“The Future of Gaming”

In response to “London in Oblivion” from The Escapist Forum: I’m an indie developer and long-time modder. I was always a gamer, I grew up playing PC games back in the days of DOS, and I learned how to draw and design in 3D during my high school years when I took CAD classes. My first introduction to making games came while playing Duke Nukem 3D at about the same time, where I came to know the Build engine and editor that it ran on.

It’s no surprise to me that game engines make great visualization tools. I just wish that the existing professionals in the field would have caught onto this faster. The speed with which I can implement a design in Hammer (Valve’s Source engine design tool) is astounding.

– spektre1

I started with modding Wolfenstein and Doom back in the days when 3D Studio was DOS-based and a piece of cake to model in, nowadays the (Windows) operating system takes so much hardware overhead just to keep afloat, that there’s not much room for performance rendering in real time – you need a shit-hot network of workstations to do a decent rendering job, and it still takes days to produce results.

Instead, I envisage a modeller/rendering/visualising engine that ran directly on the PS3 (or overheating X360) hardware that would run in real time, with an immersive 3D interface, be expandable by way of multiple boxes, rather than upgrades, there’s no need

– treagus

***

In response to “Zombies and the White Man’s Burden” from The Escapist Forum: I personally sincerely doubt that Capcom has any intention of making the game a vehicle for white people to shoot black people in. I don’t think that that is the issue at hand, I think the true reason people are uncomfortable is because it’s all too plausible.

Do the diseased have the right to live at any cost? (including the non-monetary effects of a economic collapse from treating those people?) *Shrug* It’s a wonderful area for debate and discourse. While I think that the average person shouldn’t be offended by it, people are still offended by “A Modest Proposal”, and that one was intentionally inflammatory. Those who are offended should still be given a chance to voice their reasoning and explain their points of view as they are no less valid then my own.

– TomBeraha

It is very possible to be informed and still uncomfortable. In fact, I think that is a good thing. It means you have a conscience, and explains why you might choose the good path in KOTOR despite the evil path potentially being more fun. BUT, there is an enormous difference between realizing that a game contains morally questionable content and feeling wrong about playing through said content, and actually getting to the point of public outrage. No matter how serious the content may be, it is still just a game. And you can bet your a** that nowhere in the game will it suggest, imply, or even hint that any morally objectionable game related activities would be ok in the real world.

– Goofonian

***

In Response to “Money Talks, Art Walks” from Then Escapist Forum: What if there had been the same attitude towards discussion of art in film? What if the French had never thought to consider film noir as art or had not thought enough about the possibilities of film to create the New Wave movement? What if Ingmar Bergman had decided not to try to be an artist because there wasn’t much profit in it (I believe he was often underwritten by the government precisely because there was no money in it; if video games are acknowledged as an artistic medium they could get government funding, at least in other countries that have more respect for art than the U.S.

– nytimesguy