What if Game Graphics Never Aged?

An anonymous reader writes "If you've heard of Procedural Synthesis, you already think it's amazing. It's been used to create some extraordinary visuals in tiny packages, like .kkrieger, which is less than 96 Kilobytes big but still has graphics that look like like a modern PC title. Beyond that, there's even more that Procedural Synthesis might be able to do; what if your old video games never aged, never looked out-of-date? Imagine putting Halo 2 into your Xbox 360 only to have it automatically upgraded to look like Halo 3 in graphical quality. This article examines the unexpected way that Procedural Synthesis might impact gaming in the generation after the Xbox 360, PS3, and Nintendo Wii."

Comments

Duke Nukem Forever

[OctoberSky]

Screw Halo 2 in your XBOX 360, I want to put Duke Nukem in my 360 and have it play with Duke Nukem Forever graphics.

Call it

[Marko DeBeeste]

The portrait of Dorian Duke Nuke'm

Don't they already ?

[aix tom]

Nethack still looks as fresh and crisp as it did 20 years ago.

Re:Disposable Games Vs Design Patterns

[suggsjc]

Red dragons are bad...blue dragons are good.

C'mon, EVERYBODY know that one.

Re:Disposable Games Vs Design Patterns

[andrewman327]

"Red dragons are bad...blue dragons are good."

And green dragons mean you need to adjust your monitor.

Re:Disposable Games Vs Design Patterns

[Tim Browse]

Before you even started to program a complex FPS game, you might start by carefully separating the layers and keeping things like two dimensional surfaces rendered to be de-coupled from other things like the AI of the enemies.

This is ludicrous - cloud cuckoo land. My texture mapping code is intimately bound up in the AI of the enemies.

It's simply not possible to separate these two deeply entwined concepts.

Re:Disposable Games Vs Design Patterns

[Fred_A]

So what, we all played Flight Simulator with pen and paper. Well, paper anyway. No big deal.

Re:Disposable Games Vs Design Patterns

[Frazbin]

*Chromatic* dragons are bad, *metallic* dragons are good, isn't it? Or has my trusty Monster Manual decieved me?

Re:Disposable Games Vs Design Patterns

[TCM]

What the hell are you smokin'?

A magic dragon?

Re:Disposable Games Vs Design Patterns

[schon]

Nobody said anything about "automatically".

From the article summary:

Imagine putting Halo 2 into your Xbox 360 only to have it automatically upgraded to look like Halo 3 in graphical quality.

Congratulations - you've taken the /. standard of "not reading the article" to "not reading the summary".

OBPennyArcade

[schon]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/10/07

So you'd call that...

[AstynaxX]

...security through obesity?

Re:Disposable Games Vs Design Patterns

[wolenczak]

Procedural p0Rn, that's the way to go. hehe

Re:My graphics haven't aged...

[krunk4ever]

but what if you merged duck hunt with Street Fighter?

http://www.thatvideosite.com/view/2855.html

Re:Fear of aging...

[mattmacf]

I think it is quite charming to dust off my old video games, and play them like "the good old days"

s/video games/ex-girlfriends

; )