I've been thinking. The technology that powers computers, such as PCs and consoles (they're basically computers), has skyrocketed in power in the past few decades. We went from Pong to Crysis in just 35 years, while it took thousands of years of human ingenuity to get the ball rolling.

Just 35 years, from this:


to this:


I don't know about you, but I think that's incredible.

But that brings me onto the question - when will it end? All the game consoles released - ever - seem to have the sole goal of improving on graphics, with the exception of the Wii. The N64 existed to improve on the SNES's graphics, which in turn existed to improve on the NES's graphics. We're constantly working towards one thing, though we maybe didn't know it at first - realism. Some games are pretty close, like the aforementioned Crysis, but they are missing a few things - try pumping it out onto a 150" screen, and it won't look so awesome. Plus, the image is completely flat on the monitor or TV, which is not realistic.

Even games that are not meant to be realistic, like ones based on cartoons and anime, are trying to be realistic to the cartoon or anime show they're based off. And cartooney games that aren't really based off anything cartooney (like Zelda: The Wind Waker) are still trying to be realistic to the artist's original ideas.

And it's not just graphics realism we're trying to achieve. The Wii, which I said before was not trying to achieve realism, actually is. The Wiimote is a controller designed to improve on realism - compare Virtua Tennis 3 to Wii Sports and tell me - which one is most like real tennis to play?

Obviously, the plateau we're trying to reach is utter realism. It took us just 35 years to go from a dumbed-down, monochrome, blocky version of table tennis (or something) to a war simulator with near photo-realistic graphics, computer controlled enemies, and graphics rendering on-the-fly. Many of the boundaries have not just been crossed, but trampled - the leap from 2D to 3D, for example.

So all that's left is holographic graphics (or pseudo-holographic, which has already been achieved - see here), realistic control methods and completely realistic graphics, and then we've reached the plateau. Considering what's already been done, all that should take 15-20 years, at most, then another 5 for portable consoles to catch up. Once it's indistinguishable from reality, what comes next? All similar games will look the same. Nobody will complain about games having blocky graphics, or praise games for near-photorealism.

Consoles and gaming PCs alike will come to a standstill.

Then, game makers will forget about graphics. They'll forget about control methods. They'll concentrate on what was most important all along - ideas and gameplay. That will mark the true beginning of the golden age of video games. Forget about the 16-bit battle between Sega and Nintendo, forget about Shigeru Miyamoto - the only way for a company to survive in this era will be to provide things that are more fun than anything before.

But what will happen, in a few hundred years, when all the ideas we humans can think of have been used? When all storylines are somehow similar to that ancient game released in the 2100s?

What do you think?

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