Game developers and PR people are always promising us something (some more than others). And those of us that have been around long enough know that a lot of these "next big thing"s either don't happen or get changed around so much they end up being something else entirely. Sometimes they do come through and we get some amazing games. But more often than not these ground breaking features are just full of hot air.

So what promises have been kept? Online play is now an industry standard and is now expected to come with a game as opposed to being a neat little feature. Some advancements in communication with voice chat and in-game commands have gotten better and easier to use. HD and improved graphics are a given and sound quality, along with implementation (Dead Space), have also come a long way in the past few years. Stories and characters have become more complex and have gained emotional attachment by many of us. Control schemes have remained basically the same except the Wii (Power Glove anyone?). It seems that advancements in controller technology only come in slow numbers and only when absolutely necessary.



So with all these promises of "totally awesome" games that are "totally not ripoffs or sequels of other games" where do we stand today? The current environment seems somewhat stagnant; not bad but not moving forward at all. We do have better graphics but the games remain the same and even the Wii is plagued with boring games. Have we reached the pinnacle of gaming innovation?

In some sense yes we have. With processors getting maxed out and graphical achievements becoming harder to notice I think we have reached the furthest we can go with the current state of things. We really are playing games from 10 years ago but with better graphics and gameplay being more refined. Again, I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad thing, it just means the industry isn't moving forward much.

What's needed to truly make the "Next Gen" experience? The Wii was on the right track but got pounded with shovel-ware. Natal looks really lame but could have some potential for the gaming industry later down the road. Sony's push for 3D sounds only like a 1/2 step forward because the controls remain the same and the price for a 3D TV is something I don't even want to think about.

Clearly the best option is to have all of the above (3D and good motion control...Star Trek's Holodeck?) mixed in with the best of what we have today. Simple improvements in rendering, compression techniques and more online features is nice but it's not doing anything to really advance the future of gaming.



What would I like to see in the future? Assuming everything we have now is still around I thin that:
1) More emphasis on smaller studios to encourage originality, outside thinking, independence and innovation.
2) Allow interaction between players and game makers to be encouraged and perhaps directly implemented within games.
3)New ways to control the game and to experience it.

With these 3 simple changes we could truly enter the "Next Gen" age and avoid rehashing games from the lat 90's again.