Where Does the Future of Video Gaming Lie?

Here, I will post some personal predictions I have on the future of video gaming in general, primarily PC gaming. This isn't one of those "What will happen in the next couple of years." prediction articles, but rather what lies in the distant future of our favorite pastime. Ladies, gentlemen... the FUTURE.


Consoles and PCs Become ONE

With more powerful console hardware, people are ever-turning towards their television sets to fill their gaming appetites. It seems that only the hardcore are weathering the storm of system requirements, installations, and office-chair gaming sessions. These people wield a mouse and a keyboard, and they will not peel their hands, ridden with carpal tunnel syndrome, away and grasp a controller for they are better than that. They are the PC Gamer.

Yet the lure of the console may yet sway even the most hardcore of PC gamers. Better still, I predict a merging of the console and PC gaming world. More and more people are setting up media center PCs, utilizing a computer, a remote, and a high def television set as the center of their family entertainment. Also, more and more games are being delivered via download, as broadband becomes ever present in the typical household. To top things off, while the PC doesn't sway from the gaming mecca it was in the mid nineties, consoles are ever becoming more and more PC like. I forsee a future when it's nigh impossible to tell the difference between a gaming PC, and a gaming console. All games may be played remotely on the same system wirelessly, whether that be from the couch or the desk. Sofa gamers and desk gamers will unite and frag each other into oblivion with no boundaries. This is the future.

Casual Games Abound, But Still The Hardcore Remains

The continuing trend of casual games brings thoughts to gamers everywhere that their precious media platform is being taken over by their grandmothers. The sight of a million variations of Bejeweled and Brain Age on shelves can make any gamer feel like their shooters and other more serious games are losing ground to these cash cows.

Gamer, breathe a sigh of relief. Grandma will not take over. Your serious gaming habit will continue to be supported in a big way.

The line between casual and hard core will dissolve entirely, much as there is no such thing as a casual movie. While grandma may still prefer Pride and Prejudice, you can still kick back and enjoy 300 can you not? The same will ring true for gaming.

Anti-Game Activists Finally Give Up

All of the attention that gaming receives by the media, claiming that they are "corrupting our nations youth" will disappear entirely. As the gamers of today mature and become the old fogies of tomorrow, The misconception that gaming is evil will die with the people who believe it. The industry will discover that it CAN rate and regulate itself, and parents everywhere who have been gaming since THEY were children will understand and know what it is that their children are playing, and whether or not they should be playing it.

Gamers Everywhere Add Their Own Content

Modding, content creation, level design, all these things will become easier and more accessible to all gamers. Games will have content creation tools built right into the game itself, allowing the player to add content and share it with everyone.

In light of the fact that production costs have made games shorter and shorter, player made content will make up for the lack of content by the developer, producing an almost endless amount of content for the gamer to enjoy.