As someone that is passionate about the video game industry and the technological advancement of video games I often wonder in what the near future holds for the global gaming community. With an endless set of options and possibilities the simple truth is the could go in any direction. I have written with this blog recently about Virtual Reality, its applications and limitations and I truly believe that Virtual The truth is where the gaming industry is naturally heading. Gamers are seeking a more immersive experience when it comes to gaming, this is evident with releases from the three game giants Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony by means of the Wiimote, Project Natal and the Sony Motion Controller (yet to be officially named). I really believe these control systems are just the start in the industry's quest for a fully immersive gaming experience and we can expect some much larger developments down the road. Our desire for an immersive gaming experience comes from an inner need to escape from the strain and worries of the real world and the need to add spice to our lives with adventure, video gaming can offer that and I really believe will provide that to some degree.
Although Virtual Reality is not a new technology I believe it will produce a revolution in the gaming industry and offer a complete new era of development. The reason why we're not seeing it emerge in the market yet is right down to the enormous cost to implement the technology and because of this I believe that video game arcades will experience a revival. Even in the future the expense of Virtual Reality will obviously reduce but the price will still be significant so it's unlikely we'll see a full home application for Virtual Reality for quite a while. I believe this will bring about in what I like to call the VRcade (most likely not a genuine name), a video game arcade arranged in booths kitted out with all the current equipment necessary for an immersive gaming experience where in fact the customers pay per hour to employ a Virtual Reality simulation booth. Imagine combining technologies like the omni-directional treadmill, voice recognition, motion sensors and Virtual Reality and applying them to a VR booth in the conceptual VRcade. You'd have almost a fully immersive gaming experience where you could walk, run or crawl in a virtual environment and also speak and connect to computer generated characters. Virtual Games can even interact and talk to true to life characters in the virtual environment by networking the VR booths.
This concept might seem generations away but just by looking at Xbox's upcoming control system Project Natal you can observe that already lots of the technologies necessary for the virtual reality experience is there. Voice recognition has been developed to an advanced stage, motion sensor technology is currently highly advanced and computer graphics reach a level where they're close to photorealism. It again boils down to cost of implementation and the period of time and money it could take to create a new gaming platform of this magnitude and apply it to gaming arcades. It could be a large gamble to take a project of this description on and this gaming experience obviously wouldn't be accessible to everyone as the VRcades would have to be situated in areas with a high population density to be profitable.
It really is highly unlikely that we'll see anything like this being developed in the immediate future but I believe VR technology is definitely the savior of the gaming arcade and will offer an experience far more advanced than the one you can get from a home console or computer. Eventually I'm sure VR will fully integrate itself in to the home and advancements in technology will provide an experience similar to the VRcade but I imagine a completely immersive VR system for the bedroom is decades away which is a complete different article to write. I will be keeping a close eye on VR technology as I'm almost sure that VR may be the inevitable future for the gaming industry.