I agree with the idea that gaming has lost it's luster in regards to actually embedding you in a new world, inside someone Else's imagination. They do it today with flashy graphics, a bow to those that prefer the new graphics over story line, but they leave out the true imagination, they have appeared to discard the immersion factors and gone strictly for a shot at possibly being called upon to create a movie that will garner them millions of box office ticket sales, instead of capturing the audience with interactivity.
We are now entering the 3d world. True 3D, not just a 3d hd tv, but he future of total physical immersion into the actual game world. Another decade or so, and we will have true 3d like projectors similar to when Princess Leia was projected from R2D2 via an email message. With the technology that Nintendo WII introduced, we are coming much closer to true involvement with the games. Once true 3D projection hits the scene, without requiring those ridiculous red/green glasses, we may finally have something worthwhile.
My only true hope is that the folks developing this stuff, regain the idea that the PLAYER is the important part, the video cinematics only distract from the actual game. When I have to patiently sit through 3-5 minutes (or even 60-90 seconds) of someone ELSE telling the story, while cleaning my fingernails, waiting for the chance to actually DO SOMETHING with the game, well, lets just say that those titles have been played exactly once, and tossed into a box. Sometimes, they were never even finished when they found themselves in a stack of useless stuff in a closet somewhere.
Admittedly, I saw the original Star Wars movie, 17 times in the theater, most of that within the first week of release, Return of the Jedi got two chances with me, everything since has been lucky if I bothered going to the theater at all. Lets see... 17 X $4.50 == $76 that I invested into Star Wars the original... ticket prices went up, number of views went down after that by a considerable amount. Bioware's Neverwinter Nights, well, I have purchased every single expansion, every Premium module, and multiple copies or the entire game... Bioware ended up with well over $300 from me. Sure, the graphics levels have greatly increased with later technology, but I was not impressed with the other developer's interpretations as much as the original from Bioware. Bioware, at the time of Neverwinter Nights, was intelligent in regards to also giving the PLAYER, the ability to create their own worlds. True control over most of the environment they may have wished to create. Their successors have sadly dropped the ball.
Having loved Neverwinter nights as much as I did, I followed Bioware into other titles as well, but those other titles fell into the cinematic genre, where you sit through pre-scripted scenes waiting for control to be given back to the player. If I wish to view a movie, I can rent one or purchase one on DVD or Blue-ray disk... lose 2 hours, and then go do something else... for a game, I want something that is going to invite me back to play again and again.
With the Nintendo WII, we are getting close to that total immersion feeling, and at the end of play, I am physically tired as well as emotionally drained. This is a good thing... now, if they would only come up with games that actually interest my intellect as well, and then immerse me into a real 3d world... well, THAT I would pay handsomely for!
