pretty good article, it keped me from hitting the code for most of my "morning"
my views of gamin is that pc gaming is a different animal from the rest of gaming. when i play something like far cry 2 or crysis/warhead or quake4/prey to name some slightly older games. what im doing is playing games with pretty graphics. i know when i buy an fps game im pretty much in for the same kind of gameplay ive been enjoying since quake (i really didnt play doom at all before i beat quake). i play those games for the art. but thats not where pc games shine. pc games shine in the indie gaming arena, mods, revamped old engines like fs2, of course multiplayer, and simulations. pc is the best platform if your gaming intrests go beyond just playing games.
if i was just in it to play games, id probibly own a wii. i look at the top console gamers staring down the wii gamers with much amusement knowing that neither one knows how to do matrix math, code, or model a space ship. the wii intrests me in the same way it has intrested
of geek gamers. that it has its own section on hack a day is a testament to that. what i like about wii is its bringing motion track technology into the mainstream. when you look at a wiimote you got what is in essence a sensor brick. it has the same 6 axis motion tracking technology you find in the trackir (i think it only does 3 axis via infra red on the wii, but freetrack can double that
). its also got its gyroscope chip if thats not enough. my neice plays nitendogs on the ds, and she had this other game with cats. i thought they were sorta cute. then theres all the guitar hero crap. i cant really say im into that since i just play my guitar. but the kids like it.
of people are getting into games because of the wii and if that improves the customer base and then profit margins go up across the board and its more likely il see something cool down the line.
one think that i wish would receive more attention is stereoscopy. now that its possible to compute depth of field and eye convergence and per pixel lighting, alll the curs needed to trick the brain into thinking its in 3d. shudder glasses and hmds have been around for years. now its possible to do dual projector polarized stereoscopy on a budget. nvidia came out with its new stereo glasses (though im still waiting on better driver support before i get em). you still have the problem that your eyes don't interact with the game well enough. seen some stuff on the military channel where it was possible to track the eyes with some technology, so you can determine where they're looking and pupil dilation ect. you can determine what theyre looking at and how their focust. plug that into dof rendering and camera data with better motion tracking these subtle cues can be used to greatly improve the eye tricks so that stereoscopy can be attained with less nausea.. i hope that through the mainstream these technologies will come out more and be developed further. of course i think i went on a tangent there.
but i can agree, other than more advanced input/output gadgetry that thecnology really doesnt matter as much as it did. even cheap computers these days have game power. gpus have gotten cheap. i have more gadgetry for flight sims, joysticks, stereoscopy, and motion track, yet ive not been able to get all that stuff working in one game. whats lacking is purely software.
