen in a helmet would most likely seriously hurt your eyes. Stiff sore necks from carrying the helmet would not help neither. Nintendo's failed console Virtual Boy has done this, but I think this would happen on much better designed virtual reality helmets as well.
Also, it wouldn't real the same from being in the real world. Because you would still feel the temperature from the outside world. Wouldn't it feel odd to see a freezing cold world like Iceland in a helmet, but still feel boiling hot from the summer day from the outside world?
The big major problem with virtual reality games would most likely be the controls, how would you be able to move around? If you were playing some kind of 3d mario game, you would most likely be constantly crashing into walls and bumping into people, by the time you'd finished the game, you'd most likely be seriously injured. And while you'd be jumping on turtles in the game, in reality you might just end up jumping on your baby brother. There'd probably be worse injuries than the Wii's motion control.
So that's my thoughts on how virtual reality in gaming may never exist. But in response to my first paragraph, While video game consoles may die out they at least won't die out completey. Maybe they'll be no true winner to the console war. maybe the Playstation 3, the Xbox 360 and the upcoming Wii U, (or possibly PS4, Xbox 720 or Wii U) may be the very last consoles you may own. Regardless the seventh or eighth generation of consoles may become the last. But they will never die out completly, it's up to the developers to make truly great games that we enjoy, and not rely on the successor to determine what's going to happen in the future.
That's about it. If there's anything you disagree with, please correct me politely. Flames will be blocked.
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1. Are the consoles dead?
The next batch of consoles will probably be the last. This is not because the companies will die but will be because people will begin getting gigabit Internet connections. Once people have gigabit Internet you will have game streaming through online services such as onlive or gaikai (which Sony bought in preperation for the future) as the default method for traditional console-like gaming.
2. Will life-like rendering kill off gaming?
I think the opposite will be true. The more real the virtual world appears the more time you will want to spend in it because unlike reality you can do or be whatever you want such as fly as a bird or quest as a wizard. This is obviously subjective.
3. Will VR be like the real world?
No, we are a long ways off from complete immersion. Primarily sight and sound will be the main senses we can fool which is enough to make you "feel" like your in another world. For example people that use the oculus rift instinctively will get nervous when on a virtual ledge and will duck when a monster flies at their head. A while ago there was a weird product called iSmell which funny enough would replicate smells at your computer. VR popularity may eventually cause this product to come back. There are also haptic products you can wear which will simulate touch to a certain degree so if you get hit in the chest for example you will feel the thump on your chest in real life (not enough to hurt). The book Ready Player One actually does a good job describing close to what VR may be like in 10 years.
4. How will you control your avatar in VR?
Look up a product called the Razer Hydra. It is basically like a PS3 controller split in half and one piece held in each hand. Each controller has 4 buttons, a trigger, a bumper button above the trigger, a special start/select button, and an analog joystick that can be pressed down. The controllers are also highly motion and position accurate, basically a much cooler pair of wiimotes with 10x the accuracy. During my testing the best combination of control Ihave found is to sit down when playing and use the left-hand analog stick to move my feet just like fps console games today. It's a pretty comfortable experience, I can move around a virtual space just like a game such as sky rim today only it's much cooler because I can turn my head and look wherever I want and point at things with my right hand and see my virtual hand move as if it were real. Sword fighting with shield and interacting with other people in virtual spaces feels 100x more real than games today.
Just thought I'd share with a fellow VR follower.