| There is no doubt that video games are in their | | | | as restoring movement to those crippled by spinal |
| golden age at the moment. Since 2007 sales of | | | | injuries and motor neurone diseases. I would see |
| consoles and games have grown by 57 percent in | | | | a difficulty when using these systems in |
| spite of the economic downturn. During March | | | | separating virtual and real movements. Once |
| 2008 1.7 billion dollars worth of games products | | | | trained to control movements in a virtual world |
| were sold. The games industry is now bigger than | | | | with the brain would one be able to move their |
| films and is gaining more and more mainstream | | | | real body properly afterwards? |
| appeal and recognition. | | | | With technology such as this in place combined |
| Nintendo have helped to bring games to a much | | | | with ultra realistic graphics, we may see some |
| wider audience than was ever thought possible. | | | | virtual reality games created that are almost |
| Many families and older people are joining in what | | | | indistinguishable from real life. Would this lead to a |
| was traditionally a hobby for young males. The | | | | mass migration to a virtual world where people |
| current generation of technology has pushed | | | | can be as they please? Perhaps the topic for |
| games further than they've ever been before. | | | | another article but certainly it is a scenario |
| Games on the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 are pushing | | | | explored in many science fiction books and films. |
| graphical realism to new heights while the Wii is | | | | In 1999 action film The Matrix famously told of a |
| looking to break the boundary between virtual | | | | future in which mankind lived unknowingly in a |
| and real space with motion sensitive controls. | | | | virtual reality, their physical bodies were used to |
| An interesting question to pose is where the next | | | | power the machines which had enslaved them. |
| generation will go, and where video game | | | | While unlikely to happen, when you read stories of |
| entertainment will end up. A common theory is | | | | Korean men starving themselves to death while |
| that they will move away from being purely | | | | playing MMO games it certainly makes you worry |
| games and end up as virtual reality experiences. | | | | about how many people would abandon their |
| The starting points of the necessary technologies | | | | bodies should such technology become available. |
| to achieve this are already in place. | | | | In reality though it is highly unlikely that virtual |
| Motion sensitive controls are a significant stepping | | | | realities this complex will be able to exist, at least |
| stone toward virtual reality in the home. Imagine if | | | | not in the foreseeable future. The computing |
| when playing a bowling game instead of watching | | | | power required to process them is trillions of |
| the screen with cartoon characters mimicking | | | | times greater than what can be achieved today, |
| your actions you were wearing a headset and | | | | with some theories suggesting that it would take |
| being fed photo-realistic graphics from a first | | | | a computer the size of a planet to process a |
| person perspective. The experience would be far | | | | virtual reality complex enough to fool the human |
| more realistic than anything available at the | | | | mind. |
| moment. | | | | I do think that games will reach an extremely high |
| It is my opinion that there will be two distinct | | | | level of realism though, just not in entirely virtual |
| directions that electronic entertainment will take. | | | | worlds. The biggest barrier isn't just processing |
| One path is that of the Wii, appealing to a mass | | | | power, but how to give enough feedback to trick |
| market with easy to pick-up games that are | | | | the senses. I think that vision and sound will be |
| designed for a quick dose of fun with family and | | | | relatively simple to reproduce but taste, smell and |
| friends. The other side I think will go down the | | | | touch will be much harder. The issue of balance |
| ultra realistic route and end up trying to give the | | | | and orientation is a sticking point as well. Without |
| user a virtual reality experience. With technology | | | | direct input into the brain these senses may |
| as it is, the scope for providing this in the home is | | | | prove impossible to mimic inside a computer |
| limited. The Wii remote requires users to | | | | simulation. |
| physically move their bodies. Obviously this will not | | | | Of course in the end it also comes down to what |
| work in the living room once games require you | | | | is financially viable for a company to put out and |
| to do more than swing a tennis racket or bowl a | | | | sell. The consumer will dictate the direction that |
| ball. | | | | games end up taking by what they're willing to |
| A workaround for requiring physical movement | | | | spend money on. With the dominating success of |
| from the participants is to read brain activity. | | | | the Wii over the other platforms it would suggest |
| While currently the stuff of science fiction there | | | | that users are more comfortable using controls |
| are significant strides being made into reading | | | | that mimic real life actions than they are using a |
| human brain waves and converting them into | | | | traditional control pad or keyboard and mouse. |
| mechanical movement. On the 28th of May 2008 | | | | Graphics and simulations will continue to improve |
| the BBC posted a news article stating that | | | | over time and I'm sure that one day it will be |
| scientists from the University of Pittsburgh had | | | | quite standard to wear a headset to play games. |
| managed to get a monkey to control a robot | | | | Whether that headset reads the thoughts of the |
| arm to feed itself by just using its brain. The | | | | user or not depends on whether it becomes cost |
| monkey had tiny probes the width of a human | | | | effective to sell to consumers and whether |
| hair inserted into the primary motor cortex in | | | | people are ready to embrace the technology. I'm |
| order to read the electronic impulses that control | | | | sure the possibility will exist at some point in the |
| movement. With a little training the monkey was | | | | future but whether it represents the future of |
| able to manipulate the robotic arm as if it was its | | | | video games and is actually used remains |
| own. | | | | debatable. |
| Such invasive procedures are obviously out of the | | | | Everything considered the future of electronic |
| question for simple home use but it is certainly | | | | entertainment is certainly a bright one. Eventually |
| feasible to see the technology being adapted to | | | | the technologies will merge and we'll see virtual |
| read the brain from outside the head. It would be | | | | reality games integrated into TV, radio and the |
| in this way that thoughts could be read to control | | | | Internet. The only question is when all this will |
| movements in a virtual reality. This technology | | | | happen. |
| would also have other significant advantages, such | | | | |