Remember this commercial? Do you think it's possible?

[Petoux]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcmtDAVM-3A

The year 2078 is a long ways away, and I say it's possible.

If you think of it, there are a lot of things we have done that were considered impossible.

Plus, each playstation seems to be coming out every 4 - 10 years or so? ... and right now we are on the PS3. And ... technology is going exponential now. So fast that a brand spanking new top of the line best everything computer will be outdated the second you plug it in (true fact).

So .... 10 years * 6 playstations later = 60 years from now max (PS9).

So ... 2009 + 60 = 2069 ... 2078 (anticipated release) - 2069 = A 9+ year lee way for more technology.

Thoughts?

...

My guess on the price tag:

$1,000,000 minimum.

[Damion Shargath]

Maybe in 500 Years...

Things will be different, but not that extreme. Nano bots won't attatch themselves to your glands of sorts after you open electronic spores...

[Drago Tenmatsu]

i can see it , but i honestly doubt something that big will happen to us, maybe japan or people over there but not the states...

[Ashiakin]

I dunno, if you look at past predictions of the future most of them look pretty ridiculous by today's standards. At least when people were trying to predict the future as a whole. When looking at specific technologies, it seems to me like the track record is better. The commercial is joking, sort of, but I can see gaming moving in the direction of nano technology somewhere down the line.

I'm not sure if it will happen by 2078 or not. Although I'll probably be dead by then (nice thought) so it's not like I'll be around for people to correct me if I was wrong. Unless my 92 year old body is being kept alive by some sort of unholy machinery or I just happen to live that long. Provided we don't nuke ourselves to death, run out of resources, or get hit by a meteor.

[Yari Rafanas]

...or get hit by a meteor.

2012. It'll be way cooler than Armageddon.

[Ayithe Solete]

Heh. Technology is always on the up, but you'll be surprised what they can do already. There's no doubt that nano's will be in use for things like that in the future. Nano technology already exists today, in terms of scientific research anyways. Not only that but Nokia are already working on Nano technology for future phones. How long that will be is anyone's guess, but it's there.

Basic technology to create visual effects in the real world like that is already possible. It's not that difficult to create a sort of visor that covers your eyes and creates images around you. Its a topic that has been discussed within the games industry, but in terms of cost and popularity its not worth it just yet, there's too much high risk and besides that future technology would be much better for creating it.

I highly doubt the Playstation 9 would be available at that point. In terms of production, Sony, Nintendo & Microsoft have not really been looking ahead of their current situation. While this is out of character with the past speed of the games industry, its true.

While the PS1 was selling like hot cakes the PS2 was already in design and then soon after production, same with Nintendo's and sega's. This is done to control the market, but with the latest set of consoles its been all to slow, technology has arisen so fast that with the latest batch these companies are needing sales to re-group on the cost of making these advanced machines before they can think about whats next. The games on these consoles are still yet to use up the full power of these machines (something Sony seem to love shouting about) and I think it'll be a while before you see the next machines. Then again Microsoft are big enough to progress a bit faster than anyone else, so the xbox 720 hints wouldn't be that much of a surprise, still a while off yet.

O and I hope your guess at $1,000,000 price tag was a joke as it made me laugh :). Consoles could never afford to be that much, it would certainly kill the company. In terms of technology getting that powerful, yes theres no doubt at some point it will do.

[Petoux]

$1,000,000 wasn't a joke for 2078.

Think of it this way.

Back when my Grandpa was a boy ... $0.50/hour was pretty good money.

Minimum wage alone is $7.15/hour (starting in July anyway US standards) today and get you shit. A good wage now a days to survive would probably be a MINIMUM of $16/hour.

A house used to cost as much as a car does now. $16,000 (then) vs $250,000 (now).

So ... with that in mind. $1,000,000 that far in the future would be worth about $500 now in 2009.

So ... it was actually a good educated guess based on inflation rates.

[Melancor]

I can see it happening, though not in ~70 years.

The sad thing is that it will take it to an extreme were real life is obsolete.

[Shadar]

2012. It'll be way cooler than Armageddon.

Booya! Your existence a'splode!

If we do survive until then, I don't think we'll be snorting spore-tech. Game systems are more likely to take the form of helmets that read your brain signals. Some experiments have been done along those lines, I think, but they were so simple that Wii mini-games look epic in comparison. So, with what little I know on the topic, I predict that VR suits (or some sort of wearable aparati) are more likely and will probably serve all the needs of gamers once the tech gets streamlined.

Anyway, there are already all kinds of things you can suck up your nose to get a trippy interactive experience.

[Lightfoot]

I can see it happening, though not in ~70 years.

The sad thing is that it will take it to an extreme were real life is obsolete.

The Reality Bug by D.J. MacHale. It's part of the Pendragon series and deals with that very thing. The entire society is living in their own pod-like room that hooks you up to a computer and basically you live out your life in virtual reality. Except everyone's living in their fantasies. The entire city is empty and almost like a ghost town except for the giant glass pyramid holding them all. Pretty good book.

Anyways, back on topic. I think anything's possible, it's hard for us to gauge what the future will be like. I mean, the creator of the Jetsons (back in the 60's) thought there'd be flying cars, houses, schools, just flying everything, by the year 2000, and it's 2009 and not that much has changed. To get to a technological state like shown in the commercial - bar alien intervention - will take a couple hundred years minimum.

Also, I think the million dollar price tag was a little steep. Even with inflation a million dollars will still be a lot of money in 2078. Plus, you have to factor in customer availability. A million dollars in 2078 would probably be equivalent to around $250,000 now. And I don't think you'd want to pay that for a new console would you? I'd gauge PS9 around 2-4 thousand in 2078.

[Andhaka Adiir]

By the time we have the capabilities to do things like that, we will wonder on earth why we would want to do something as silly as that. Have you ever watched a fifties movie set in the future (now present)? Everything is shiny and made out of aluminum foil. They say ridiculous things that even children know don't make any sense. By the time we get that far, we will have learned things that we don't know now, and many of our present ideas will seem silly or obsolete. We cannot make much of a realistic prediction of where we will end up, since where we go is based on the knowledge we accept as truth. Who knows, in ten years someone can walk up to us and give us the modern equivalent of "Guess what guys, the world is ROUND" and change everything.

(Nothing can be proven true, it can only be proven false).

I personally would rather think about the things that we have the technology to do now in order to save ourselves from eminent doom due to population extending past resources, and for some reason choose not to do. But hey, that's just me. I guess I am just not worried about the future of gaming, since I like the past systems better anyway.

Here are some examples:
xXx (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqCb_9ubQ1U) Yeah, because you can shoot a rocket from a motorcycle while popping a wheely.
XxX (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjHziasA7s8) All of the most efficient space crafts look like sombreros.