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"As consoles/Pc's get faster, what does it mean for games?"

In the last century, we have gone from a computer filling a whole room, using hydraulics and manual input, to Pc's that can fit in your pocket. But not only size has improved. From the basic processor, to the new 1.7 'gigahertz' intel chips, PC have continued to get faster and faster. Predictions that computers will double in speed every 18 months have been put to shame, as computers improve ten-fold every month or two. But we take a look on the back of the newest games, and how much of the processing power created by these new super computers do they need?

It is a known fact that the gaming industry is not capable of keeping u with the constantly evolving world of personal computers.

But are we getting into an age where people expect things to improve so quickly? I'm sure that computing giants like intel are more than happy to replace everybodies processor every two months. But will the gamng industry soon be expected to perform in the same way?

As Intel announce that a 10ghz chip will be available next year, our favourite PC games still need only 333mhz.
But will the public begin to see such games as outdated? As the consumer buys a faster processor, will he/she soon EXPECT games to come out which fully utilise the power?

If this is the case, and the game software companies come under fire from a public wanting bigger and better games, will they be able to keep up.

Will we become a society of power hungry zombies, who want games pushed to the edge?

And will the games be able to provide? we all know how long it takes to make a game, and we know that they do not normally utilise the latest technology. So if a company is expected to be able to, will they begin to make games with excellent graphics?

I think that people like westwood Studios and Microsoft will be able to improve graphics with each new processor. But what will this mean for the other aspects of the game? Will developers be so focused on the graphical side that storylines and plots are lost in the process?

If people begin to buy games ONLY for their graphics, and how much they test a PCs power, will the games of todays generation be lost forever? Games with great plots like MGS may be replaced by games using 512MB of video RAM to create super-realistic graphics with no plot?

I for one hope the day where Games need to be as good as processors never comes, but it is a distinct possibility for the near future.

I leave you with many unanswered questions, and only the fruit of the future shall bear the answers.

I think you may not be understanding the shift in processing games which companies such as Nvidia have initiated. It is now less important for processors to get faster but more efficient, causing less errors. Having longer pipelines at higher clock rates will not increase the processors performance over the current batch (i.e. benchmarked current Athlon processors are still faster than P4s at playing unreal tournament benchmark!!) But the arcitechture will allow the clock speeds to increase, but the processor will still be very inefficient.

So, the moral of the story, your car can go as fast as the engine will take it, but it wont go any further if the petrol line blocks!!!

In the last century, we have gone from a computer filling a whole room, using hydraulics and manual input, to Pc's that can fit in your pocket. But not only size has improved. From the basic processor, to the new 1.7 'gigahertz' intel chips, PC have continued to get faster and faster. Predictions that computers will double in speed every 18 months have been put to shame, as computers improve ten-fold every month or two. But we take a look on the back of the newest games, and how much of the processing power created by these new super computers do they need?

It is a known fact that the gaming industry is not capable of keeping u with the constantly evolving world of personal computers.

But are we getting into an age where people expect things to improve so quickly? I'm sure that computing giants like intel are more than happy to replace everybodies processor every two months. But will the gamng industry soon be expected to perform in the same way?

As Intel announce that a 10ghz chip will be available next year, our favourite PC games still need only 333mhz.
But will the public begin to see such games as outdated? As the consumer buys a faster processor, will he/she soon EXPECT games to come out which fully utilise the power?

If this is the case, and the game software companies come under fire from a public wanting bigger and better games, will they be able to keep up.

Will we become a society of power hungry zombies, who want games pushed to the edge?

And will the games be able to provide? we all know how long it takes to make a game, and we know that they do not normally utilise the latest technology. So if a company is expected to be able to, will they begin to make games with excellent graphics?

I think that people like westwood Studios and Microsoft will be able to improve graphics with each new processor. But what will this mean for the other aspects of the game? Will developers be so focused on the graphical side that storylines and plots are lost in the process?

If people begin to buy games ONLY for their graphics, and how much they test a PCs power, will the games of todays generation be lost forever? Games with great plots like MGS may be replaced by games using 512MB of video RAM to create super-realistic graphics with no plot?

I for one hope the day where Games need to be as good as processors never comes, but it is a distinct possibility for the near future.

I leave you with many unanswered questions, and only the fruit of the future shall bear the answers.