Kojima: "Next level of gaming" not yet possible

[Galactus]

Monday 21-Jul-2008 5:01 PM Improving graphics and sound will only go so far, says MGS creator
The "next level" of gaming is not yet possible on current-gen hardware, says Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima.


Speaking to BBC's Click program, Kojima said that improving the visuals and audio in games will only go so far in future console generations.

"We will keep on making games for consoles and the graphics and sound quality will get better and better," he said. "But I think no matter how much we improve the quality, there is only so much we can hear or see.

"The next level will be when we start improving the backgrounds, the things you don't instantly see but enhance the experience. For example, there are leaves in the background and when you water them they grow. Instead of the backgrounds being pre-programmed, they actually respond to what the player does.

"This is not possible right now but maybe in the future it will be, and that is when we will have entered the next era of gaming," he added.

He's as technology-obsessed as ever then. Not that we're complaining; MGS4 is a massively impressive game, and a terrific showcase for the PS3.

Kojima is currently rumoured to be working on a new game based on RPG series Snatcher, with No More Heroes mastermind Suda 51

 

[StrainedEyes]

Far Cry 2 has growing destructible trees, wind, villages that can be entirely destroyed, and living fires that burn away the grass.

Were there any destructible environments in MGS4? There weren't in any of the other MGS games. I like Kojima and all, but environments that respond to what the player does, isn't a new or impossible concept.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

Monday 21-Jul-2008 5:01 PM Improving graphics and sound will only go so far, says MGS creator
The "next level" of gaming is not yet possible on current-gen hardware, says Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima.


Speaking to BBC's Click program, Kojima said that improving the visuals and audio in games will only go so far in future console generations.

"We will keep on making games for consoles and the graphics and sound quality will get better and better," he said. "But I think no matter how much we improve the quality, there is only so much we can hear or see.

"The next level will be when we start improving the backgrounds, the things you don't instantly see but enhance the experience. For example, there are leaves in the background and when you water them they grow. Instead of the backgrounds being pre-programmed, they actually respond to what the player does.

"This is not possible right now but maybe in the future it will be, and that is when we will have entered the next era of gaming," he added.

He's as technology-obsessed as ever then. Not that we're complaining; MGS4 is a massively impressive game, and a terrific showcase for the PS3.

Kojima is currently rumoured to be working on a new game based on RPG series Snatcher, with No More Heroes mastermind Suda 51

[YT]gyQTCeobZlg[/YT]

Half way through.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

And crysis isnt the first to do that, the new battlefield, while imo not a good game does the same thing that video was demo'ing.

 

[Addendum]

If Soviet Russia still existed and they made some decent games, the next level of gaming would be already be here.

Game plays you and all that.

 

[Soapy]

Half way through.

Wow, I really want to play Crysis now. Too bad my computer can't run it.

At least I can still look forward to Far Cry 2.

 

[GL1]

There's no doubt environments are reactive, and perhaps interactive on a small scale...

But what Kojima seems to be referring to is an entire environment that reacts to player actions and stays that way, all integrated completely into gameplay. As of now, even ambitious games like Crysis have points that are dynamic within a static envrionment. You can't find helicopter bullet holes in the ground, I don't think... and even then, it's just decoration.

 

[Arkady Rossovich]

Kojima does have a point. This adds to the argument that some say the PS3,X-Box 360 and Nintendo Wii are not "true next gen consoles".

 

[Jennifer Walters]

PS3, XBox 360 are. Wii, no.