Gaming continues to grow at an exponential rate and has come a very long way since the earlier years of video game consoles like Atari. But over the last several years, the growth has taken on a new life of its own, raising gaming to a whole new level that may have never been considered with the advent of gaming. Today gaming can be done anywhere from numerous devices and can be anything from a simple online casino to multiplayer simulations with players from all over the world!
One might ask, how can things get any better for gamers and how will things continue to grow in the industry? Yes, things like virtual reality and augmented reality seem to be the next steps in gaming technology which will undoubtedly continue to develop as the industry grows even more. But these will only be the beginning of new technologies that will change the way gaming is done in the future.
There are several other new technologies making their way that may have unbridled effects on gamers and the way they play their favorite games. Many of them will more than likely not replace VR or AR, but instead will enhance them, making the experience even more promising and realistic for the player.
Facial Recognition
With new technologies like facial recognition just to unlock your phone becoming more affordable and promising, it is possible that facial recognition will enter the gaming world on a couple of different levels. The first would be in character development when players create their own characters for game play. Instead of having to move slide bars or choose from the classic pre-programmed effects inside the game, players may be able to scan their own likeness, truly instilling themselves into the game.
And companies like Intel are playing with the idea of live facial scanning during game play for various reasons. Some facial reactions could automatically garner the system to lower the difficulty level of the game to suit the mood and reactions of the gamer playing. This seems basic, but companies have to start somewhere before developing other ways to use facial recognition.
From a purely speculative standpoint, facial recognition could also find its way into the VR realm in the distant future. True VR modification with the use of facial recognition could lead to getting rid of the ocular component of VR, freeing gamers from limiting headsets and greater eye fatigue. Imagine facial recognition being able to read head and eye movement from a screen allowing the player to use his hands for game play instead of player movement.
Gesture Control
Along with facial recognition technology, new technologies in gesture control are also being developed for gamers. Intel currently has their RealSense technology which allows users to play first person shooter games without the need for a controller. It allows for an experience that the gamers body movements control their character’s movements in game, losing the handheld controls. This technology is still in early development along with facial recognition, but it seems as this too will become a large part of future gaming.
This could lead to a whole new gaming apparatus that takes gaming immersion to the next level. Perhaps it could be used inside a dedicated room for gaming or a small green screen type of tent that gamers use to fully immerse themselves into a game without the need for a VR headset or a gaming controller of any kind.
The Future
The future of gaming seems bright with capabilities to take the gamer experience to the next level. And we might be looking at the next wave of virtual and augmented reality that fully immerses the gamer in the action of controlling the game with just their body, face, and eyes. Gamers will be excited about this, but there could be some drawbacks.
With the increasing improvement of gaming graphics and real life feel of current games, adding more realistic features and user capabilities could prove to be worrisome. Although we may be over-processing future issues due to sci-fi movies showing the drawbacks of VR and AI, this could result in further detrimental use of video games that over-stimulate and envelope the gamer as a whole. We might be looking at too much game immersion that leads to a warped cognitive ability to discern the difference between reality and gaming.
Only the future will hold the truth to these possible outcomes.