Mr.Metralha said:
Really? This a little far fetched comment but, nowadays we have games on the HD consoles, specially on PS3, looking almost like that. For instance I can mention Uncharted 2, don't know about others because I haven't seen too much though. I really hope next gen consoles can surpass that and "break" the real life barrier, fooling us with footage that is hard to distinguish from real life. I don't know about Nintendo because they will come up with something totally fucked up that will put the world running in circles and it is not the graphics, but I bet that Sony or Microsoft (maybe Microsoft) are going to bet on a powerhouse system and I hope that system can bring joy and tears to my face.It is my dream to be playing something that I can hardly distinguish from real life footage. |
The next generation consoles will tend to break your appreciation for the older titles graphically as a whole. So whilst games like Uncharted 2 have been massaged to near perfection in terms of art direction and performance, your standards will be completely different when you're comparing games which have actual geometry over mere textures impersonating as such, especially when you're using a 3D interface. If you compare the special effects from the 80s, 90s and 2000s to something like Avatar for instance, you'll see right through a lot of the older special effects and they would stand out like a sore thumb relative to some of the newer effects. Its the same with games, only on a much shorter time-scale.
You just can't see the smoke and mirrors until you've witnessed a better show. Thats the reason why many of the PC gamers and PS3 gamers have differing opinions on the worth of many of these titles. The PS3 gamers haven't seen better. Its not that the PC gamers are dicks, its just that the PS3 gamers haven't experienced the same games.
Tessellation, lighting, and 3D are the three major areas for improvement.
Tessellation will bring massive improvements in the overall scene complexity. No longer will you be limited to flat textures and simple geometries.
Lighting is the main difference between a realistic looking scene and an unrealistic looking scene at the moment. All you have to do is check out some of the ray-traced examples out there.
3D is something which is fledgeling at the moment, much like online was in the last generation. In the next generation it will be fully realised on >50% of all software released. It represents a very important and growing niche market and possibly the next best way to increase immersion in the game world.
Tease.
