The Current Gaming Plateau

[KillerGremlin]

I haven't had time to think much about gaming given the fact that my life has been rather busy as of late, but I have been meaning to try to find more time to play games. This winter break I planned on beating Paper Mario as it has been calling me, and then for the rest of break I will be playing Halo/Halo 2/Halo ODST Co-Op with my best friend on the 360. I will be playing Wii with my family at home. But reflecting on the current Zelda threads has reminded me of where I feel this current generation has called to attention gaming's current dilemma. Back in the day gaming was done in 2D. Then with the advent of 3D gaming was _literaly_ reinvented. We are now on what I'd say is the 3rd generation of 3D consoles and the amount of sequels is up and the amount of original, innovative titles is down. It is obvious that gaming has hit a plateau and unfortunately (sorry Nintendo) waggling a control is not the solution to this plateau. Motion controls is this gen's distraction for the fact that more pixels =/= better 3D gaming. Now developers are forced to rely on good stories, original ideas and innovative gameplay. Well...IDEALLY developers are forced to rely on these things. Most of them are relying on nostalgia and franchise titles with moderate/decent stories and extensions to already established good gaming.

So is this it? Where does gaming go from here? What is the next logical step forward for gaming?

[Szymon]

Well, seeing as we live in the 3rd dimension, it would be pretty tough to ascend gaming into the 4th dimension, as we cannot even fathom what that might mean. Online play seems pretty new and fantastic to me. Same with DLC and standard wireless controllers.

I imagine from here we wait for new technologies to utilize. Portability will emerge with the coming of personal projectors and cheaper and cheaper 3g cards. Systems will get smaller too, and more powerful. Eventually we could be looking at an iPod sized 360 with a built in 1080p projector and incredible battery life, which will charge almost instantly and wirelessly with online play available anywhere. That'll be my 40s, I bet.

In terms of game play, things aren't really changing much. The jump from 2D to 3D was pretty obvious. Games try to imitate life. Developers are trying to make things realistic. MW2, Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed 2 are good examples of this. They're attempts to make things we fantasize about come true. Games also attempt to draw you into their story.

I still have no idea which direction we'll move in the future. As gaming becomes more popular, you get marketing teams that strategize for greater profit first, better gaming experience second. Time will tell.