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Extrapolating the Near Future of Gaming

Posted by Soulskill on from the no-duke-nukem-forever-jokes dept.

Sci-fi author Charlie Stross gave a keynote address at the recent LOGIN 2009 conference about what we can reasonably expect from games and game-related technology over the next 10 to 20 years. He takes a realistic look at the limitations we'll face with regard to processing power and bandwidth, and goes on to talk about how augmented reality software and aging gamers will affect future titles. Quoting: "But the sixty-something gamers of 2020 are not the same as the sixty-somethings you know today. They're you, only twenty years older. By then, you'll have a forty year history of gaming; you won't take kindly to being patronised, or given in-game tasks calibrated for today's sixty-somethings. The codgergamers of 2030 will be comfortable with the narrative flow of games. They're much more likely to be bored by trite plotting and cliched dialog than todays gamers. They're going to need less twitchy user interfaces — ones compatible with aging reflexes and presbyopic eyes — but better plot, character, and narrative development. And they're going to be playing on these exotic gizmos descended from the iPhone and its clones: gadgets that don't so much provide access to the internet as smear the internet all over the meatspace world around their owners."

10 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. Still there will be something in common by sanborn's+man · · Score: 5, Funny

    we will be still waiting for DNF!

    1. Re:Still there will be something in common by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Oh please. By this time, Duke Nukem will have become fully self-aware and taken over. Allowed activities will consist solely of ass kicking and chewing non-existent bubblegum.

      This, my friend, is the future.

    2. Re:Still there will be something in common by Hognoxious · · Score: 3, Funny

      Allowed activities will consist solely of ass kicking and chewing non-existent bubblegum.

      These restrictions will even apply to Chuck Norris.

      But only because he wants them to.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  2. Business Plan for the over-60 game developer by drmofe · · Score: 5, Funny

    1. Develop radical new gameplay idea.

    2. Get off my damn lawn!

    3. Profit.

    1. Re:Business Plan for the over-60 game developer by Razalhague · · Score: 4, Funny

      2. Get off my damn lawn!

      So, that's what "???" means.

    2. Re:Business Plan for the over-60 game developer by RabidMoose · · Score: 3, Funny

      At age 20, you play "Paperboy".

      At age 60, you play "Shoot the damn paperboy for riding his bicycle on your lawn and breaking your window every morning."

  3. Ewwwww by Dachannien · · Score: 3, Funny

    Have you seen what's out there on the Internet? I'm not sure I want that stuff smeared all over my meatspace.

  4. no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I refuse to believe my amazing Counter-Strike skills will diminish over time.

    Because when I'm 60, I'll be fragging 16 year olds in the newest Counter-Strike iteration, and be able to retort to any flame with "Boy, I was playing this game when your daddy was in diapers".

  5. Re:I will only be a 50 year old gamer by sa1lnr · · Score: 5, Funny

    "while I enjoy mid-life"

    Crysis?

  6. Re:I will only be a 50 year old gamer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    It's time for your half-life to have
    FULL LIFE CONSEQUENCES