Consoles Archives - Page 3 of 6

Notable Steampunk Games

June 26, 2007 by Phillip Kimpo Jr

A month ago, Ia wrote about the Steampunk style being applied to computer parts and peripherals. As she said, Steampunk is a “look based on the type of sci-fi/fantasy/speculative fiction literary genre”. As can be expected of any noteworthy genre, Steampunk has made its way into the video gaming industry. Several Steampunk games have become classics and worldwide bestsellers; still, you might not be aware that some of these popular games are Steampunk games.

Here’s a shortlist of Steampunk games that have enthralled countless gamers:

Thief — The Thief franchise (Thief: The Dark Project, Thief II: The Metal Age, Thief: Deadly Shadows) takes place in a Steampunk metropolis where the rogue of a protagonist achieves his goals by sneaking around enemies, dousing torches with water-tipped arrows, and just plain sleuthing around instead of bashing villains’ heads. Well, of course that’s still allowed, but avoided. If you think this makes for boring gameplay, think again. It spiked my adrenalin just as well as Counterstrike did. Very groundbreaking.

Warcraft — Yes, Blizzard’s venerable Warcraft franchise has a touch of Steampunk! Dwarves wielding rifles? Gnomish cities run by steam engines? Steampunk, baby. The World of Warcraft, Warcraft III, and Warcraft II provide one of the best game universes where magic and technology coexist.

Final Fantasy — But of course! Square’s paramount franchise has been long-known to mix the fantastic with the scientific — magic spells, airships, Guardian Forces, spaceships. Of the seemingly-endless train of FF games, Zidane and Garnet’s Final Fantasy IX is the most Steampunk of ’em all.

Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends — With one of its three races (the Vinci) heavily relying on gunpowder and clockwork, the fantastical successor to the historical Rise of Nations falls neatly into the Steampunk genre. As befitting a magic-and-tech game, Rise of Legends sports a magical civilization called the Alin, as well as the alien race of the Cuotl.

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura — The game’s title says it all, doesnt it? For yours truly, Arcanum is the best Steampunk computer game built to this day, not only because it is brazenly Steampunk, but also because it is one of finest (if underrated) game worlds, ever.

Arcanum is a role-playing game done in Fallout fashion, which shouldn’t come as a surprise, as its developer (Troika Games) was formed by ex-Fallout devs.

You can think of Arcanum as “Industrial Revolution meets Tolkien”, what with steam-powered trains coexisting with tree-dwelling Elves. There is friction between “magick” users and technologists/scientists in the game, and players are better off focusing on one half of the skill tree.

There was talk of an Arcanum sequel, but unfortunately, Troika Games dissolved after publishing only three games (living up to its name, eh?). Ah, at least Fallout 3 is just around the corner!

Forza Motorsport 2

June 10, 2007 by Mr Butterscotch

Forza Motorsport 2 - modded car.

The waiting is finally over. Forza 2 has arrived for the Xbox360. But is it worth the wait? You bet it is. For those of you who have played the demo (or original), you’ve a good idea what to expect. For those of you who haven’t had a chance to sample it – let’s take a look at what the game is about and why I’m such a fan.

Forza 2 is a racing simulation game featuring over 300 cars, based around real world tracks such as the infamous Nurburgring. The game is set up so that it can be played by both the novice and the expert -options coming in the form of driving aids. With these, games can be made as hard or as easy as you like. Do you lower the difficulty and turn off ABS? Would you rather remove the racing line? This is one of the more famous features of the game from the original – a line giving exact turn-in and breaking for best lap times. Now there’s also an option for just a breaking guide, though it does show where to hit the apex of a turn.

Seeing Forza 2 running in 720p with 60fps shows a good looking, if not beautiful game. The car models are excellent and the tracks are all accurate (where they exist), but this is not groundbreaking to look at in the same way as seeing PGR3 or GOW for the first time.

Another aspect of the graphics is the car decal/modelling. Cosmetically, almost any car can and is easily changed. Just look at some of my designs. All cars have decal layers in the thousands meaning that you can create anything from a tiger-striped mini to a TVR Tuscan with a wolf on the bonnet.

Of course it doesn’t matter what it looks like if the place is terrible, but thankfully it lives up to the hype. Each car has a very different feel to it with weight, drive train and a myriad of other factors giving the near-flawless illusion that you’re driving the car. I guess the only real letdown for me is the lack of a genuine in-car view. Given the simulation nature of the game this seems somewhat of an oversight but apparently it would have had a hugely negative impact on the physics engine that runs at a mammoth 360 updates per second.

Where Forza 2 really excels is the physics. This element of the gameplay is really brought out if you turn off the driver aids and turn on the telemetry. Look at your tyres heating up. What about the g’s you’re pulling around that turn? Where is the weight of the car being moved to? There are pages and pages of telemetry sheets to look at, all with varied bits of information on the car’s performance.

There are various options and modes in the game including an arcade session (featuring time trial, exhibition and free run) but career is really where it’s at. Here there’s probably close to 60 hours gameplay all in, maybe more. There is a huge wealth of cars to unlock and different race types (such as manufacturer originals and endurance races) so there’s sure to be something for everyone.

One final thing to mention about Forza Motorsport 2 is the online component of the game. Once on Xbox Live you can sell cars at auction, show off your car designs, race and much more. One of the coolest things is how well it is integrated to the official website. I can heartily recommend this game and if you’re in the least bit interested in cars you are sure to get a lot out of it. Mentioning which, I’m off to play it again…

Xbox Live – A Reason To Be Cheerful

May 28, 2007 by Mr Butterscotch

For those of you familiar with my blog, you’ll know there are plenty of things I despair about in gaming today. This has included everything from continuous, yearly updates through to the stupidity of enemy AI. One thing I haven’t complained about in a while though is multiplayer gaming. This is because I haven’t ventured beyond split screen in a long time.

Without sounding like a dinosaur, I remember early networked versions of Quake played at school. I also remember how frustrating and technical they could be just to get set up. Don’t even get me started on latency, ping and hacking the game. Of course, things got better. Just look at how (Steam aside) Counter-Strike: Source is practically a three clicks and you’re there affair. Even still, issues can arise.

All of this is what makes Xbox Live such a superb workable solution to online gaming. No longer just the domain of the leet-speaking techno-geek, gaming is now a pursuit enjoyed by the masses (thanks to the Sony magic believe it or not). Online gaming is now only just a button press away – is also on the TV to boot.

The migration of gaming out of the bedroom and into the living room has resulted in the sight of many (more than 50% of Xbox 360 owners according to Microsoft) people sticking on a headset mic and lambasting each other. More to the point, it has conncected them in way which make their experiences more valid. This has been brought on through camaraderie, a sense of adventure, humour and competition.

I am in complete support of Live and really enjoy the features it provides. The demos are good, the micro transactions on the whole reasonably good value and the free game content is excellent. Even factoring in £35 per year, I’d certainly consider it worth the money.

So, here’s a quick recap on the features of Xbox Live Gold:
* Friends service
* Text and video messaging service
* One stop download centre for updates, demos, extra content etc
* Premium multiplayer experience including matchmaking and feedback tools

So, what’s not to like? Well there are idiots on there – there is a system to report them though. How bothered you get by a twelve-year-old kid calling you names is up to you. A lack of open net access was also a very glib choice by Microsoft. After all, it does mean you are a locked into an extremely value engineered system.

With this few problems in mind, I’m pretty sure that Xbox Live Gold is pretty much a must buy – if you’re a bit luckier than me. I’m unlucky in that my router is too far away from my 360 at the moment, and there’s no way I’m paying for the overpriced wireless dongle for it. Never mind. Other than that though, if you’re curious to experience multiplayer and you are looking at a console then there’s no better a choice than Live.

The Failings of the PS3

May 15, 2007 by Mr Butterscotch

I have made it no secret that, out of the 3 ‘this gen’ consoles, I believe the PS3 to have the most potential. This is for reasons of power, capability and having a wireless control pad. However, it seems that each of the three consoles – PS3, Xbox360 and Wii – have reasons to doubt them. I have covered the latter two here already, so lets move on to the PS3.

One of the most obvious that things that hits you about the PS3 is the lack of rumble. Now that Sony has settled a suit with Immersion there shouldn’t be a problem. But there is. All the consoles shipped already don’t have force feedback. To find out how enjoyable force feedback is, try the new Microsoft Wireless Steering Wheel. For a previous gen experience, try Forza Motorsport on the Xbox. Rumble and feedback feels just as it should on that.

Price is the major point that everyone has pulled up the PS3 on, and with good reason. Over in the UK it is still retailing at over £420 – which is more than $700. That’s not far off half a month’s wages for some people. You can now get an 32 inch LCD TV for that price. Or a new washer, or cooker. Any essential for the home really. This should really put into perspective how much it costs.

So if the PS3 is so expensive, is it still being bought? Well, yes. However, as I’m a cynical marketer I’m 100% sure that even if it were a couple of hundred dollars more, people would still flock to the Sony brand. This is evidenced in the fact that as much as it’s been slated in the gaming press, the console is still being sold.

Games, and the selection thereof, is perhaps the number one criticism of the PS3. What do you want to play at the moment beyond Motorstorm? For me, it’s nothing really. That’s a shame given the power of the console and the matched motion-sensing controller. The number of exclusive games has been reduced (Devil May Cry 4 anyone) – though this is a symptom of the industry and something I’ll cover in another article. However, if there aren’t any AAA exclusives, why wouldn’t someone just buy the cheaper 360?

Online functionality is an issue, though in my opinion I see the PS3 as between the Wii and the Xbox360 in terms of current ability. Rubbish friend codes ruin the Wii, whilst Live is hampered by being a paid-for service. Home looks impressive, if similar to Second Life.

Overall, I guess that the PS3 doesn’t have any spectacular detractions to what it is currently providing, more like niggly faults. This speaks in turn to potential in the near future, and I’m hoping for great things. Of course, two of these great things would be a price cut and some games I am genuinely excited to play. This will come with time though, I know I certainly wasn’t an early adopter of the 360…

Gadzooks! New Writers!

May 9, 2007 by Phillip Kimpo Jr

Gadzooks might be an old-fashioned word, but Gadzooki the blog is always out to serve you fresh articles. Hence, in the next days you’ll be seeing a batch of new and exciting writers. You’ve met one already (Lorie). I’m the second — Phillip, a.k.a. Corsarius. I’m an avid gamer, one-time programmer (in my college course), and gadget geek, so my future posts will more or less revolve around these three fields.

To start things off, here’s a hilarious comic strip that’s a parody of an old and popular NES game. Can you recognize the comics’ characters?

That’s Little Mac and Doc from Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, which was named by Gamespot as one of the greatest games of all time. You can find the full version of the comic at my old post in Crimson Crux.

More coming soon!

Top Ten Reasons Why Animal Crossing Is Better Than a Real Village

March 13, 2007 by Mr Butterscotch

I was thinking of how Animal Crossing gives you access to a persistent offline world to explore, but without any real people to interact with. In my opinion, there’s a good few reasons why you should play offline as well as online; and there are even occasions when it’s better to play on your own. So, lets take a look at these ten reasons why you should consider offline play, with an emphasis on Animal Crossing:

1. In your own AC village there is no bad language, nor racism or other stupidity.
2. There is far greater world control – this includes control over your house, your environment and of course what goes on when you’re not there. In the case of Animal Crossing things do develop and change, but that’s part of the experience and it is still fundamentally the same.
3. No noobs or experienced players – only you at your own level.
4. No stealing, hacking attacking or otherwise Pking during play. What happens is really in your control, and that’s the appeal.
5. The village can be developed as you like, and noone will disturb it – except that XXX Tom Nook!
6. We all have our ‘quirks’ – in your online village there isn’t anyone to see them unless you allow them into your space. Watch that they don’t steal anything though!
7. If you’re a girl, you can play without being harassed to death by teenage males giving you a/s/l every five minutes.
8. Peace is a rarity with online play, what with random texts of people selling things, voice chat and people saying rather odd things. In your own village of collections and cleaning up, you have full peace.
9. After reading this, would you really want to open your game to this?
10. You have your objectives – no one will hinder – or help. The will have will mould to you. 1up.com has a brilliant feature on it.

Overall, the level of control you have with your own village in Animal Crossing makes it something that you really should not miss if you have a DS and Nintendo would be stupid not to bring it to the Wii. Enjoy!

The Wii – An Alternative Take

February 1, 2007 by Mr Butterscotch

Okay, so the Wii has cool controls, average graphics and average online capabilities (because of no online multiplayer, which is madness but anyway). So far the games have been either shovelware or good (not great), but nothing really ground breakings. Does that sum everything up about the Wii in a nutshell?

Frankly I’ve played a fair few hours now and as yet I haven’t bought one. It is fun – don’t get me wrong – but it is just not amazingly compelling. It almost feels as though it is lacking something, though I’m not sure what. Racking my brain, I’m pretty sure it is lacking a game (or even a few) with depth. In saying that, so is the 360 – the PS3 is possibly lacking a good game of any description but that’s another matter.

Of course, before anyone says too much, I’ll have to mention that a) the Wii hasn’t been out too long, and b) it has Zelda. Both of these points are of course true – I also think that Wii Sports hints at the possible fun that can be had with the diminutive little white box. I just can’t wait to see a deeper version of the Wii Golf game.

It still feels like the Wii has been underpowered as a point of difference, and that really annoys me. Making a console to a spec so it reaches a particular price-point is fine, but making it deliberately unable to perform much better than its predecessor is just a bit rubbish. I can see the strategy, I just don’t know if it has been done for the right reasons.

Lets sidestep the Wii for a second to look at the PS3, as I alluded to earlier. It has a motion sensing controller, great graphics (reported by some at least) and a big price tag. So the control – the main differentiator of the Wii barring the underpowered nature and price – is not too different. Theoretically then that means the Wii should offer a worse experience. However, if you can’t afford the scary price tag of the PS3, that’s really a moot point.

The graphics issue of games as a whole does annoy me. I’ve not seen anything on most games that beat Oblivion on the 360 (or a high end PC more like) or even Ninja Gaiden on the original Xbox. More to the point, way back in the mist of time (or modern day for basic games) we played for a high score. Now though, games are about the experience. Sure, the Wii looks okay, yet no more than that. A wasted opportunity surely, that will become more noticeable over time.

I guess overall I’m being a little hard on the Wii, but I can say I’m not much of a Nintendo fan anymore. Their day-glo characters don’t really cut it and I’m still wondering where the promised new franchise is. I feel a little like I’ve grown up, but Nintendo have not. They’re actually catering toward a specific type of gamer, and I just don’t feel that I’m in that segment anymore.

One of the big things about Nintendo’s approach is that it really does scream potential. It does this to a louder and greater extent than any other console and this is due to ease of development, the online distribution service and that now famous Wii-mote. All of these things could offer a Wii owner hours and hours of fun, as well as extremely diverse content. This is one of the things that I think could really make the Wii as a home entertainment product.

Overall, I’m not convinced that any of the three big players in the computer and videogames industry (Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony) have it right at the moment. None of them have the strategy that says to me ‘I’m the best thing here, and this is why’. I got a 360 because I played more of my Xbox than I did my Cube, and I also played Gears of War before I got one. Now I’m left scratching my head and wondering where we go from here. Well that’s it about the Wii; I’ll be exploring other systems in future articles.

Wii Impressions

January 19, 2007 by Gadzooki

I got my hands on a Wii. Long search. Big surprise when I finally got it. In fact, I walked into a GameStop and said “I know you don’t have any Wii’s but I was wondering if you know when the next shipment might be coming in.” The guy replied, “Actually, we do have a Wii. Just one. You want it?”

I was floored. My search had ended. I could hardly speak. I mumbled and fumbled, giddy as a 7 year old on Christmas morning, and said “Yes, I’d love to have it.”

I brought it home and set it up on my 40 inch Samsung LCD and home theater system. Here are my impressions.

The Good

The Wii translates well onto a widescreen television. Unlike my old GameCube (I am a nintendo fanboy btw), the graphics look crisp and unstretched on the widescreen. In fact, on the Wii, you are given the choice of a variety of screen configurations.

To be honest, I’m only using the standard composite cables that came with the Wii. I hear that the component cables make the picture look that much better. But even now I’m happy. I suppose the graphics threshold on Wii Sports isn’t very high, so the component cables will probably come in handy down the road when prettier games come out.

The Wii is a marvel of production quality. Everything is exquisitely simple to setup. The Wii-mote controls are spot-on. Nintendo really nailed this. I was skeptical, but the controls are brilliant.

The Wii Menu is also another marvel to behold. The Wii menu alone gives me a vision of how Nintendo could control of our living rooms. Broken into “Channels” the Wii mote makes channel surfing easier than ever – of course at this point you aren’t surfing through TV channels but Wii channels such as the Opera web browser, the Wii Shop channel (very excited about this), the News channel (not quite operational), the Weather channel (actually very accurate and pleasant), the Mii channel (my wife and I had a blast creating our Miis – in fact, my wife accuses me of being a neurotic SOB for picking a face with painted stripes that looks like a crazy man on a rampage).

Of course the Wii is all about the games. At this point I’ve only played two. Wii Sports and Super Monkey Ball. Thumbs up to Wii Sports and Thumbs Down to Super Monkey Ball. Since this is the “Good” section, I’ll focus on Wii Sports.

The best overall game in my opinion goes to boxing because it most fully integrates the entire body. However, the game with the best controls, and probably the easiest to learn, goes to Bowling. Tennis is fairly fun as well, although I’d prefer to have control over where my guys move. I also have the sense that it lacks precision and control over ball placement. Baseball, in my view, is a total throwaway. Not fun at all. Golf is somewhat enjoyable, but quite difficult to learn the precision you need for good shots.

Wii sports is a great game because it satisfies the fun factor, especially with more than one person. It doesn’t have good graphics. It isn’t a deep game. But it sucks you in because it is fun. That’s what Nintendo is all about. And they deliver here.

One final note: if you play Wii Sports at least 30 minute a day, expect to lose weight and tone your body. It reallly is amazing that you can get exercise from such a fun game!

The Bad

To be honest, I’m a little underwhelmed by the games on the market for the Wii, especially fun, interactive games. To be fair, the library for new console systems is always sparse for the first six months. But what disappoints me most of all is the total lack of good sports games, aside from Madden 2007. Where’s EAs Fight Night (a perfect match)? Where’s the pirate game with sword fights? Sure Zelda has some of these elements, but I just don’t understand why games with fairly simple mechanics haven’t been released yet. Maybe developers didn’t realize how amazingly popular the system would be, or maybe development is hard? I don’t know.

The graphics on the games I’ve played leave something to be desired. In fact, since I haven’t played Zelda, I think that everything so far could have been done on a GameCube. From what I hear, Zelda is the best looking game so far on Wii, so I’ll have to wait and see how that looks.

Lack of online play. I think Nintendo dropped the ball on this one. I expected to be able to play online straight out of the box. What a disappointment. Wii could be so freakin fun online.

Slow downloads, slow loads. When I first started up the Wii and browsed through the various channels, I was prompted to update my Wii online. Getting online was easy. But once I got online, I had about 30-40 minutes of downloads to make. That was a real bummer as I just wanted to start playing. I could have avoided this by simply not setting up my WiFi connection, but alas, I had to leave my system to its downloading devices while I went away and surfed the net for 30 minutes. But that was a one time thing (hopefully!). What concerns me more is that there is a noticable delay (not more than a few seconds) when browsing between channels and menus screens. I don’t like this. That’s precisely the reason I upgraded to broadband on the net: to avoid load times. Shouldn’t a piece of hardware without the need for network communications beable to outperform a web browsing experience?

One last note: I bought Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz for the Wii and I couldn’t be more disappointed. My wife and I loved Super Monkey Ball 2 on the Gamecube, especially the mini-games like bowling and billiards. But Banana Blitz totally flops here. Sure, there are something like 50 mini-games, but they are all major flops. None of them are nearly as fun as the mini-games in Super Monkey Ball 2. I’ll never understand why developers let their game franchises take steps backwards.

Outlook

In general, I’m very siked about the Wii. However, my being siked is conditional on 1) the introduction of online play and 2) the introduction of fun and interactive games. Right now, the only game that’s perfectly Wii-suited is Wii Sports. Let’s hope that there are plenty others in the pipeline.

My Adventures With a PS3

January 3, 2007 by Gadzooki

The other day I was waiting in line for my Wii, and I missed out. But I did buy a PS3 in a “me against the world” moment. There were plenty Playstation 3s in stock, but of course no Nintendo Wiis.

I’ve been obsessing about the Wii now for over a month. But I haven’t been willing to buy one on eBay. I don’t like the idea of paying more than twice the system’s value, especially when it reveals a major defect in my character (no patience!). In any case, at this point, I’m now resorting to the “just wait until February method”.

But let’s get back to the story. I went for a Wii and came home with a PS3. My wife was more than a little pissed off that I had paid almost $750 for a new video game system (after taxes, a game and a new controller). She told me that I had no option but to return the Playstation 3 the next day.

Well, I didn’t return the PS3. What I did was hook up with a friend of a friend who tried to sell it on eBay for profit. But that totally bombed. I ended up having to get another friend to bid up the auction so that I’d at least not lose any money (Don’t tell eBay!)

The moral of this story, as you can probably tell, is that the PS3 is just not in high demand. Not for the price at which it is selling. Not only can you now walk into any random store and pick up a Playstation 3, but you can no longer make a worthwhile profit on eBay. In my view, this is indicative of the fact that the the PS3 is turning out to be a bust for Sony.

I predicted this here at Gadzooki even before the system came out, and I think my prediction is playing out more and more as each day goes by. The PS3 is trying to be too much to too many people, and for that reason it is priced outside of the range of the casual gamer. Sure, the hard core gamers are buying it up, but really, you don’t have a mass market product if only the hard core gamers are buying your system.

Gaming In The Future

December 27, 2006 by Mr Butterscotch

Now that the rush is over and I’ve had a play with all of the consoles released over here (sadly that doesn’t include the PS3 however) I’m thinking ahead. One of the things that I usually don’t consider is what lies beyond the next batch of big releases. I, weirdly, have difficulty in thinking of games that I would like to play (in terms of concept ideas at least), which is also weird as I’m naturally creative. However, for this article I decided to have a really good think – over a nice cappuccino – on where I’d like the future of videogames to go.

Firstly, lets pick up on some of the obvious stuff. The Xbox360 is designed to be permanently connected to the Internet. This is obvious from the fact that it lacks an internal clock and some games give you a date on your unlocks, but only if you’re online at the time. It also means you can have your downloads in a queue, with stuff being sent to your console whilst your sleep.

This goes for the Wii and no doubt the PS3. So my estimate for the future in this department is that this will be an increasingly used feature, with all three nex-gen systems happily downloading and updating your content and games, and maybe even downloading stuff to compliment your current games roster. This is actually a feature I would quite like to see given how much I’ve enjoyed getting access to demos on Live.

Games on demand will become a more prominent service – whether this be games from an online rental store, games queued in a DDS (digital distribution service) such as Steam, games downloadable for trial and then buyable etc etc. I guess this means games will generally be more accessible for all, including the busy professional and the young mother who needs to get the latest game for her son or daughter.

Wireless is to be a huge feature in the future of videogames, as it already is in the present. Everything from wireless remotes, to motion sensing and even possibly power will be coming via wireless protocols. This will mean less clutter, and probably more synergy between devices. I remember when Sony was originally talking about the PS3, and the idea of other Sony devices (such as a TV or even a microwave) having a CELL processor.

The theory was then that they would use distributed computation to power games and applications. I would go so far as to speculate that this would become more and more commonplace in the future. Whilst at the moment with my 360 I can only send stuff from the computer or discs, sometime in the next 20 years there’ll be a console which will be able to ‘borrow’ the CPU of a desktop or laptop and use it to further enhance particular games.

One of the things that has disappointed me with the recent consoles is the lack of controller options. However, this might be changing with the future. I recall the original Xbox massive controller, which was quickly swapped out for the ‘S’ model for the European and Asian markets. It’s a novelty now to have an original. With the Wii of course you can have a classic controller, a GameCube controller or of course the Wiimote and nunchuk. All very good. To top that, you can now get a Wireless steering wheel for the 360 and probably a motion-sensing device in the future (come on, if Sony and Nintendo have one, Microsoft are bound to follow suit at some point).

Sandbox games have become more and more important as time has passed, and this is going to continue into the future. Stuff like GTA, Dead Rising and Saints Row will be eclipsed in the future by games which have a huge amount of freedom still, but with a much more realised world – giving even more interactivity and characterisation to the game. It goes without saying that Alan Wake could possibly be the first example of this so I’m quite looking forward to seeing that in action.

Graphics is of course the big one that is going to change over time. A couple of people I know are still talking about Virtual Reality and how that will be the next big leap in games, however I disagree. I was old enough to try VR when it first came out and saw a number of people who work sick – the motion they saw and the world they were in simply baffled their brain. So nope, I don’t think VR is the way to go. On the other hand, I believe that HD will become the norm (until super HD or whatever), there’ll be a couple of disc formats to offer more content (I won’t offer a winner here) but one will win out.

This will allow even more visual detail in games, though we’ll possibly find it difficult to produce something that’ll run it at first. In my opinion there’s less of a leap between the past generation and the nex-gen at the moment and this is a trend that is set to continue unless there’s a serious amount of time between them. To be honest, games look pretty good at the moment but naturally this is a boundary that’s going to be continually pushed until things look indistinguishable from real life.

So overall, what does the future of gaming look like? Well it’s online, beautiful looking and offering excellent controls. It has a variety of game types (as now) but with some brilliant freeform stuff that gives the player what he or she really wants – choice. We’ll wait longer for big releases, but in the meantime play smaller indie stuff. Wirelessly, we’ll order our dinner delivered in the middle of a game, and as it arrives pay with our ‘credits’. Game over man!