I do. The only video game I’ve played in the last three years is Halo. I eagerly await Halo2, but besides that, I have little or not interest.
I’ve come to realise it’s not that I don’t like playing a good game. I think it’s maybe that I’m spoiled by technology, or I lack imagination, maybe. I dunno, but these days I look at game consoles, or even high-power PC gaming systems, and I just think “meh, yawn”.
Halo probably kept my attention party because I’m a visuals whore, and partly because I found the story engaging. But a recent weekend out playing paintball has led me to believe that vibrating gamepads are no substitute for the biting pain of a high-velocity capsule of liquid smacking into your bare flesh. Or the thrill of diving through the bushes, ducking behind log bunkers, dodging straifing snipers, ambushing a flanking patroll by doubling back behind them. I like engaging, but I want immersive.
To hold my attention, I think game systems are going to have to evolve. I want to feel surrounded by the environments I’m navigating. It would be cool if I could feel more, maybe even smell things. I’d like a physical sense of movement, if only simulated. I want to forget that what I’m seeing isn’t just some CGI on the boxy boob-tube. I want to get lost in the experience.
I figure what I want is a holodeck. I’m pretty sure such a thing is impossible.
However, I can’t believe that game-coding geeks out there who watched STTNG weren’t inspired by the ultimate gaming environment envisioned in the holodeck technology. I figure somebody must be working on bringing elements of total sensory immersion to the gaming world. Before I’m really too old, can I look forward to the primitive steps being made towards holodeck-like immersion? Will virtual reality ever really make it to the home or arcade gaming world in a truly compelling way?