| TheSource said: your mother..i know technology gets cheaper over time, but i'm more concerned with the following: Will there come a point when going sideways (increasing gamer to game interfaces) becomes so much more important than increasing graphical power (going 'up') that no one would buy a console just for prettier pictures? |
Actually, both are technologies that push upwards instead of sideways.
The Wii isn't the first implementation of "waggle" (cue Microsoft's Sidewinder) but it is the first of its kind to be the central part of a console, not an optional peripheral. This is what makes the Wii successful, motion limitations (warts) and all. Come next generation, any console manufacturer will be adding some sort of "unique interfacing possibility" on their console.
Future generations will see interfaces being developed in new and unique ways. It's already happening with the prevalence of usability and accessibility. This development is unpredictable, as it's a relatively nascent field in the sense that only now is it really being taken seriously by everyone.
In terms of graphics, this is an unrelentess pursuit of ever-increasing polygons and realism, mostly thanks to the PC industry (of which without them we wouldn't have the consoles we have today). PCs have had "HD" for ages. This will continue, partially because companies like nVidia and ATI need to continue selling technology to survive. Ditto that of CPUs. However, it's not just gaming that drives hardware sales (and their development); professionals need the horsepower as well to get their job done.
What we will probably see is the solidification of the 1080p as the resolution standard for the next decade. This is good, as it sets a universal benchmark, a fixed target for hardware manufacturers to meet (and consumers won't be forced to buy another TV anytime soon!); so instead of focusing on higher resolutions, they can focus on image processing quality. As PC technology continues its push towards "more of this and better of that", this technology will eventually trickle its way down to consoles.
Both "waggle" and "polygons" are important. However, the graphical side of development tends to be linear (you can safely extrapolate existing data to predict what the next generation of graphics cards will be capable of) but with usability and accessibility, well, it's a new study that is just beginning to legitimize itself and there is no linear data to extrapolate, so this is where we will see newer and more innovate ways of interacting with the machine. But in terms of which is more important, I'd say usability and accessibility is number one (how many people do you know that won't touch games simply because they are so intimidated by the sheer number of buttons on a controller?), but graphics will be a close second.
I think console companies are just realizing how they've alienated vast legions of potential gamers by having controllers that look like they require a PhD to operate while games like Bejeweled attract throngs of "non-gamers" because it involves nothing more than a mouse and one button to play (and have tremendous fun). It's a "new" field (it's not really, but it is in "vogue") and with governments legislating in favor of accessibility and usability being touted all across the internet, this is where the focus will be.
So, in the end, graphics and interface innovation both go hand-in-hand, but given current trends, interface will be more important for the next decade. My prediction.
