What's the upcoming tech you think will have the biggest impact on gaming?

[ZedClampet]

I used to think that VR or AR would have a huge impact on gaming, but that didn't turn out to be the case, at least so far. What upcoming tech do you see as having the biggest impact?

For me, the two would be conversational AI, which would take all the NPC's and turn them into seemingly real people. Imagine a world like Skyrim where everyone you meet has their own personality and can carry on a conversation just like a real person. You could even negotiate with them, ask them to join your party, etc.

The second one would be the computer-brain interface. That's probably farther off. I've heard lots of ideas on what all this would entail: from seeing the world without a monitor to actually feeling something when you pick up an item or get hit, etc. It's kind of difficult to wrap your brain around it, but obviously that would have a huge impact on gaming.

Maybe there's something more down-to-earth? What tech do you think will change gaming in the relatively near future?

 

[Brian Boru]

What tech do you think will change gaming in the relatively near future?

Plenty of graphics cards at MSRP!

computer-brain interface … more down-to-earth

I think it'll stay relatively non-syfy for quite a while. Seeing without a monitor sort of exists with stuff like G's snooping glasses, just add HUD functionality to them or the next gen of contact lenses.

Feeling also exists for decades, check out 'haptic feedback':

Haptic technology - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

We already have the interface tho via our input and output devices. I think 'banana', my fingers type it, it appears on screen—isn't that a peeling? The tech will advance of course, my best guess is via wearables like clothes and watches, and hopefully powered by all the energy we currently waste thru our feet when walking.

take all the NPC's and turn them into seemingly real people

Oh please no, I play to get away from real people!

Good convo would probably be great in RPGs and Sims, but very annoying in other genres—you really want to hear about the NPCs bunions while lining up a tough shot? Imagine a dating sim with a mother-in-law NPC 🥴

My guess for the biggest near-term tech advance is the ability to create a game without having to invest years in acquiring the currently necessary skills and resources. That should unleash an explosion of creativity due to accessibility, similar to how word processing and digital publishing have unleashed ~1,000 times the number of authors, or how phone cameras have resulted in ~1,000 times the number of images.

 

[Zloth]

VR/AR near term. I'm actually thinking AR may work out better than VR... or maybe AR with some sort of shutters so you can flip a switch to have them go into VR mode. The motion sickness thing has to be solved to make VR work, though. At the very least, we can replace our monitors with virtual monitors in AR.

Not so near term, if quantum computing can get anywhere, it will completely transform how computers work - games included.

Oh please no, I play to get away from real people!

You can not escape. We are inevitable!

 

[Brian Boru]

We are inevitable

Oscar Wilde's famous quote about fox hunting:
"The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable"

Quantum Computing … will completely transform … games

I don't see 'completely transform'. Faster, bigger etc of course, but as far as I know QC will mainly increase the power, such that what takes years now will take seconds or minutes then.

Games are more about design and implementation, aren't they? Maybe you see a lot of Microsoft Space Travel Simulators out there, that could use major power for sure? Then again, there are currently pretty decent super cluster simulators around already.

What do you have in mind?

 

[Pifanjr]

Better batteries could have a significant impact in how viable mobile gaming is. Mobile gaming is restricted mostly by the limited playing time between charging and the power of the hardware, which itself is limited in part to stretch out battery life.

If batteries were invented that allowed upgrading the hardware of handheld gaming devices and allowed you to play for an entire day or more without charging, we'd probably see a big shift in the market towards more mobile friendly games, especially considering how big that market already is.

 

[Zloth]

I don't see 'completely transform'. Faster, bigger etc of course, but as far as I know QC will mainly increase the power, such that what takes years now will take seconds or minutes then.

Stuff going from taking years to taking seconds IS transformative! How much faster is a home PC today vs. 1980? Stuff that would take a few seconds now would take maybe a day back then? Several hours, at least. Games have changed massively since then, and that's just going from days to seconds!

It's hard to say what will happen in the future with this. Computation isn't everything, after all. Even if your game of Civilization can easily compute the actions of every person and many of the plants and animals on the planet every turn, you've still got to store all that information somewhere. Quantum isn't across-the-board faster, either. Some things it helps with, some things it doesn't, and some things it can help with but you've got to think about the problem in a massively different way.

In fact, I expect entire new programming languages will be needed to deal with this stuff. It's also still a good ten years off, though, so I ain't gonna have to learn it. (Good luck, kids! )