The next step in gaming

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Stoanhart

Junior Member
Nov 30, 2004
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any such controller would require one hand for aiming, so it'd be essentially a mouse. The reason controllers don't cut it is because you are limited to about an inch of movement. If I need to quickly spin in a console game, all I can do is hold the stick far to the side, and wait for my character to rotate at a predefined, and ungodly slow, rate. With a mouse, I can determine the speed by how quickly I move my hand, and I can keep going as far as I need to to accomplish what I want (within cord's limit). That's what makes it so good. You feel connected becasue your actions are mimicked on screen, whereas a controller, you give an instruction and kind on wait for it to be carried out, hopefully to your satisfaction.
 

AbAbber2k

Diamond Member
Mar 1, 2005
6,474
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In the end it's all about the Powerglove anyway... I think we can all agree on that.
 

ahurtt

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2001
4,283
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One innovation I'd like to see in shooter games is the ability to shoot at a point on the screen other than the direct center. That way you could do things like lay down cover fire in one direction while watching to your left or right to see if anybody is trying to flank you and stuff like that. In real life you could be shooting in one direction but looking in another direction (probably not too safe :) don't try it at home) but all games I can think of now have you always having to place your enemy AND field of vision directly in the crosshair in the middle of the screen.
 

Stoanhart

Junior Member
Nov 30, 2004
15
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hmm. sound good, but how? second mouse? How would you use WASD if you had a second mouse.

They could have a kind of toggle switch. Hold it down to control POV, let go to resume regular crosshair centered gameplay. But then you can't really spray your cover fire, since your mouse would be disconnected from your aim. You would keep shooting one spot, making it kind of uneffective. I guess you could have it so that when the toggle key is down, your mouse controls your head, but WASD lets you move your gun around. They could add a sort of random sway so it doesn't look so cluncky for effective cover fire. If you need precision, simply letting go of toggle should instantly pop back to the guns current location, not where you are looking.

I just kind of wrote as I though... good idea ahurtt. Wanna make a game with me ? :)
 

MadAd

Senior member
Oct 1, 2000
429
1
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head trackers are already a reality - have to wear a dot on your head for the reader to pick it up but it works (apparently).

Im very pleased to see the Phys card ..... its about time we had a seed change, progressing as it was It seemed like it was going to be another 20 years till we get to a new level.

Atm, with phys enhancements in the bag I think the next goal should be for photo realistic gaming ... skip 40 bit, lets go to 48 bit colour.
 

TheNiceGuy

Golden Member
Dec 23, 2004
1,569
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Hmmm - well did anybody get to watch the Connections series? Let me know what you think.

I see a few people are on my wavelength about what I mean by "the next step". I mean, think about how almost every game is screen based. They can do some amazing things within that tiny dimension of human perseption. But it is like a tempest in a teapot. Look at your grandfolks and how they, like many people, have little or absolutly no interest in video games. Because it is soo limited by a 2D-flat-screen-manipulate-a-controller interface that requires a leap for the user to'get into' the game. But people are still willing to shell out cash for so called technology leaps like the version of Direct X or whatever.

I hate to say it, but I think the next big thing in technology/games will happen after world war 3, if there is anybody left!
 

Stoanhart

Junior Member
Nov 30, 2004
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Just what does WW3 have to do with gaming advances. You think the type of technology developed for a (I'd say very hypothetical) WW3 would be virtual reality type technologies? I'd say it's be more along the lines of missile defense, mass destruction weapons (preferrably ones that leave the target's infrastructure intact), and so forth.
 

Stoanhart

Junior Member
Nov 30, 2004
15
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I've only watched the first episode so far. Looks good though. I'll have to get around to watching the rest
 

TheNiceGuy

Golden Member
Dec 23, 2004
1,569
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I found the first episode of the first series kind of sucks. The rest are great though.

Advances don't happen like "ok, lets make the next leap in computers." Its more like someone fooling around with a weaving loom leads to the invention of computers, or Napoleaon's battlefield need for fresh food led to modern jet propulsion. And war is one of the biggest stimulators of tech advancement. Everything gets shook up.
 

Stoanhart

Junior Member
Nov 30, 2004
15
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yeah, i wasn't too excited about the first episode. Still, didn't think the plow was so important!!! :)

I'm gonna go watch one now!
 

TheNiceGuy

Golden Member
Dec 23, 2004
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Actualy, on reflection, my original title post is a bit off. The chance of someone guessing the next paradigm are like 1 in 1000000000000. People can extrapolate about silly stuff like this PhysicX hardware etc, but not about the next big leap. Exactly like Napolean's cook and bottle washer (or no one else at the time) had NO IDEA that their idea to preserve food in steamed bottles would lead to jet propulsion. Its simply beyond our grasp. Then and now.
 

TheNiceGuy

Golden Member
Dec 23, 2004
1,569
3
81
Re the first episode: It is totaly misleading as it isn't like any of the other stuff. I think they made it to get late-70s audience into public TV by using the whole 'survivalist' angle, a kind of hook attempt. From Episode 2 onwards were the real series to me.
 

MetalStorm

Member
Dec 22, 2004
148
0
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Originally posted by: TheNiceGuy
Actualy, on reflection, my original title post is a bit off. The chance of someone guessing the next paradigm are like 1 in 1000000000000. People can extrapolate about silly stuff like this PhysicX hardware etc, but not about the next big leap. Exactly like Napolean's cook and bottle washer (or no one else at the time) had NO IDEA that their idea to preserve food in steamed bottles would lead to jet propulsion. Its simply beyond our grasp. Then and now.

It did?? Please explain!
 

Stoanhart

Junior Member
Nov 30, 2004
15
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Episode 2 was good. Can't wait to watch the rest! I like how he recaps the whole chain of events in the end. Are all the episodes like this? A series of events to one invention, kind of independant of the other episodes, or do they build on one another?
 

TheNiceGuy

Golden Member
Dec 23, 2004
1,569
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Glad you like it!
They are independent of each other in that they are each new. But its nice to watch them in order because there are occasional references to other points in other episodes. They all kind of build up to some of his ideas in the last episode, but I won't give it away.
Anyway, enjoy! They really changed the way I think.
 

Stoanhart

Junior Member
Nov 30, 2004
15
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It's being worked on. I'm not sure where I read it, but there is a company making it. The cartridges last about 6 months, no matter how much you use them. For now, they can simulate some of the basic essential smells. Gunfire, tire smoke, etc.

I'm not really sure if I'd want my room smelling like tire smoke and gunfire, though. Fireworks and burning rubber are generally not too pleasant...
 

vegetation

Diamond Member
Feb 21, 2001
4,270
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Originally posted by: Stoanhart
It's being worked on. I'm not sure where I read it, but there is a company making it. The cartridges last about 6 months, no matter how much you use them. For now, they can simulate some of the basic essential smells. Gunfire, tire smoke, etc.

I'm not really sure if I'd want my room smelling like tire smoke and gunfire, though. Fireworks and burning rubber are generally not too pleasant...

I read about this in 1995 and it was supposed to have been out "real soon". I imagine the main stumbbling block has been legal issues, such as scent patents (common), and issues resulting from potential allergic reactions in the public.
 

TheNiceGuy

Golden Member
Dec 23, 2004
1,569
3
81
On smell, I remember some legal issues raised about it in advertising campains. There were some companies with ads that pumped a smell into the area around their ad. They had to back off because it was seem as a kind of assault or pollution. Kind of like noise pollution, it starts to physicaly become unavoidable, unlike a visual ad, so there is a kind of infringment on personal rights.
Lol, gunpowder and burning rubber in the apartment.
 

Kibbo

Platinum Member
Jul 13, 2004
2,847
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Originally posted by: Stoanhart
Episode 2 was good. Can't wait to watch the rest! I like how he recaps the whole chain of events in the end. Are all the episodes like this? A series of events to one invention, kind of independant of the other episodes, or do they build on one another?

If it's the original "Connections," that I remember from my adolecence, then all the episodes are independant, but each invention explored are combined into one big one.

Try to guess what it is:)

It really is a brilliantly desingned and written show. It's even funny. Or, at least, it was when I was 14. Keep in mind that I have an irrational affection for bad puns.

EDit: I should put my 2c in regarding the OP. Not a technical advance, but rather an immersion advance: I have often thought that a well-made MMO could eventually have an economy that would work just like the ones we have here on earth. I even fantasize that they could be used as laboratories for economic research.

Imagine being able to finally move economics into the realm of experimental science. I don't know about you, but that gets my rocks off.

Maybe I need a woman.
 

Creston

Member
Mar 28, 2005
82
0
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I think the biggest reason we're not seeing any "real" innovation, if you wish to call it that, is because the market has yet to actually embrace any kind of innovation that's already been tried.

We've had VR goggles, but at the time they were like 1800 bucks a pop, and nobody bought them. We've seen chairs that shake and electrocute your whole body, and nobody wants to buy them.

As long as there is no market, any device that tries to do something new will automatically be priced at a range that's beyond that what the average person will be willing to pay, thereby condemning the device to that ultra high priced gimmick stratosphere, which turns it into an endless circle.

Furthermore, most of those innovations would take up space, which most people probably don't have, and I think that with the average age of the gamer seeming to go down, it's also a question of "is it cool enough".

Having said that, I don't think you can really say that there has been NO innovation over the past 20 years. In 1985 we were playing things like Zaxxon and Robin to the Rescue. I believe The Last Ninja came out in 1997 with 16 colors, and it looked absolutely AMAZING at the time.
If somebody had shown me screenshots of Farcry in 1987, I would have crapped myself. :)

The inventions of the 3d accelerator card and the 5.1 surround sound standard have worked miracles for games. I agree with one previous poster that I believe the next "innovation" will come in physics. One company has already demonstrated the physics card, which would handle all physics calculations, and would make Havok 2 look like Wolfenstein to its Doom 3.
And let's not forget multiplayer. That's a lot of innovation, in my book.

As for what REAL innovation we'd find at some point in the future, I don't know. VR has been shown not to strike a cord with most gaming audiences, (and it basically overwhelms your senses anyways) and is way too expensive, and while smell would be a neat little gimmick, I wonder how much following it would receive.
You might be enthused by the idea of smelling that rank, damp sewer your dwarf is trotting through while carrying your crisp basilisk urethra, but I think I'd rather skip it. :)
A gamer's Significant Other might also have something to say about the rank smell of the dead on the battlefield wafting through the house...

As for taste and sense, I don't see how much use they'd be in the most common current day games, so I doubt they'd see much development time.

And that covers all five senses, so how much farther can you go. I guess we could see some headway into the brainwaves in the next 25 years or so, either for control purposes, or for direct immersion, but how many people are going to want to hook a computer up to their brain just to play some games? The pilots in the airforce already weren't too happy with any of the tests done.

Sorry, I know you said you wanted visions of some game utopia in the future, I just think that reality will show us that apart from physics, better sounds and better graphics, we'll stay where we are for now.

Creston




 

TheNiceGuy

Golden Member
Dec 23, 2004
1,569
3
81
kibbo- ya, I think the MMOs have potential. Like I said in my OP, the internet was/is definatley a big step.
Creston- good points, especialy the economics/ergonomics of it.
I don't expect a Utopia, but rather to speculate about what options are likely open to us for future massive innovations in gaming - if any are available at all. Perhaps we are indeed at a deadend for this kind of entertainment experience, and future 'innovations' will be small and trite.
On the idea of VR, IF it is possible to create some "holodeck" type experience, I think it wouldn't be overwhelming for all - in the same way that video games are today fun for some but too much for some people. Knowing it was fake would be enough to allow someone to detatch themselves from it. Anyone know anymore on the ethics or implications of VR theory?
 

magomago

Lifer
Sep 28, 2002
10,973
14
76
Originally posted by: Kibbo
Originally posted by: Stoanhart
Episode 2 was good. Can't wait to watch the rest! I like how he recaps the whole chain of events in the end. Are all the episodes like this? A series of events to one invention, kind of independant of the other episodes, or do they build on one another?

If it's the original "Connections," that I remember from my adolecence, then all the episodes are independant, but each invention explored are combined into one big one.

Try to guess what it is:)

It really is a brilliantly desingned and written show. It's even funny. Or, at least, it was when I was 14. Keep in mind that I have an irrational affection for bad puns.

EDit: I should put my 2c in regarding the OP. Not a technical advance, but rather an immersion advance: I have often thought that a well-made MMO could eventually have an economy that would work just like the ones we have here on earth. I even fantasize that they could be used as laboratories for economic research.


Imagine being able to finally move economics into the realm of experimental science. I don't know about you, but that gets my rocks off.

Maybe I need a woman.

I've thought the exact same thing. I mean we already have rudimentary economies in any MMORPG. Go to a well established server in WOW that has been around a while and notice how the market is stable...then go to a server that is failrly new and watch how the prices are all over the place the there is no consistency...

even though i'm not an econ major, I do think about that a lot how economists can study different kinds of markets via MMORPGS....because they always say how their science is one of "observe" and its not like you can create your test conditions....but in a game you could...

imagine a WOW where stormwind can actually be burned down by the hoard, and everything allows freedom...all FREE but you just have to promise to play it often so economists can study the market forces in the game ;)
 

MrControversial

Senior member
Jan 25, 2005
848
0
0
Originally posted by: jb

the Playstation controller is a Great design. i wouldn't be suprised if it could comfortably replace the mouse and keyboard.
In your opinion. In my opinion it's a cheap, carpal-tunnel-syndrome inflicting plastic brick. You like it because you're used to it. If Sony gave you a brick with buttons on it, after a while you'd think it was the best thing since slice bread. For example, try to go back and play with the original NES controller. Yes, you won't believe you actually found that appealing.

Back to the topic at hand, I'm still looking for virtual reality headsets with like a glove to manipulate data.