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[DrPoo]

I hope they will never phase out keyboard and mouse. Its the only true way of using a PC, screw all that touch and voice shit. I want to type stuff into terminals by 2040.

[darkrider2]

PC games will always be around, cause in the end some things just need that kind of interface to play properly (keyboard and mouse - DF, RTS).

Actually, with this new kickstarter and crowdfunding stuff taking off I could see a small comeback in the PC games market, as most game developers using that kind of funding probably won't be too concerned about whether their game will work on the PS3 or XBOX.

I never did understand the "PC games are superior to your game/everything" crowd. I mean, yeah, the PC is pretty great and has its advantages, but comparative to consoles which are hand tailored computers built specifically for playing games, of course the console is going to win out. Its easier to use, its more powerful for its cost, and most people can afford one.

[Aklyon]

The Social Media bubble will have crashed. We shall enter into a golden era.

Also there will be cake for all.

I'd like this.

[Itnetlolor]

That quote is actually starting to make more sense now, but the context should be in reverse (playing Fruit Ninja on Kinect vs. Unreal Tournament on PC, and even playing Arma II); Baby's toy?

And in regards to certain other... genres of games, well... that's a whole different matter.

Then again, I think this was what they actually had in mind.

EDIT:
On a more serious note, I would assume that more complete customization will be more featured as a form of more proper social networking (like an actually fun version of Second Life where you can interact more like Garry's Mod (along with importing all kinds of nonsense); physics and everything (trolling with SCP hordes ahoy!!!).). Just as well, story and gameplay (especially thanks to the Indie comeback, kudos to Kickstarter and similar) will make a comeback over graphics, although graphics won't suffer as much as console gamers would think from the changeover.

[alway]

But pretty soon someone (like Microsoft) will develop and sell a Kinect for PC, so consoles will lose that advantage as well.

Already done. http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/01/13/kinect-on-pc-more-expensive-less-useful-still-exciting/

The problem is, it doesn't mesh well with the PC's control scheme. An XBox is assumed to exist in a moderately sized open area in front of a TV, able to be used for full body gesture recognition. The PC is assumed to exist in a small area in a corner somewhere, where you can at best utilize hand and arm motion. And quite frankly, since you already have a mouse and keyboard, gesture recognition hardware like the kinect is really really difficult to find a use for in PC gaming. It's similar to why we use a keyboard to type instead of dictating by voice, despite voice to text software being really good these days. The keyboard/mouse combo just works, without any sort of disrupting activity like mumbling into a microphone or waving one's hands around, and gives much more fine control than either of those systems.

[fenrif]

They'll either go more casual (for people who have a PC for work but want to play something on it) or more hardcore unless someone makes a keyboard or sophisticated control system for a console. But it's a chicken and egg problem making sophisticated console games, because people who love strategy games and the like won't really want to buy a console, because there's no devices around to play sophisticated console games.

You've been able to use keyboards with consoles since the Dreamcast. The PS3 is capable of using mouse and keyboard, it's just that hardly anyone bothers with it. It's not too difficult for designing most games to work with a control pad. RTS and text heavy games being the stand-out exceptions. There are also plenty of sophisticated games on consoles. Plenty of strategy games too, though all the good ones are turn based (the NDS has shed loads).

The problem is, it doesn't mesh well with the PC's control scheme. An XBox is assumed to exist in a moderately sized open area in front of a TV, able to be used for full body gesture recognition. The PC is assumed to exist in a small area in a corner somewhere, where you can at best utilize hand and arm motion. And quite frankly, since you already have a mouse and keyboard, gesture recognition hardware like the kinect is really really difficult to find a use for in PC gaming. It's similar to why we use a keyboard to type instead of dictating by voice, despite voice to text software being really good these days. The keyboard/mouse combo just works, without any sort of disrupting activity like mumbling into a microphone or waving one's hands around, and gives much more fine control than either of those systems.

Do you still have to be standing up for it to work like on the 360? I can't imagine anyone standing infront of their desk for hours waving their arms around. That alone makes it kind of pointless beyond the novelty factor.

I'd love to see more procedural content and emergant gameplay in games of the future. I keep hoping that the games industry will realise that the Hollywood movie buisness model is a pile of crap, and that making games like movies content-wise is a pretty poor decision in general. Luckily it seems that the recent bout of kickstarter interest, and huge amounts of media coverage smaller developers are getting for experimental or innovative games, is allowing people to push away from the traditional development methods.

[kaijyuu]

Keyboards are absolutely inferior input devices for the vast, vast majority of games. Their benefits are ubiquity and the sheer number of buttons, but at the cost of utterly awkward hand movement. They're designed for typing, not gaming.

The mouse however, is entirely different. The mouse is the sole reason FPS games, 4x games, RTS games, etc work better on a computer. The mouse is designed for cursor movement: exactly what you do in those games. Consoles unfortunately haven't been able to replicate the functionality of a mouse with their standard controllers (though the wii got close, it's still rather awkward).



One thing I'm very happy that Microsoft is doing is making xbox controller support baseline for their new operating systems. I don't particularly like the xbox controller compared to say, the playstation or gamecube one, but at least a gamepad will be common. Joysticks were before my time, and I'm saddened no one makes games with them anymore. Dedicated gaming input devices will always be superior to general purpose ones.

[Johuotar]

I'll still be playing Dwarf Fortress.

correction: dwarf fortress will be self aware and will have enslaved humans.

In near future, Dwarf Fortress plays you!

[Drunken]

I posted this http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=27314&p=858167&hilit=procedural+game#p858167 on xkcd a few years back. It is more what I want to see than what I expect to see.

[Jake]

I think the indie marketplace is going to start seriously hurting the sales figures at the big-name studios. Now that downloading is a viable alternative to physical media for distributing even multi-gigabyte games, the barriers to entry into the market are so low that any half a dozen like-minded hobbyists can get their game out there and have people pay money for it. Hopefully this will force the developers to raise their game the way a lot of film studios have.

[DarkWolfXV]

I dont like gaming on laptop, moblie phone, or any sort of bullshit. I like the feeling i have big sturdy keyboard with no problem to press individual keys, mouse other than some stupid built in pad or moving with fingers, i like to have big screen, big speakers, and i like my computer to be big cube.
If ever playing anything on laptop its probably because there is no computer, and i almost never play games on moblie phones since they are quite casual. I like the feeling everything takes some space, not the puny laptops which overheat and need batteries.

[Leafsnail]

One thing I'm very happy that Microsoft is doing is making xbox controller support baseline for their new operating systems. I don't particularly like the xbox controller compared to say, the playstation or gamecube one, but at least a gamepad will be common. Joysticks were before my time, and I'm saddened no one makes games with them anymore. Dedicated gaming input devices will always be superior to general purpose ones.

Annoyingly it means that wireless controllers have a disadvantage over wired controllers again - you can just plug a wired one in, while wired ones require messing around and new hardware.  For this reason I had to buy a wired controller.

Worth it, though.  It's crazy awkward to key in 623A or 641236C on a keyboard.

[Muz]

I hope they will never phase out keyboard and mouse. Its the only true way of using a PC, screw all that touch and voice shit. I want to type stuff into terminals by 2040.

I think keyboards will be around for a very long time. I use a touchphone, and the one thing I miss most is having a solid QWERTY keyboard on it. Don't mind outphasing mouse though. One day you'll be able to just point at the monitor to click, and scroll the screen by waving a finger, which probably works better for games like FPS and strategy as well.

I think the indie marketplace is going to start seriously hurting the sales figures at the big-name studios. Now that downloading is a viable alternative to physical media for distributing even multi-gigabyte games, the barriers to entry into the market are so low that any half a dozen like-minded hobbyists can get their game out there and have people pay money for it. Hopefully this will force the developers to raise their game the way a lot of film studios have.

I don't think big studios will last too long. They're way too expensive, and with guys like Toady and Notch around, it becomes apparent that you just need a really smart/dedicated person or two to make profit. And really nice graphics and interface will probably quadruple income. Plus tiny companies have been beating up the huge ones in a lot of IT fields, because they're quick to maneuver and keep up with new technology.

Professional game studios won't go extinct though, they'll just really shrink into 10 man teams or something. Probably around the size of Tropico's team.

Or they might go in the opposite direction, become really huge like the film industry, figure out a standard formula to churn out good games, and work on high quality games. I think EA has gone this direction, and The Sims 3 is as mainstream as it gets.

RTS and FPS are actually niche games. I don't enjoy them much, my girlfriend doesn't enjoy them much either, and they're so popular only because they're the first kinds of games most people are exposed to. They'll probably go the way of the platformer or adventure game, never dying out, but with a few indie people taking over the market.

[Aklyon]

Why would blocking the screen with your finger(s) be superior in an FPS? (or a faster-paced RTS) In things where you don't need to see through your fingers immediately maybe, but I do not have the x-ray goggles to both shoot mans in a game and use my hand to do so at the same time. THe mouse is out of the way of the screen, and works pretty well. And then you have stuff like trackballs and laptop trackpads and so on.

And FPS as a niche, with the current market? That is a hilarious statement.

[Osmosis Jones]

PCs will merge with consoles (particularly things like Kinect), and this to produce full immersion virtual reality chambers. Think I'm crazy? All the tech required is either here, or less than 5 years away.