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"The Achievements In The Last 20 Years"

All of this petty console wars is around and we continue to argue about which console is going to win out of the X-Box, GameCube and PS2. But cast your mind back to the 80ís and think then how stupid this argument would sound, arguing about something, which just wasnít possible or thinkable.

It just shows how far weíve come in the last 20 years and how much further we will be going. Think how far weíve come in technological wise, since the beginning of the 20th century there has been no turning back. We have been supplied with new devices that make life far easier or much more entertaining. Ranging from the things we take for granted nowadays to the highly expensive and complex weíve got it all, faxes, telephones, e-mails, aeroplanes, fast travelling trains, luxury cars, computers, consoles, internet, microwaves, gas heaters and so much more that has decreased the amount of time needed to achieve something.

And now this has all taken on in the console world and now we now expect more. We would no longer buy a game with its graphics look like a pair of incompetent fools made the game without any knowledge of what they were doing. But if we saw that the game had some jaw dropping graphics then the image of a great game flashes to mind. Now Iím not saying that Graphics is the most important thing to look for when purchasing a game, but it does help more then anything.

When you look through you magazines you canít test a game out, you canít even look at whatís not printed there, so with the help of the press all you need to do is give it some inspiring graphics and then youíve grabbed their attention and youíre on your way to making a hell of a game, right? Well not entirely, the details given to you will make you more excited about what your about to spend all of your hard earned cash on.

You love shootíem ups and you see the list of the weapons and gore factory, you love RPGís and you see the possible spells and the amazing graphics it has to offer, you look at football games and take note of the graphics, teams and options that the game offers. But most of will involve something to do with graphics, and that is something that you could only have dreamed about only a matter of 6 years ago.

Back before the playstation, you never looked at these games and took note of graphics, you would hardly have cared what shape or style the graphics came in, so why are we so bothered now? Itís the rise in possibilities I suppose, if you asked someone to take you to London from Newcastle 500 years ago to pass on a message then that would have cost you a hell of a lot of money and would have taken you 7-9 days. Now we can send e-mails that can reach someone on the other side of the world in 2 seconds.

The gaming industry has sky rocketed since weíve been able to do greater things, now even the computer giants Microsoft want a piece of the action and they seem to know that theyíre doing. All looks hopeful and the gaming industry is going nowhere, just try imagine what youíll be playing on in as little as 5 years time. As back in 1990 if showed them pictures of Gran Tusimo then what would have been there impression, then if I showed someone back in 1995 a picture of MGS2 how would they have reacted to that? But if I showed someone from 2000 a picture of what would be available in 2005 will they be surprised about it?

I reckon that in 10 years games wont beven be like they are now.

Given that every year, processor power roughly doubles (on the PC anyway) and IBM have allegedly managed a 2000GHz processor (yes, two thousand GIG!!!!!) we will soon progress.

From what i have seen here in uni, i reckon that the next step is virtually reality environments (whether with helmets or some other means - doesnt matter). The worlds will start off with graphics like the NES etc - blocky and low detailed. People will still think its brilliant though and will be the next big thing. As preocessors get even faster we will start getting to the stage where we can build worlds such as we see now in games except we will walk around them - imagine a fully interactive game of something like GTA3 or GT3 or commandos 2!!!!

After that who knows? The matrix - pictures directly into the brain?

Many will say its not possible. But then, as has already been said, if you were handed a PS2 when you were playing manic minor etc on your spectrum, i dont think you would have believed that was possible either!!!

I leave you all to think about it!

You know, that's an interesting question there, Tom. What WILL the power of our future console be like? How far, graphically can they go? Well most of you would say "To real life graphics", but then I'd say: "Would you want real life graphics?". It's interesting, I can't imagine, at the moment, what graphics would be like if they were better than what they are now. Can you imagine GT3 being any better than it is now?

But I have no doubts about even further advancements in graphics, gameplay, sound, etc... We will always, in my opinion, improve upon ourselves, whether we want to, or not.

SHOCKY

Ant wrote:
> Well MJ, if MGS2 only uses 65% of the PS2's power then I expect we can see some
> sort of improvement graphically. :D

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Ah well, not my fault. I have been lied to.....I will now procede to go and cry in the corner.

MJ

The graphics in games may be improving but will the games still have the originality or the pull they once had?

I love playing games and with the fast pace that gaming has developed, I'll be a recluse in the next 5 years! :D

Fogmaster wrote:

The old question is: when will it stop? well it won't stop evolving, theres always room for improvment, new things to be made, there wil always be one person with a new idea to take things further.

There always has to be a limit as to have far we can go, things may get faster, I've no doubt we may never reach the full potential of that because really is there? But with graphics, can you get more real then life like? Think about watching the Matrix back in 1992 or watching Jurassic Park in 1980. They were fantastic for there time, but now they are nothing special.

one day games wont be able to get any better graphic/speed etc wise, that will be a good day, maybe then Developers will concentrate more on the gameplay side of things..

This is intresting, you obviously can't see too far into the future, especially not with games, if you think about it, technology has grown up mostly in the last 10 or so years, when pcs were made for peoples homes, the faster the hardware avaliable the faster the new stuff gets knocked out, so it's moving on faster and faster by the day.
so what can we expect to see on games to come? well as you said, if someone had shown us a recent game 5 years ago, we woul dhave been shocked, we've been brought into it slowly. Games look very real now, but theyu're slow and some games have obvious features that aren't real, but MGS2 looks pretty good, but it's still not real.
The old question is: when will it stop? well it won't stop evolving, theres always room for improvment, new things to be made, there wil always be one person with a new idea to take things further. I think the main thing to work on is speed and storage, graphics are important but i'd rather have loads of levels than realistic images and characters.

Well MJ, if MGS2 only uses 65% of the PS2's power then I expect we can see some sort of improvement graphically. :D

Hate to sound like a Bad Guy as I'm such a Nice Guy, but please stop using that damn annoying button 'Reply Quoting', it ruins the damn thread. We all know what you're on about and if you're gonna use it then do what MJ or I do and atleast make it presentable.

*Gets thrown bottles at and boo'd off*

Ant wrote:
> I agree, gaming has progressed a lot, very quickly.

I'd just like to point
> this out...people thought the graphics on GT3 were amazing, and on MGS2 too.
> However, the PSX didn't reach it's full potential for 5 years, so imagine PS2
> games in 5 years time.


MGS2 only utillises 65% of the PS2's power.