The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
There are various things that I think we will be seeing soon in the console gaming industry. First up is game patches.
The PC gamers and the hardcore gamers among you will know exactly what a patch is in terms of a game. For those who have no idea I will try explain it for you as best I can. A patch is a small piece of software which is released after the game it is intended for is released, the patch is used alongside the game to correct any bugs in the game and improve it slightly.
Now there are a lot of views on this subject, some good, some bad so let’s run through some.
So what are the bad points of patches for games?
Well the biggest problem seems to be that they have to release patches at all, why can’t the game be ready and complete I.E bug free when it is released? Also to get hold of the patch usually requires internet connection (which not everybody has) to download it to your computer and add it to the appropriate folder. Another bad point seems to be the fact that you have to go to the hassle of spending time obtaining the patch and downloading it (sometimes they can be large files). There are also a few games that need patches as the amount of problems are so high. Some developers may release a game they know to be incomplete just so they can get public feedback to things that could be made better which they make better with the use of a patch. If a patch isn’t official (a lot of them aren’t) then there could be viruses contained in them which could damage your system, so you could be at risk using them.
So are there any good points?
Well once you have the patch in use the game should have improved and have less bugs in it. Also the patch is usually free so you aren’t paying for it. Also with some patches you are also given little extras like extra levels, characters or cheats which a lot of people like. The fact is that no game can ever be perfect when it is released, to be able to go through every individual line of code and check it would take a long long time. Patches allow developers to make the changes that would have been made if they had been found before the release.
With every 1000 lines of programming code, the number of errors will be around 10, these take between 2 and 9 hours to fix. This means for a whole game it could take a very long time to completely rid it of bugs and faults. (Remember windows 2000 has 30 million lines of code, it was released still with a lot of unfixed errors)
But in the future it may not only be the PC and desktop computers that allow patches for games. It is possible that in the future games may no longer be disk based, instead the user would pay and download the game they wish straight from the net, meaning a possibility of patches being used with our console games. So is this good or bad for the console gamers?
Well the good and bad points are similar to before with a few extras. There seem to be a lot of console gamers who don’t like the idea of patches being used, if it needs a patch then the developer shouldn’t have been allowed to release it in the first place. If people don’t like the idea they may well stop buying games from that developer which may make them think twice about doing it again.
But as I write this I can also see why patches could be needed. I don’t like the idea of the game being “incomplete” in the first place but when I think on how hard it must be to make a game and make it as bug free as can be. Today’s technology is very advanced, there is a very high demand on the programmers (not just game programmers but any in the computer industry). Every piece of software will have bugs in it, I don’t think you will find a totally complete piece of software or it would be very rare if you did.
I think we will see patches being used when the on-line gaming takes off, not big ones like the PC games market which always get slated for games requiring patches to make them playable, surely anything which makes a good game better is worthwhile is a good thing, as long as they are free of course.
Downloadable games
There is a lot of potential in the whole idea of on-line gaming and consoles with on-line abilities, one thing I think we may see appear from all this is the idea of downloadable games, maybe games that are exclusive only to people who downlaod it at a small cost, it could be a large multiplayer which allows many people to log on and play.
I think it is likely that things like this will start off with patches, then demos, game updates and then full games.
Obviously for such things on-line gaming has to be common for most gamers and technology would have to be at a high standard to allow fast transfer of data and consoles would have to be able to store a large amount of data. All this means that maybe we wont see this with the consoles available at the moment but what about the consoles that appear after these?
I think downloadable games have a number of advantages, Games could be cheaper as there is no need for the disks, packaging and the profit the shop which sells it usually puts on the price of the game. Games will be much easier to obtain as you just downlaod them and there is no restrictions placed on the size a game can be just to fit it onto a disk.
But there are also disadvantages which could outweigh the advantages and show that maybe going all the way as far as full game downlaods isn't the way forward yet.
If your hard disk gets damaged in any way you stand to lose all the games you have downloaded, there is no way to swap games with friends. Paying for games could be hard if you don't own a credit card and with downlaoding from a network of any kind there is always a danger from viruses, bugs and other malicious programs.
Special peripherals
I think that a lot of new peripherals will be available soon, such things like digital cameras, motion sensors, microphones could be common to making the industry much more fun for us. It is likely that a lot of new things will apear some will be beneficial and some will only appeal to a small market of gamers.
Such additions like a microphone or motion sensor to a console could allow extra features to be used in games.
The first idea is the idea of voice recognition and using your voice as part of an input along with the controller or another peripheral device. It may even be able to just use your voice as an input in some games. This could be a good addition to some games but not all, it would give the gamer the ability to play the game and at the same time use their voice to control other parts of the game. So if you were a leader in an army say, then you could control your soldier and at the same time command other units with your voice to either move in and attack or retreat and defend. I think this is an idea that does have potential but also has to be used in a good way and be useful to the game. There are also a few problems I can see with this.
First problem is getting software that can analyse the gamers voice, a microphone could be used to input the users voice but as of yet there isn't really any software that can fully understand a human voice, some can break it down and output it to screen or use only certain inputs to control the game but ignore others. It is the latter of these that will probably be used initially until something better comes along. Also what about accents, not everyone speaks with a true and understandable English accent, in fact very little do, so such a peripheral or addition would need to be able to cope with different accents such as Scottish, Liverpudlian, Geordie etc.
This is an idea that could work well in my view but only if it is used right. It does have to potential, whether any developer is brave enough to build on the basic ideas being used today then it could be quite some time before an idea like this is used, maybe we will see something similar in the next big consoles. Also the developers have to take the chance by including options for it in their games.
The next idea I had is the one that impresses me the most, something that I can't wait to see in the gaming industry. The idea of motion recognition, in my view an idea that has the potential to make the gaming industry a lot lot better. This idea is used in the police 24/7 arcade game in that you have to physically move to avoid being shot, a camera picks up your movements and responds by making your character in the game move. The possibilities with this one are almost endless. The best one could be the chance to have a light sabre game where the peripheral is a pole and when you move and swing it then the character on screen copies your actions. Or what about a gun shooting game like time crisis, when you run out of ammo you could use the handle of your gun to literally smash the enemy in the face. In terms of where this idea could go then it is hard to say, it does have bucket loads of potential and could make games even greater than they are but again, this idea is not going to be useful with all varieties of games. I think boxing games and fighting games could also use this to make their style of games more interesting to play, could allow you to fight like an everyday person instead of a martial arts expert (Im not sure if they could program it to let you kick them in the groin then roll about on the ground like a typical fight though).
As with any idea I guess, this one too has some problems. Firstly getting appropriate hardware and software to make this kind of thing actually work properly. Secondly making it at a suitable price so people will actually be able to afford it and want to use it. I guess the last problem is actually getting developers to spend the time to learn how to use it best and to include the option for such things in their games.
The digital camera could also allow you to add a personal touch to a game, you could upload an image to be used in the game maybe? There is a boxing arcade game which takes your photo and then you hit the target as hard as you can - the harder you punch the more disfigured the face gets. This kind of option would probaly appeal to a lot of people as it gives the game a more personal touch and could make the person a little more interested in it.
Intelligence
I know Artificial Intelligence plays a big part in games but it is my view that the A.I in games is going to rise quite a lot within the next 10 years, maybe even sooner then that. Which gives many options for the gaming industry. Once A.I reaches a higher level games will play different each time and make each time you play it challenging, I like the idea of a fully intelligent game but I think such a thing is a long long way away. Games where you can interact with every character in your own way and get an intelligent response, such things like this are what gamers dream off and one day hopefully will become reality. You never know. But anything is possible these days and intelligent games could be here a lot sooner. I know one thing though it does look like the gaming industry has the potential with all these to keep us entertained for a long time.
The PC gamers and the hardcore gamers among you will know exactly what a patch is in terms of a game. For those who have no idea I will try explain it for you as best I can. A patch is a small piece of software which is released after the game it is intended for is released, the patch is used alongside the game to correct any bugs in the game and improve it slightly.
Now there are a lot of views on this subject, some good, some bad so let’s run through some.
So what are the bad points of patches for games?
Well the biggest problem seems to be that they have to release patches at all, why can’t the game be ready and complete I.E bug free when it is released? Also to get hold of the patch usually requires internet connection (which not everybody has) to download it to your computer and add it to the appropriate folder. Another bad point seems to be the fact that you have to go to the hassle of spending time obtaining the patch and downloading it (sometimes they can be large files). There are also a few games that need patches as the amount of problems are so high. Some developers may release a game they know to be incomplete just so they can get public feedback to things that could be made better which they make better with the use of a patch. If a patch isn’t official (a lot of them aren’t) then there could be viruses contained in them which could damage your system, so you could be at risk using them.
So are there any good points?
Well once you have the patch in use the game should have improved and have less bugs in it. Also the patch is usually free so you aren’t paying for it. Also with some patches you are also given little extras like extra levels, characters or cheats which a lot of people like. The fact is that no game can ever be perfect when it is released, to be able to go through every individual line of code and check it would take a long long time. Patches allow developers to make the changes that would have been made if they had been found before the release.
With every 1000 lines of programming code, the number of errors will be around 10, these take between 2 and 9 hours to fix. This means for a whole game it could take a very long time to completely rid it of bugs and faults. (Remember windows 2000 has 30 million lines of code, it was released still with a lot of unfixed errors)
But in the future it may not only be the PC and desktop computers that allow patches for games. It is possible that in the future games may no longer be disk based, instead the user would pay and download the game they wish straight from the net, meaning a possibility of patches being used with our console games. So is this good or bad for the console gamers?
Well the good and bad points are similar to before with a few extras. There seem to be a lot of console gamers who don’t like the idea of patches being used, if it needs a patch then the developer shouldn’t have been allowed to release it in the first place. If people don’t like the idea they may well stop buying games from that developer which may make them think twice about doing it again.
But as I write this I can also see why patches could be needed. I don’t like the idea of the game being “incomplete” in the first place but when I think on how hard it must be to make a game and make it as bug free as can be. Today’s technology is very advanced, there is a very high demand on the programmers (not just game programmers but any in the computer industry). Every piece of software will have bugs in it, I don’t think you will find a totally complete piece of software or it would be very rare if you did.
I think we will see patches being used when the on-line gaming takes off, not big ones like the PC games market which always get slated for games requiring patches to make them playable, surely anything which makes a good game better is worthwhile is a good thing, as long as they are free of course.
Downloadable games
There is a lot of potential in the whole idea of on-line gaming and consoles with on-line abilities, one thing I think we may see appear from all this is the idea of downloadable games, maybe games that are exclusive only to people who downlaod it at a small cost, it could be a large multiplayer which allows many people to log on and play.
I think it is likely that things like this will start off with patches, then demos, game updates and then full games.
Obviously for such things on-line gaming has to be common for most gamers and technology would have to be at a high standard to allow fast transfer of data and consoles would have to be able to store a large amount of data. All this means that maybe we wont see this with the consoles available at the moment but what about the consoles that appear after these?
I think downloadable games have a number of advantages, Games could be cheaper as there is no need for the disks, packaging and the profit the shop which sells it usually puts on the price of the game. Games will be much easier to obtain as you just downlaod them and there is no restrictions placed on the size a game can be just to fit it onto a disk.
But there are also disadvantages which could outweigh the advantages and show that maybe going all the way as far as full game downlaods isn't the way forward yet.
If your hard disk gets damaged in any way you stand to lose all the games you have downloaded, there is no way to swap games with friends. Paying for games could be hard if you don't own a credit card and with downlaoding from a network of any kind there is always a danger from viruses, bugs and other malicious programs.
Special peripherals
I think that a lot of new peripherals will be available soon, such things like digital cameras, motion sensors, microphones could be common to making the industry much more fun for us. It is likely that a lot of new things will apear some will be beneficial and some will only appeal to a small market of gamers.
Such additions like a microphone or motion sensor to a console could allow extra features to be used in games.
The first idea is the idea of voice recognition and using your voice as part of an input along with the controller or another peripheral device. It may even be able to just use your voice as an input in some games. This could be a good addition to some games but not all, it would give the gamer the ability to play the game and at the same time use their voice to control other parts of the game. So if you were a leader in an army say, then you could control your soldier and at the same time command other units with your voice to either move in and attack or retreat and defend. I think this is an idea that does have potential but also has to be used in a good way and be useful to the game. There are also a few problems I can see with this.
First problem is getting software that can analyse the gamers voice, a microphone could be used to input the users voice but as of yet there isn't really any software that can fully understand a human voice, some can break it down and output it to screen or use only certain inputs to control the game but ignore others. It is the latter of these that will probably be used initially until something better comes along. Also what about accents, not everyone speaks with a true and understandable English accent, in fact very little do, so such a peripheral or addition would need to be able to cope with different accents such as Scottish, Liverpudlian, Geordie etc.
This is an idea that could work well in my view but only if it is used right. It does have to potential, whether any developer is brave enough to build on the basic ideas being used today then it could be quite some time before an idea like this is used, maybe we will see something similar in the next big consoles. Also the developers have to take the chance by including options for it in their games.
The next idea I had is the one that impresses me the most, something that I can't wait to see in the gaming industry. The idea of motion recognition, in my view an idea that has the potential to make the gaming industry a lot lot better. This idea is used in the police 24/7 arcade game in that you have to physically move to avoid being shot, a camera picks up your movements and responds by making your character in the game move. The possibilities with this one are almost endless. The best one could be the chance to have a light sabre game where the peripheral is a pole and when you move and swing it then the character on screen copies your actions. Or what about a gun shooting game like time crisis, when you run out of ammo you could use the handle of your gun to literally smash the enemy in the face. In terms of where this idea could go then it is hard to say, it does have bucket loads of potential and could make games even greater than they are but again, this idea is not going to be useful with all varieties of games. I think boxing games and fighting games could also use this to make their style of games more interesting to play, could allow you to fight like an everyday person instead of a martial arts expert (Im not sure if they could program it to let you kick them in the groin then roll about on the ground like a typical fight though).
As with any idea I guess, this one too has some problems. Firstly getting appropriate hardware and software to make this kind of thing actually work properly. Secondly making it at a suitable price so people will actually be able to afford it and want to use it. I guess the last problem is actually getting developers to spend the time to learn how to use it best and to include the option for such things in their games.
The digital camera could also allow you to add a personal touch to a game, you could upload an image to be used in the game maybe? There is a boxing arcade game which takes your photo and then you hit the target as hard as you can - the harder you punch the more disfigured the face gets. This kind of option would probaly appeal to a lot of people as it gives the game a more personal touch and could make the person a little more interested in it.
Intelligence
I know Artificial Intelligence plays a big part in games but it is my view that the A.I in games is going to rise quite a lot within the next 10 years, maybe even sooner then that. Which gives many options for the gaming industry. Once A.I reaches a higher level games will play different each time and make each time you play it challenging, I like the idea of a fully intelligent game but I think such a thing is a long long way away. Games where you can interact with every character in your own way and get an intelligent response, such things like this are what gamers dream off and one day hopefully will become reality. You never know. But anything is possible these days and intelligent games could be here a lot sooner. I know one thing though it does look like the gaming industry has the potential with all these to keep us entertained for a long time.
Patches are what sets PC games from console games
If their games have bugs, they're stuff (GTA3 being perfect example)
At least the PC version of GTA3 can be edited by the games company for years after its release
If their games have bugs, they're stuff (GTA3 being perfect example)
At least the PC version of GTA3 can be edited by the games company for years after its release
There are various things that I think we will be seeing soon in the console gaming industry. First up is game patches.
The PC gamers and the hardcore gamers among you will know exactly what a patch is in terms of a game. For those who have no idea I will try explain it for you as best I can. A patch is a small piece of software which is released after the game it is intended for is released, the patch is used alongside the game to correct any bugs in the game and improve it slightly.
Now there are a lot of views on this subject, some good, some bad so let’s run through some.
So what are the bad points of patches for games?
Well the biggest problem seems to be that they have to release patches at all, why can’t the game be ready and complete I.E bug free when it is released? Also to get hold of the patch usually requires internet connection (which not everybody has) to download it to your computer and add it to the appropriate folder. Another bad point seems to be the fact that you have to go to the hassle of spending time obtaining the patch and downloading it (sometimes they can be large files). There are also a few games that need patches as the amount of problems are so high. Some developers may release a game they know to be incomplete just so they can get public feedback to things that could be made better which they make better with the use of a patch. If a patch isn’t official (a lot of them aren’t) then there could be viruses contained in them which could damage your system, so you could be at risk using them.
So are there any good points?
Well once you have the patch in use the game should have improved and have less bugs in it. Also the patch is usually free so you aren’t paying for it. Also with some patches you are also given little extras like extra levels, characters or cheats which a lot of people like. The fact is that no game can ever be perfect when it is released, to be able to go through every individual line of code and check it would take a long long time. Patches allow developers to make the changes that would have been made if they had been found before the release.
With every 1000 lines of programming code, the number of errors will be around 10, these take between 2 and 9 hours to fix. This means for a whole game it could take a very long time to completely rid it of bugs and faults. (Remember windows 2000 has 30 million lines of code, it was released still with a lot of unfixed errors)
But in the future it may not only be the PC and desktop computers that allow patches for games. It is possible that in the future games may no longer be disk based, instead the user would pay and download the game they wish straight from the net, meaning a possibility of patches being used with our console games. So is this good or bad for the console gamers?
Well the good and bad points are similar to before with a few extras. There seem to be a lot of console gamers who don’t like the idea of patches being used, if it needs a patch then the developer shouldn’t have been allowed to release it in the first place. If people don’t like the idea they may well stop buying games from that developer which may make them think twice about doing it again.
But as I write this I can also see why patches could be needed. I don’t like the idea of the game being “incomplete” in the first place but when I think on how hard it must be to make a game and make it as bug free as can be. Today’s technology is very advanced, there is a very high demand on the programmers (not just game programmers but any in the computer industry). Every piece of software will have bugs in it, I don’t think you will find a totally complete piece of software or it would be very rare if you did.
I think we will see patches being used when the on-line gaming takes off, not big ones like the PC games market which always get slated for games requiring patches to make them playable, surely anything which makes a good game better is worthwhile is a good thing, as long as they are free of course.
Downloadable games
There is a lot of potential in the whole idea of on-line gaming and consoles with on-line abilities, one thing I think we may see appear from all this is the idea of downloadable games, maybe games that are exclusive only to people who downlaod it at a small cost, it could be a large multiplayer which allows many people to log on and play.
I think it is likely that things like this will start off with patches, then demos, game updates and then full games.
Obviously for such things on-line gaming has to be common for most gamers and technology would have to be at a high standard to allow fast transfer of data and consoles would have to be able to store a large amount of data. All this means that maybe we wont see this with the consoles available at the moment but what about the consoles that appear after these?
I think downloadable games have a number of advantages, Games could be cheaper as there is no need for the disks, packaging and the profit the shop which sells it usually puts on the price of the game. Games will be much easier to obtain as you just downlaod them and there is no restrictions placed on the size a game can be just to fit it onto a disk.
But there are also disadvantages which could outweigh the advantages and show that maybe going all the way as far as full game downlaods isn't the way forward yet.
If your hard disk gets damaged in any way you stand to lose all the games you have downloaded, there is no way to swap games with friends. Paying for games could be hard if you don't own a credit card and with downlaoding from a network of any kind there is always a danger from viruses, bugs and other malicious programs.
Special peripherals
I think that a lot of new peripherals will be available soon, such things like digital cameras, motion sensors, microphones could be common to making the industry much more fun for us. It is likely that a lot of new things will apear some will be beneficial and some will only appeal to a small market of gamers.
Such additions like a microphone or motion sensor to a console could allow extra features to be used in games.
The first idea is the idea of voice recognition and using your voice as part of an input along with the controller or another peripheral device. It may even be able to just use your voice as an input in some games. This could be a good addition to some games but not all, it would give the gamer the ability to play the game and at the same time use their voice to control other parts of the game. So if you were a leader in an army say, then you could control your soldier and at the same time command other units with your voice to either move in and attack or retreat and defend. I think this is an idea that does have potential but also has to be used in a good way and be useful to the game. There are also a few problems I can see with this.
First problem is getting software that can analyse the gamers voice, a microphone could be used to input the users voice but as of yet there isn't really any software that can fully understand a human voice, some can break it down and output it to screen or use only certain inputs to control the game but ignore others. It is the latter of these that will probably be used initially until something better comes along. Also what about accents, not everyone speaks with a true and understandable English accent, in fact very little do, so such a peripheral or addition would need to be able to cope with different accents such as Scottish, Liverpudlian, Geordie etc.
This is an idea that could work well in my view but only if it is used right. It does have to potential, whether any developer is brave enough to build on the basic ideas being used today then it could be quite some time before an idea like this is used, maybe we will see something similar in the next big consoles. Also the developers have to take the chance by including options for it in their games.
The next idea I had is the one that impresses me the most, something that I can't wait to see in the gaming industry. The idea of motion recognition, in my view an idea that has the potential to make the gaming industry a lot lot better. This idea is used in the police 24/7 arcade game in that you have to physically move to avoid being shot, a camera picks up your movements and responds by making your character in the game move. The possibilities with this one are almost endless. The best one could be the chance to have a light sabre game where the peripheral is a pole and when you move and swing it then the character on screen copies your actions. Or what about a gun shooting game like time crisis, when you run out of ammo you could use the handle of your gun to literally smash the enemy in the face. In terms of where this idea could go then it is hard to say, it does have bucket loads of potential and could make games even greater than they are but again, this idea is not going to be useful with all varieties of games. I think boxing games and fighting games could also use this to make their style of games more interesting to play, could allow you to fight like an everyday person instead of a martial arts expert (Im not sure if they could program it to let you kick them in the groin then roll about on the ground like a typical fight though).
As with any idea I guess, this one too has some problems. Firstly getting appropriate hardware and software to make this kind of thing actually work properly. Secondly making it at a suitable price so people will actually be able to afford it and want to use it. I guess the last problem is actually getting developers to spend the time to learn how to use it best and to include the option for such things in their games.
The digital camera could also allow you to add a personal touch to a game, you could upload an image to be used in the game maybe? There is a boxing arcade game which takes your photo and then you hit the target as hard as you can - the harder you punch the more disfigured the face gets. This kind of option would probaly appeal to a lot of people as it gives the game a more personal touch and could make the person a little more interested in it.
Intelligence
I know Artificial Intelligence plays a big part in games but it is my view that the A.I in games is going to rise quite a lot within the next 10 years, maybe even sooner then that. Which gives many options for the gaming industry. Once A.I reaches a higher level games will play different each time and make each time you play it challenging, I like the idea of a fully intelligent game but I think such a thing is a long long way away. Games where you can interact with every character in your own way and get an intelligent response, such things like this are what gamers dream off and one day hopefully will become reality. You never know. But anything is possible these days and intelligent games could be here a lot sooner. I know one thing though it does look like the gaming industry has the potential with all these to keep us entertained for a long time.
The PC gamers and the hardcore gamers among you will know exactly what a patch is in terms of a game. For those who have no idea I will try explain it for you as best I can. A patch is a small piece of software which is released after the game it is intended for is released, the patch is used alongside the game to correct any bugs in the game and improve it slightly.
Now there are a lot of views on this subject, some good, some bad so let’s run through some.
So what are the bad points of patches for games?
Well the biggest problem seems to be that they have to release patches at all, why can’t the game be ready and complete I.E bug free when it is released? Also to get hold of the patch usually requires internet connection (which not everybody has) to download it to your computer and add it to the appropriate folder. Another bad point seems to be the fact that you have to go to the hassle of spending time obtaining the patch and downloading it (sometimes they can be large files). There are also a few games that need patches as the amount of problems are so high. Some developers may release a game they know to be incomplete just so they can get public feedback to things that could be made better which they make better with the use of a patch. If a patch isn’t official (a lot of them aren’t) then there could be viruses contained in them which could damage your system, so you could be at risk using them.
So are there any good points?
Well once you have the patch in use the game should have improved and have less bugs in it. Also the patch is usually free so you aren’t paying for it. Also with some patches you are also given little extras like extra levels, characters or cheats which a lot of people like. The fact is that no game can ever be perfect when it is released, to be able to go through every individual line of code and check it would take a long long time. Patches allow developers to make the changes that would have been made if they had been found before the release.
With every 1000 lines of programming code, the number of errors will be around 10, these take between 2 and 9 hours to fix. This means for a whole game it could take a very long time to completely rid it of bugs and faults. (Remember windows 2000 has 30 million lines of code, it was released still with a lot of unfixed errors)
But in the future it may not only be the PC and desktop computers that allow patches for games. It is possible that in the future games may no longer be disk based, instead the user would pay and download the game they wish straight from the net, meaning a possibility of patches being used with our console games. So is this good or bad for the console gamers?
Well the good and bad points are similar to before with a few extras. There seem to be a lot of console gamers who don’t like the idea of patches being used, if it needs a patch then the developer shouldn’t have been allowed to release it in the first place. If people don’t like the idea they may well stop buying games from that developer which may make them think twice about doing it again.
But as I write this I can also see why patches could be needed. I don’t like the idea of the game being “incomplete” in the first place but when I think on how hard it must be to make a game and make it as bug free as can be. Today’s technology is very advanced, there is a very high demand on the programmers (not just game programmers but any in the computer industry). Every piece of software will have bugs in it, I don’t think you will find a totally complete piece of software or it would be very rare if you did.
I think we will see patches being used when the on-line gaming takes off, not big ones like the PC games market which always get slated for games requiring patches to make them playable, surely anything which makes a good game better is worthwhile is a good thing, as long as they are free of course.
Downloadable games
There is a lot of potential in the whole idea of on-line gaming and consoles with on-line abilities, one thing I think we may see appear from all this is the idea of downloadable games, maybe games that are exclusive only to people who downlaod it at a small cost, it could be a large multiplayer which allows many people to log on and play.
I think it is likely that things like this will start off with patches, then demos, game updates and then full games.
Obviously for such things on-line gaming has to be common for most gamers and technology would have to be at a high standard to allow fast transfer of data and consoles would have to be able to store a large amount of data. All this means that maybe we wont see this with the consoles available at the moment but what about the consoles that appear after these?
I think downloadable games have a number of advantages, Games could be cheaper as there is no need for the disks, packaging and the profit the shop which sells it usually puts on the price of the game. Games will be much easier to obtain as you just downlaod them and there is no restrictions placed on the size a game can be just to fit it onto a disk.
But there are also disadvantages which could outweigh the advantages and show that maybe going all the way as far as full game downlaods isn't the way forward yet.
If your hard disk gets damaged in any way you stand to lose all the games you have downloaded, there is no way to swap games with friends. Paying for games could be hard if you don't own a credit card and with downlaoding from a network of any kind there is always a danger from viruses, bugs and other malicious programs.
Special peripherals
I think that a lot of new peripherals will be available soon, such things like digital cameras, motion sensors, microphones could be common to making the industry much more fun for us. It is likely that a lot of new things will apear some will be beneficial and some will only appeal to a small market of gamers.
Such additions like a microphone or motion sensor to a console could allow extra features to be used in games.
The first idea is the idea of voice recognition and using your voice as part of an input along with the controller or another peripheral device. It may even be able to just use your voice as an input in some games. This could be a good addition to some games but not all, it would give the gamer the ability to play the game and at the same time use their voice to control other parts of the game. So if you were a leader in an army say, then you could control your soldier and at the same time command other units with your voice to either move in and attack or retreat and defend. I think this is an idea that does have potential but also has to be used in a good way and be useful to the game. There are also a few problems I can see with this.
First problem is getting software that can analyse the gamers voice, a microphone could be used to input the users voice but as of yet there isn't really any software that can fully understand a human voice, some can break it down and output it to screen or use only certain inputs to control the game but ignore others. It is the latter of these that will probably be used initially until something better comes along. Also what about accents, not everyone speaks with a true and understandable English accent, in fact very little do, so such a peripheral or addition would need to be able to cope with different accents such as Scottish, Liverpudlian, Geordie etc.
This is an idea that could work well in my view but only if it is used right. It does have to potential, whether any developer is brave enough to build on the basic ideas being used today then it could be quite some time before an idea like this is used, maybe we will see something similar in the next big consoles. Also the developers have to take the chance by including options for it in their games.
The next idea I had is the one that impresses me the most, something that I can't wait to see in the gaming industry. The idea of motion recognition, in my view an idea that has the potential to make the gaming industry a lot lot better. This idea is used in the police 24/7 arcade game in that you have to physically move to avoid being shot, a camera picks up your movements and responds by making your character in the game move. The possibilities with this one are almost endless. The best one could be the chance to have a light sabre game where the peripheral is a pole and when you move and swing it then the character on screen copies your actions. Or what about a gun shooting game like time crisis, when you run out of ammo you could use the handle of your gun to literally smash the enemy in the face. In terms of where this idea could go then it is hard to say, it does have bucket loads of potential and could make games even greater than they are but again, this idea is not going to be useful with all varieties of games. I think boxing games and fighting games could also use this to make their style of games more interesting to play, could allow you to fight like an everyday person instead of a martial arts expert (Im not sure if they could program it to let you kick them in the groin then roll about on the ground like a typical fight though).
As with any idea I guess, this one too has some problems. Firstly getting appropriate hardware and software to make this kind of thing actually work properly. Secondly making it at a suitable price so people will actually be able to afford it and want to use it. I guess the last problem is actually getting developers to spend the time to learn how to use it best and to include the option for such things in their games.
The digital camera could also allow you to add a personal touch to a game, you could upload an image to be used in the game maybe? There is a boxing arcade game which takes your photo and then you hit the target as hard as you can - the harder you punch the more disfigured the face gets. This kind of option would probaly appeal to a lot of people as it gives the game a more personal touch and could make the person a little more interested in it.
Intelligence
I know Artificial Intelligence plays a big part in games but it is my view that the A.I in games is going to rise quite a lot within the next 10 years, maybe even sooner then that. Which gives many options for the gaming industry. Once A.I reaches a higher level games will play different each time and make each time you play it challenging, I like the idea of a fully intelligent game but I think such a thing is a long long way away. Games where you can interact with every character in your own way and get an intelligent response, such things like this are what gamers dream off and one day hopefully will become reality. You never know. But anything is possible these days and intelligent games could be here a lot sooner. I know one thing though it does look like the gaming industry has the potential with all these to keep us entertained for a long time.