According to Kotaku, Crytek UK already has a development kit for the next generation Xbox, and are working on a Timesplitters game for launch. The blurb about 2014 involves this story:
2014 definitely sounds lie a good time. By then, everyone should be ready for an upgrade, and hopefully by then the upgrade can be significant (of course if dev kits are out now, not sure how likely that would be).
I agree. As expensive as these machines are, I don't want to have new ones thrown at me every other year. I am interested to see where the next gen starts taking us though. Hopefully there will be some real innovation of some kind other than just "better graphics" - good graphics are great, but I am talking about much better implementation of voice control, motion control, better environments, detail and destruction of said environments, etc. Maybe even we will see the first gens of neural/machine interfaces as well. Exciting times.
Most of this is possible in the current gen. In fact, one of the reasons HD was supposed to be a big deal was to allow for more expansive environments in greater detail. I'd say the current gen has at least achieved that: there are some truly enormous games out there. Voice control is in the new Ghost Recon. Watch the trailer. Destructible environments aren't really a function of hardware capability but developer manpower. Unless it's a specific feature of a game, like Red Faction, then it's just so damn labor intensive that it can't really be justified as a feature. Battlefield 3 and MW3 are apparently including some form of destructible environments, however. The next gen is probably going to focus on integrating multiplayer and singleplayer. Again, Ghost Recon is a good example. L4D2 a well, to a much lesser extent. The social aspect of gaming is going to get played up. Personally, I might just check out of video gaming altogether if that really takes hold. Playing games with your buddies is perfectly fine, but like good books, a lot of games are best enjoyed solo. Of course, I still distinguish between multiplayer—having multiple people in one room playing the same game, ala Mario Kart 64 or Goldeneye—and online play. I also think the '90s were the best decade in gaming, so excuse me while I grab my cane and shuffle off into the sunset. That's a long, loooooooooong way off. And it won't come from video games, it'll come from medical researchers.
Yeah I know a lot of this stuff is technically possible, but it is generally overlooked or underused. Just needs to keep making improvements, refining, making processes simpler, engines and AI that run better, etc. I agree that social gaming is taking off right now, which is good for many. Like you though, I very much enjoy solo play and hope it will not be overlooked. As for a golden age, I cannot say I didn't have immense amounts of fun in the late 90s and through the first decade of the 2000's, but man there is some serious potential out there. I just want the gaming goodness to keep on going! One other interesting thing I think gaming companies will need to start looking into is making improvements specifically for aging people. It won't be to long before we are seeing increasing amounts of people who grew up gaming and don't want to stop simply because they hit 50+. While they will naturally be more technologically savvy, there is still lots that can probably be done to retain them as customers or even open up new markets. Or military. Wherever it comes from, entertainment possibilities (aka income) will get the ball rolling fast.
Seems far too early for the kits to be out yet. With the 360 wasn't it a year before release that they actually got the kits? The rest of the time companies were using computers and then porting them once they got the kits?
The gaming will keep going, but I'm beginning to doubt that it could be described as "goodness". Something has to be done about publishers' attitudes, IMO. That's something to be kicked down the road for a few years. It's not really an issue yet. Though I suspect the solution looks a lot like Portal 2: a non-twitchy game that relies more on the mind than the reflexes or precise control. I say medical research because they've already got rudimentary forms of mental computer control for paralyzed patients up and running. They've been able to get people to move cursors on a screen just by thinking about it.
"Oh well"? You realize that they couldn't confirm that they have dev kits even if they did, right? I'd be very shocked if Sony and Microsoft haven't already received developer feedback for their new consoles and are well on their way to the prototype stage.
