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[Ned Flanders]

Production prices are escalating. Sequelitis is rampant. More handhelds on the horizon. Next-gen console wars are shaping up to be weird as ever. EA, Take-Two, Ubi-Soft and the like work towards forming gaming super-conglomerates. Hi-def televisions are becoming more common. Online is now a staple. 'Exclusive' no longer has a meaning. Game characters are now featured in porn rags. PC's are still PC's. Piracy lingers.

What are your broad-base predictions for the forseeable future? Is the Revolution Nintendo's final home console? Creativity choked away by profiteering and monopoly? Games get cheaper? Microsoft rushes the XBox2? Square Enix releases "Final Fantasy: Ok We're Out of the Closet" starring Cloud, Squall, Tidus, and virtually every other FF protagonist? Sony forgoes the Dual Shock 3 for EyeToy-only PS3 support?

Are we moving in a good direction at the moment or are we heading for a downcycle in gaming? Predictions, please.

 

[Jacobi]

I think far or nearer far in the future EA will bring out their own console. It will be very successful and that will be the end of gaming.

 

[DSN2K]

WE ARE ALL DOOMED.

 

[Do The Mario]

Consoles will transform into giant robots and fight an intergalactic battle!

However I hope the Xbox 2 isn’t rushed, personally I think the Xbox needs to be more powerful then the PS3 so it gets all those ports.

For example if the Xbox wasn’t more powerful then the PS2 it wouldn’t have gotten MGS2, GTA3 and GTA VC

 

[AniHawk]

The DOOM prediction:

Everything comes to a head the same way it did 20 years ago. Casual gamers get fed up and move on to the next big, violent thing, and video games are once again reinvented for families.

Reasons why I see this happening:
1. People are pushing graphics more and more- they help sell games now in a big, big way. When graphics can't really be improved anymore, there will be some who just decide to go somewhere else (not saying a mass exodus or anything)
2. People don't enjoy kiddie games now on the whole, and will kill off the bigger franchises when the big crash happens. These fun games for kids will probably or would have probably been the ones to resurrect the industry.
3. Moving towards a one-box-for-everything console will ensure that video game systems become less focused on just video gaming, and companies will have to merge with each other to stay alive and focus their powers on just one brand to sell.

Reasons this WON'T happen:
Sony and MS are masters of advertising. They could sell fire to the devil.

The What I think will Most Likely Happen Prediction:

Nintendo goes third party or dies and sells its franchise names in anywhere from 5-15 years.
Sega dies off completely after 4-10 more years of struggling to get back in the spotlight.
Sony loses more share to MS in the console sector each gen, and become the masters of the handheld sector.

I hope my DOOM prediction comes true so the industry can have a full restart, to be perfectly honest.

 

[TeTr1C]

HANDHELDS! AH! I hate them. I want them to go away. I want it to go back where Nintendo were the rulers of the handheld market. Good thing Microsoft isn't included in this, but they probably will be soon.

 

[Screenboy]

-Games will become like movies, taking at least 3 years to make sometimes longer.

-Nintendo has about 2 more consoles left in them if they arent successful.

-PSP will destroy Gameboy eventually

-EA to make a console

-In 2-3 gens, games will look like Pixar Animations:

:lol

-Every Female in every game will have big tits/nice arse etc.

-MS + Sony continue dueling with consoles, maybe handhelds if MS is successful console wise.

-ALOT of japanese companies will merge as their market looses importance over NA markets.

-US developers becoming more successful as NA market grows more important.

-Games will be crap.




-SB

 

[Ned Flanders]

Well does anyone see a medium-less, or rather online-mediated gaming console in the future? IE no more buying software, strictly purchasing and downloading over the internet? That could definitely simplify/cheapen production, cut back on piracy, and destroy the markets for the EB's and Gamestops of the world (I predict they become strictly strategy guide venders lol). It would certainly be a good thing in some regards, but definitely a paradigm shift with some crazy drawbacks as well. Just my 2 cents..

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

Kinda like it is right now...only more sequels. And less fun.

 

[TheGreenGiant]

Kinda like it is right now...only more sequels. And less fun.

iawtp. dunno about the fun bit. but I expect more of the same

 

[ironichaos]

Drama, chaos! It's the Gaming-Age way...

Nintendo will sell consoles and games and continue to be successful. Microsoft will sell consoles and games and continue to be successful. Sony will sell consoles and games and continue to be successful.

As long as profit is made, success is had. You don't have to have 90 percent of the market to have a successful niche.

Seriously, this doom and gloom is just sofa king retarded.

 

[Ranger X]

Like in the cinema where there's the big $$$ holywood stuff for the casual and "the other movies", videogame will probably seperate in some 2 crowds. You'll have the holywood of videogames (big names like EA) and you'll have the rest. The industry is going to find a balance also because of that (just like the movie industry again).

Also, i fear that if the Revolution is not a success, Nintendo may go third party or try a last attempt at home consoles after that and thats' all.

Portable games, cell games, PDA games will grow ALOT bigger and it's going to be AT LEAST, half the videogames people play. (give 5 to 10 years here)

Graphics will top soon too. I give 2 gens for that.

Sony will still lead next gen and Microsoft risk to have a surprise if they rush the Xbox2 or try to sell 3 version of it. Sony will probably not lead with the same huge margin next gen as they are right now. (taking into account here that Microsoft and Nintendo are successfull enough)

As for the gameplay, the next step is the integration of physics in games. This will lead to a whole new world or interacting with our envirronnement and stuff. Games are going to be at their best. Crash demo will be the common physics of racers. Half-Life 2 is just a glimpse of what physics will do to FPS and blablabla... you get the point.

 

[DonasaurusRex]

The PC arena will become more and more MMORPG dominated , along with other online games like rts and fps and rpgs.

Consoles will become a vast wasteland of Sports, Fighting, and Rpg Cinematics, with the occasional jewel from Nintendo , Square, Namco, Konami. Unfortunately the ground breaking games of the Saturn / PSX generation will be whored out until like madden only a few name recognition titles will make worthwhile sales. DDR and other non traditional gaming genres will grow and MaMe will still own .Hooray for MaMe.

 

[iyox]

Where is gaming headed? I think it's on a downward slope to mediocrity. Some would say we are already there. The games industry will soon just be a shadow of the movie industry, with 95% of the stuff coming out being crap. That is until you see "independent studio's" being given out to successful producers. Then kind of like the movie industry every so often a fresh idea will come out.

As I see it right now, the games industry is in blockbuster mode. Titles like Halo, MGS, GTA and those sort of titles going to become the predominant factors on upcoming games. This isn't to say those games aren't good but that once the industry starts moving towards just giving us those types of games they are bound to get stale.

I don't know where i was going with this...I am sure there is point in here somewhere.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

I can't believe how negative most of you feel about gaming. Maybe you should collect Hummell figurines. Get out now! The end is nigh!

 

[xexex]

-handheld games will be like current-gen console games, especially PSP.

-Xbox2 will be the next Dreamcast, but with more legs due to MS's inexhustable suppy of cash.

-Playstaion3 will be the super-mainstream 'CG like video game' machine, with lots of pretty but shitty playing games. plus some must have games.

-Nintendo will continue to get weirder, like Michael Jackson's appearence

-SEGA will Rise from its Grave

 

[sprsk]

it seems that video game companies and fans have this infatuation with hollywood (and "beating" hollywood) so much so that they are becoming hollywood :/

 

[Baron Aloha]

An EA console will be released sometime in the next 10 years and if things at EA continue at their current rate we could see one sooner than that. Sony & Microsoft's reliance on third parties like EA will eventually lead their downfall as far as the North American market is concerned once EA (and the other devs it swallows up in the next few years) rises up. I expect to see a similar thing happen in Japan within the next 20 years. Devs will continue merging and getting bought out until only a handful of companies remain. It may get to the point where we end up with two consoles...one that offers primarily western games and one that offers primarily eastern games.

 

[thorns]

I don't know where it's headed, but I can tell you where it's NOT headed, and that is two screens.

 

[Ranger X]

I don't know where it's headed, but I can tell you where it's NOT headed, and that is two screens.

LMAO

 

[psycho_snake]

It is destiny for EA to release a console sooner or later. If i owned EA, I would start making one now. They have so many popular franchises right now that they would have the most popular console.

Handheld gaming will become very big.

Home consoles is a strange one. I can see Nintendo going third Part and they should really, but I've got a feeling it won't happen. I'm not sure about the Revolution though. it will either be in a solid 2nd position or a solid 3rd position (thats if there are still going to be three console makers)

I do see gaming going into two groups though. Its already happening. I have friend who would happily try playing Tales of Symphonia or Final Fantasy 10, but I have others who would laugh at my "bad taste" and rather play Burnout 3 or NBA street 2. This gap is only going to get bigger too.

 

[Firest0rm]

Actually I think the market will grow big enough to allow small developers to exist and at the same time 3 consoles compete, with 1 (Nintendo) running on a small portion of the market.

 

[Slo]

I don't quite understand why EA would want to make a console. It makes no sense from a business perspective. Just because they might be big enough to pull it off isn't a good reason.

Right now, they have a stranglehold on the sports market and their titles sell well on any platform they put them on. Why in the world would they gamble that all away by entering an industry that they have no experience in? They'd have to stop releasing their games on other platforms in order to give consumers an incentive to buy their EA console, effectively canabalizing their existing revenue. What's the payoff if they succeed?

 

[Mr_Furious]

Aw, wth, I'll play along:

1. One major company *cough*Nintendo*cough* will exit the home hardware biz. They'll either turn 3rd party or focus solely on the portable market

2. Lesser hardware choices on all fronts. Home will return to a 2 console race with no real 3rd competitor to worry about and the same will be the case on the portable front only because Nintendo abandons their "other pillars" to focus on one.

3. The industry will again turn to original IPs just like they do every generation. It's a vicious cycle.

4. Although games will cost more to make, there'll be fewer of them due to the size of the average team needing to increase. The price point of games will remain roughly the same.

5. Lesser platforms to support (spread resources over) means good things for developers

 

[impirius]

I think the future of gaming will let us communicate to a new cybercity. Did you see the movie The Matrix? Same interface. Same concept. Starting next generation, we can jack into the Matrix!

 

[Soul4ger]

Anyone have a picture of a toilet?

 

[madara]

I agree with anihawk. I cant imagine games getting any more "souless" then they are now though. A crash maybe for best, well at least those grew up pre or during snes era. Psx'ers likely dont know difference, or what their missing.

 

[djtiesto]

Hmm, I think MS is gonna be the next console manufacturer to bail out, not Nintendo... MS doesn't really have any interesting franchises on it.. we all know that Tecmo is just in where the best graphics are (which probably won't be Xenon), and I think Halo sucks I think Nintendo will do a bit better job with Revolution, but it will still be too quirky for mass acceptance. Once again, PS3 will own everything in its path. Hopefully, some of the casuals will leave gaming, and it becomes "uncool" again...

 

[CoryCubed]

Pretty much everything now is becoming a "simulator" type thing. Just about everything that is "cool" to most gamers now adays is throwing some type of polygonal ball or shooting some polygonal gun or racing some polygonal car

 

[Flynn]

Droves will stop playing games because 99% of titles will cater only to the adolescent (read teh mature) mindset.

 

[cvxfreak]

WE ARE ALL DOOMED.

=(

 

[Quartet]

with Bush around, who tell you we will still able to play games, or even want to play them?

The industry will crash if it stay the same. Relying on block buster is bad practice, no company really want that much a lack of stability.

Game need to become simpler, shorter and cost less so that "casual joe" can try other game than is comfy usual game selection.

 

[Tenguman]

1. People are pushing graphics more and more- they help sell games now in a big, big way. When graphics can't really be improved anymore, there will be some who just decide to go somewhere else (not saying a mass exodus or anything)

Not only that but as graphics get better, it becomes even more expensive to produce. Not to mention the amount of specialized work that needs to be done. There's simply not enough people out there with the skills to produce high-end graphics. You need a fucking phd in mathematics these days to produce engines like doom3

MS is trying to help by making generalized toolsets and stuff, but you can't put a band-aid on a 6-inch gash.


So what do you have? You need $$millions to produce a single game, have highly-trained engineers to develop the graphics systems.....just to produce a game that may only sell about 100,000 copies in the stores.


eventually companies will say "it's not fucking worth it" and start moving to simpler types of games.

 

[Mr_Furious]

with Bush around, who tell you we will still able to play games, or even want to play them?

The industry will crash if it stay the same. Relying on block buster is bad practice, no company really want that much a lack of stability.

Game need to become simpler, shorter and cost less so that "casual joe" can try other game than is comfy usual game selection.

Either English isn't your native tongue or your knowledge of the video game business is as poor as your english composition.

 

[The Main Event]

Smaller companies will have a harder time surviving next generation, which will lead even more buyouts and collaborations. Rockstar will fade out somehow since they can't do crap except the GTA series. We'll see if Bungie and Retro Studios success wasn't a fluke since they will be creating new games outside of their existing franchise.

In a perfect future, Data East would make a huge comeback and resurrect Bad Dudes, Robocop and Joe & Mac.

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

Dear God someone should just shoot most of you know and put you out of your misery.


I'm still having as much fun with games now as I ever did. Seriously it's not the games that are the problem, it's you. There are just as many sequels and copycat games as there always have been, and there are just as many fantastic games.

 

[xexex]

In a perfect future, Data East would make a huge comeback and resurrect Bad Dudes, Robocop and Joe & Mac.

don't forget Midnight Resistance

 

[Bog]

Awesome avatar, Main Event.

 

[Rocket Punch]

Wait a second... all these doomsday prophets are basically saying every single thing that Nintendo (NCL) has been saying for ages now.

So, how is it that when they try to do something about things (new "different" franchises ie. animal crossing, pikmin, nintendo DS, nintendo difference) they get trashed by everyone? But yet, the lot of you seem to agree with them in stunning detail on where the industry is headed.