Is VR only the beginning? Image Source. Licensed under Creative Commons.
The history of video games is relatively short, but in those few decades gaming has taken huge leaps, starting as basic 2D black and white arcade games like Pong and Space Invaders and evolving into rich 3D online multiplayer experiences consisting of entire virtual worlds with cinematic scripts and scores.
It’s difficult to work out where video games will go next – or indeed if they have anywhere left to go. Judging from recent innovations, video games still have a number of exciting (and scary) possibilities ahead. Here are just some examples of things we could see in the future.
Cloud gaming
In the future we may all decide to forgo consoles in favour of cloud gaming. This would cut out the need to upgrade consoles every few years as all games and data could be stored on the cloud and played via a PC and a controller of choice.
Cloud gaming platforms have already been set up – the biggest example being OnLive – but this platform is still yet to take off. Cloud gaming does have its disadvantages such as bandwidth limitations and video compression, but were these problems eventually to be overcome it could become the way of gaming.
Improved security
Gaming developers are also having to tighten up their security as fraud rises. Facial recognition is thought to replace passwords in the near future as a more secure form of access restriction – we could see gaming companies trying to improve customer experience with Netverify or other facial recognition programmes. There are even plans to build computer mice with inbuilt fingerprint biometrics just like smartphones.
The WiiU Gamepad. Image Source. Licensed under Creative Commons.
Secondary screens
It’s possible that we could all be gaming with two screens in the future instead of one. The WiiU Gamepad has already introduced a separate screen into the controller whilst you’re playing on the TV. This could make the screens of games less clutter free – rather than having to incorporate a HUD on the TV screen, all this information can be displayed on the secondary screen.
Immersive VR
VR (Virtual Reality) is still only in its infancy. At the moment, it’s still very much a fun gimmick, but in the future it could be a means of escaping into entire new worlds (think of a situation similar to Ready Player One!). Of course, this level of added immersion could have its drawbacks – already addicts can lose themselves in games and this would only become easier when VR takes over.
Creative AR
AR (Augmented Reality) is also a new area of gaming teeming with possibilities. Pokemon Go is an example that allows players to explore the real world whilst catching Pokémon on their phone. A growing number of games are building on this premise, combining the real world and the virtual world. Just imagine being able to turn your local supermarket into a scene from a survival horror game or being able to bring forests alive with fantasy creatures?
