Games will expand of course, but not always in a way which increases their size in GBs.

One thing is for sure... games won't be bigger than allowed by the media they get released on :P In the next generation it will most likely be Blu-Ray (as well as downloadable maybe). One could say 4-layered Blu-Ray, but I suspect the read speeds wouldn't be great with 4 layers given that double-layer DVD is slower than DVD.

So really, how big can games get in the next generation?

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100GB and 4-layer BD's will be fine if the bigger space is used mainly to make more and larger levels/zones/missions/whatever and on a smaller scale to further improve graphic detail, so that transfer speed required doesn't grow too much. It shouldn't be hard to do, Wii showed that graphics aren't everything, so slightly better graphics than current gen HD consoles should be good enough. Otherwise, unless they manage to make very fast 4-layer read, HDD and partial installs could be mandatory (not a big problem, big 3.5" HDD are cheap now, in 3 years 2.5" ones will be cheap too)

Larger levels/zones/missions cost more to make, so that's clearly not something most developers want to get themselves into, as it would significantly increase development costs.

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It depends, doing a lot of vast levels for a meh game is surely a recipe for bankrupcy, doing it for a good game can be a longsighted move and give the game more legs. It costs, I agree, so it must be done when it's worth it.

Yeah that's why I said "most developers". It depends on the games of course.

in the future there may also be a model where there's a monthly payment for near unlimited games, like cable television. With the Wii working through the mainstream the way it is this model could be very appealing to a lot of new users. I think console lifespans would have to be upped considerablely though, having streaming online servers (presumably, videogame content is streamed from a hub in the future with minimal downloading) at the least , up and ready to be played on the older system when it comes time for a new console launch.




I wanna know what people think of piracy vs. buying used games, but I don't want to start a new thread. Cause right now I'm playing some older games that aren't avaible at retail new..I don't think anyone should be in the wrong for doing so.


I've been up for sometime, like 30 something hours I think, I can't remember...

Goodnight internet.