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Video Game Graphics -- What's Next?

 

02-14-15 02:26 AM
Eirinn is Offline
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What you have just seen is a small collecrion of screenshots from new gen console titles, most of which were in-game visuals (my apologies for stretching the screen a bit). Notice that they were almost --and in some cases actually were-- photorealistic, meaning some of them looked like actual real life photographs, not video game screenshots. And these were almost all launch titles or very early titles, and as we all know, graphics differ greatly from a launch title and games released in the last year of a system's life cycle as developers get a better understanding of how to fully utilize a system's power and resources. For example, compare the first Tomb Raider with Tomb Raider: Chronicles, or really any early/launch title on any given system with games from it's final year. It happens every generation without fail. So with graphics nearing (and in some cases attaining to) photorealism already, we can only expect this to be the norm rather than the exception by this generation's end. This leaves us asking one simple question...

Where to next?


A Bittersweet Victory

For over twenty years now gamers have watched in wide eyed wonder as our beloved industry drastically improved the look of their games with each new console. Fanboys fawned over next-gen console screenshots before "next-gen consoles" was even a term. We watched in disbelief at the unveiling of the first Nintendo 64 screenshots, we stood in awe as the PS2 debuted it's incredible visuals in teaser screenshots, and we ooh'd and aww'd over PS3 and Xbox 360 images and videos.

Yup, with every new generation we've seen incredible improvements in the hardware and it's capabilities, but perhaps the most noted and anticipated of all has always been the showing of each new system's graphics.

And deep inside we've eagerly anticipated the day when game consoles achieved photorealism. I remember my dad talking of that day in the future when the graphics would actually look like real life (this was at the release of the Nintendo 64), and everyday after that I awaited that time.

And now it seems to be here.

Yes, this will likely be the generation when photorealism becomes a reality. The ultimate fanboy dream (or at least one of the greater dreams) will almost certainly have been realized by the end of this generation. Do you doubt? Look again at some of the high end titles from 2014, and the upcoming high end titles of 2015. No, I'm not talking about the boosted visuals of cutscenes, but raw gameplay footage. A look at the better titles will reveal that photorealism is coming very soon and is indeed possible on new-gen systems. In fact as I said earlier, some titles already have said graphics in at least portions of the game.

So even if this somehow isn't reached by the end of this generation, it certainly will be by the end of next generation. And with us attaining this at various moments in the first year of this generation, we can only expect it to happen on today's hardware.

So now that we have finally reached our goal and seen our decades old hopes fulfilled, two emotions come over us: first is happiness. We seem to have reached the end of our journey at last. The second, an odd sadness. As the tale of Alexander the great goes, we now weep in our tents as we realize there is no more land left to be conquered.

Indeed, it's a bittersweet victory. We are at the end of the journey...or are we?

Next Stop: Stereoscopic?

It's been argued that the next step in game graphics evolution is stereoscopic 3D. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, look at the 3ds: notice how the image is made to look as though it stands above the screen? There you have it: Stereoscopic 3D. A point worth making is that this claim was made by some, prior to the 3ds' release, which does give it some credibility.

But will we see stereoscopic console graphics? At this point it seems doubtful that this will be possible anytime soon, as the television industry has yet to really gravitate toward such features, and the current technology for this would actually set us back in visual clarity somewhat. But it is a possibility eventually.

So We're At A Dead End Then?

Hardly. Graphics wise, we'll almost certainly see more improvements in the next generation. Perhaps televisions will allow for higher resolutions and so usher in a Game era where 1080p and 60 fps is a laughable idea of the past, or perhaps we'll see some other innovations. Whatever happens, one thing remains: there will be improvements somehow.

And even if we have or eventually do reach a dead end graphically, this isn't really such a bad thing, as this will allow for more attention to be paid to allowing for more expansive worlds, more immersive audio, and more innovative features. It cannot be doubted that the game industry will always strive to improve with each passing year, and we can be thankful that we've yet to see this industry plateau.


So what do you think? Have we reached the end of graphics improvements? If not, how will the industry manage to improve them next? Will We see photorealism as the norm by this generation's end indeed?

Whatever the answer, we're certainly in for a fun ride.














What you have just seen is a small collecrion of screenshots from new gen console titles, most of which were in-game visuals (my apologies for stretching the screen a bit). Notice that they were almost --and in some cases actually were-- photorealistic, meaning some of them looked like actual real life photographs, not video game screenshots. And these were almost all launch titles or very early titles, and as we all know, graphics differ greatly from a launch title and games released in the last year of a system's life cycle as developers get a better understanding of how to fully utilize a system's power and resources. For example, compare the first Tomb Raider with Tomb Raider: Chronicles, or really any early/launch title on any given system with games from it's final year. It happens every generation without fail. So with graphics nearing (and in some cases attaining to) photorealism already, we can only expect this to be the norm rather than the exception by this generation's end. This leaves us asking one simple question...

Where to next?


A Bittersweet Victory

For over twenty years now gamers have watched in wide eyed wonder as our beloved industry drastically improved the look of their games with each new console. Fanboys fawned over next-gen console screenshots before "next-gen consoles" was even a term. We watched in disbelief at the unveiling of the first Nintendo 64 screenshots, we stood in awe as the PS2 debuted it's incredible visuals in teaser screenshots, and we ooh'd and aww'd over PS3 and Xbox 360 images and videos.

Yup, with every new generation we've seen incredible improvements in the hardware and it's capabilities, but perhaps the most noted and anticipated of all has always been the showing of each new system's graphics.

And deep inside we've eagerly anticipated the day when game consoles achieved photorealism. I remember my dad talking of that day in the future when the graphics would actually look like real life (this was at the release of the Nintendo 64), and everyday after that I awaited that time.

And now it seems to be here.

Yes, this will likely be the generation when photorealism becomes a reality. The ultimate fanboy dream (or at least one of the greater dreams) will almost certainly have been realized by the end of this generation. Do you doubt? Look again at some of the high end titles from 2014, and the upcoming high end titles of 2015. No, I'm not talking about the boosted visuals of cutscenes, but raw gameplay footage. A look at the better titles will reveal that photorealism is coming very soon and is indeed possible on new-gen systems. In fact as I said earlier, some titles already have said graphics in at least portions of the game.

So even if this somehow isn't reached by the end of this generation, it certainly will be by the end of next generation. And with us attaining this at various moments in the first year of this generation, we can only expect it to happen on today's hardware.

So now that we have finally reached our goal and seen our decades old hopes fulfilled, two emotions come over us: first is happiness. We seem to have reached the end of our journey at last. The second, an odd sadness. As the tale of Alexander the great goes, we now weep in our tents as we realize there is no more land left to be conquered.

Indeed, it's a bittersweet victory. We are at the end of the journey...or are we?

Next Stop: Stereoscopic?

It's been argued that the next step in game graphics evolution is stereoscopic 3D. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, look at the 3ds: notice how the image is made to look as though it stands above the screen? There you have it: Stereoscopic 3D. A point worth making is that this claim was made by some, prior to the 3ds' release, which does give it some credibility.

But will we see stereoscopic console graphics? At this point it seems doubtful that this will be possible anytime soon, as the television industry has yet to really gravitate toward such features, and the current technology for this would actually set us back in visual clarity somewhat. But it is a possibility eventually.

So We're At A Dead End Then?

Hardly. Graphics wise, we'll almost certainly see more improvements in the next generation. Perhaps televisions will allow for higher resolutions and so usher in a Game era where 1080p and 60 fps is a laughable idea of the past, or perhaps we'll see some other innovations. Whatever happens, one thing remains: there will be improvements somehow.

And even if we have or eventually do reach a dead end graphically, this isn't really such a bad thing, as this will allow for more attention to be paid to allowing for more expansive worlds, more immersive audio, and more innovative features. It cannot be doubted that the game industry will always strive to improve with each passing year, and we can be thankful that we've yet to see this industry plateau.


So what do you think? Have we reached the end of graphics improvements? If not, how will the industry manage to improve them next? Will We see photorealism as the norm by this generation's end indeed?

Whatever the answer, we're certainly in for a fun ride.
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(edited by Eirinn on 02-15-15 01:08 AM)     Post Rating: 2   Liked By: eclipse9508, FaithFighter,

02-14-15 02:54 AM
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Sadly, graphics will only be able to achieve as much "realism" and "high quality" as our eyes can process. Our own eyes will limit how good future graphics will be.
Sadly, graphics will only be able to achieve as much "realism" and "high quality" as our eyes can process. Our own eyes will limit how good future graphics will be.
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02-14-15 09:10 AM
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Eirinn : Hi there, eirinn. Cool article! I believe that photorealism is entirely possible by the end of this generation. It seems some consoles have already achieved this for various games (if nintendo could catch on with their classic titles they'd be sittin' pretty!) I also feel the stereoscopic 3d is possible. I also believe that someday...in the future. Gaming could get so advanced and the graphics are so real, that we could pretty much walk inside a gaming world and control the game ourselves. No controller needed! (I'd be very fit if that were to happen!) Also, I might be wrong, but I am pretty sure that was alexander the great that you were talking about, and not napoleon. As it was napoleon that was turned back at the battle of waterloo. Alexander never got turned back. 
Eirinn : Hi there, eirinn. Cool article! I believe that photorealism is entirely possible by the end of this generation. It seems some consoles have already achieved this for various games (if nintendo could catch on with their classic titles they'd be sittin' pretty!) I also feel the stereoscopic 3d is possible. I also believe that someday...in the future. Gaming could get so advanced and the graphics are so real, that we could pretty much walk inside a gaming world and control the game ourselves. No controller needed! (I'd be very fit if that were to happen!) Also, I might be wrong, but I am pretty sure that was alexander the great that you were talking about, and not napoleon. As it was napoleon that was turned back at the battle of waterloo. Alexander never got turned back. 
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02-14-15 01:37 PM
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Eirinn : As we know that with all the updates with each of the generations regarding the graphics part, we might see the end of the video gaming generation, and also, we have seen a whole lot more remakes and remasters in recent years ever since the 8th Generations debuted back in 2011 with newer games on top of that.

I think we will still see a 9th generation and maybe a 10th generation, but past the 10th gen, we won't really see anymore because the games can't be improved anymore for a new generation of gaming.


FaithFighter : Related to what you said, sure, it get's to that point that you can in fact control your body in a video game, we have start seeing this with the NES accessories, but those turned out like a flop, but since that time, we have seen quite a few of interactive things but they all don't have any human interactions (like we as the controller) until 2006 with the Wii and the PS3, where you can move the control in a certain way to control your player (well, mostly the Wii), and after that point, we have started seeing a whole lot of experiments like Xbox's Kinect, and then we seen the Oculus Rift, so we are making advances to this kind of technology.
Eirinn : As we know that with all the updates with each of the generations regarding the graphics part, we might see the end of the video gaming generation, and also, we have seen a whole lot more remakes and remasters in recent years ever since the 8th Generations debuted back in 2011 with newer games on top of that.

I think we will still see a 9th generation and maybe a 10th generation, but past the 10th gen, we won't really see anymore because the games can't be improved anymore for a new generation of gaming.


FaithFighter : Related to what you said, sure, it get's to that point that you can in fact control your body in a video game, we have start seeing this with the NES accessories, but those turned out like a flop, but since that time, we have seen quite a few of interactive things but they all don't have any human interactions (like we as the controller) until 2006 with the Wii and the PS3, where you can move the control in a certain way to control your player (well, mostly the Wii), and after that point, we have started seeing a whole lot of experiments like Xbox's Kinect, and then we seen the Oculus Rift, so we are making advances to this kind of technology.
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02-14-15 08:28 PM
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Grunt010 : True. We will eventually top out for those very reasons most likely. Also congrats on your tenth post and reaching "member" rank tomorrow.


FaithFighter : Ah yes, thanks for correcting that. I meant to check before submitting, but I forgot. I'll edit in the correct name later.

As for your views, I agree (obviously) on the idea that we'll see photorealism as the norm this generation most likely. And Stereoscopic is certainly a possibility for next gen, but I'm unsure if the average Television can support that, I'm not up to speed with television specs.
I personally believe the next step will be higher resolutions, but the new-gen consoles already pass many people's TV capabilities. Yes, most PS4 owners cannot fully enjoy the image sharpness, as it puts out 1080p and many people only have 420p - 720p, I think, so without an HDTV, you're getting only part of the experience. So for the next graphics boost we may have to wait until the newer higher resolution models are more prevalent (4k, 8k, UHD. Not that I understand all of that, but maybe you will lol). So basically the little details are all that's left really. Or maybe increasing the fps rate for even smoother animation. Who knows?


IgorBird122 : I can see what you mean, but I don't think the end of graphics improvements (if indeed it can be achieved), will spell the end of the game console production. I figure they'll continue improving the hardware and increasing proccessor speed etc. so that more can be rendered in each scene, new online features can be implemented, and other special functions can be introduced.
Grunt010 : True. We will eventually top out for those very reasons most likely. Also congrats on your tenth post and reaching "member" rank tomorrow.


FaithFighter : Ah yes, thanks for correcting that. I meant to check before submitting, but I forgot. I'll edit in the correct name later.

As for your views, I agree (obviously) on the idea that we'll see photorealism as the norm this generation most likely. And Stereoscopic is certainly a possibility for next gen, but I'm unsure if the average Television can support that, I'm not up to speed with television specs.
I personally believe the next step will be higher resolutions, but the new-gen consoles already pass many people's TV capabilities. Yes, most PS4 owners cannot fully enjoy the image sharpness, as it puts out 1080p and many people only have 420p - 720p, I think, so without an HDTV, you're getting only part of the experience. So for the next graphics boost we may have to wait until the newer higher resolution models are more prevalent (4k, 8k, UHD. Not that I understand all of that, but maybe you will lol). So basically the little details are all that's left really. Or maybe increasing the fps rate for even smoother animation. Who knows?


IgorBird122 : I can see what you mean, but I don't think the end of graphics improvements (if indeed it can be achieved), will spell the end of the game console production. I figure they'll continue improving the hardware and increasing proccessor speed etc. so that more can be rendered in each scene, new online features can be implemented, and other special functions can be introduced.
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I mean how much better could they possibly get? 
I mean how much better could they possibly get? 
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I hope that as developers finally reach the rainbow that they've been chasing since Atari-era, gaming will become more stabilized.
Basically what I mean is that, since there's no reason to make new consoles (at least from graphical standpoint) game developers can focus on making games with proven engines to systems they know will still be relevant for years to come. Even better would be if there could be one single universal gaming system for all games, so there wouldn't be this rather silly competition between Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and PC users.

For clarity's sake let's make an comparison between films an games. I'd really like to play Bloodborne and Super smash bros Wii U, but since I haven't got money to buy either PS4 nor Wii U, I must either choose to not play those games or pirate them (which I just don't like). If on the other hand I want to watch the new Avengers film once it comes out, I can be sure that it's playable in nearly all the systems I own.

I wonder if I strayed too far from the subject, but anyway that's what I think.

P.S. I still look forward to what Oculus rift can do
I hope that as developers finally reach the rainbow that they've been chasing since Atari-era, gaming will become more stabilized.
Basically what I mean is that, since there's no reason to make new consoles (at least from graphical standpoint) game developers can focus on making games with proven engines to systems they know will still be relevant for years to come. Even better would be if there could be one single universal gaming system for all games, so there wouldn't be this rather silly competition between Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and PC users.

For clarity's sake let's make an comparison between films an games. I'd really like to play Bloodborne and Super smash bros Wii U, but since I haven't got money to buy either PS4 nor Wii U, I must either choose to not play those games or pirate them (which I just don't like). If on the other hand I want to watch the new Avengers film once it comes out, I can be sure that it's playable in nearly all the systems I own.

I wonder if I strayed too far from the subject, but anyway that's what I think.

P.S. I still look forward to what Oculus rift can do
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