“Who’s playing? Was that yesterday’s match?”, asked my grandfather.
The 89-year-old sweetheart had no idea what was coming his way. He had showed up at our house for dinner while my brothers were plonked in front of the television, footballers in high definition running around the field and the commentator going wild as one of the players on TV put one through the top-right corner.
“Goal!”, my grandfather cried.
My brother laughed as he took off his headphones; he was in a Skype call with his friends.
“It’s not real Tok, it’s a video game”.*
*Based on a true story.What? Your Technology is Evolving!
You, me, and the rest that walk among us; our generation of children and teens are the ones most exposed to the rapidly-evolving culture of technology. We often forget or sometimes just don’t realise how invisible, seemingly intangible, the evolution of technology has improved our livelihoods in mere decades. Graphics and High-Definition systems, for instance, are now able to convince older generations, sometimes even myself, that the images we see on television, while our siblings frantically tap a myriad of buttons a second, are real-time live shows and matches. And graphics is merely the tip of the iceberg.
Technology has brought us far – from childhood massive multiplayer role-playing games (MMORPGs) like Runescape and MapleStory allowing people across the globe to interact in real-time, to the now-hot virtual reality genre where your being submersed in a whole different dimension provides a fresh new experience to the gaming industry. Utilizing up to 3 of your 5 basic senses, people can now be warped to a whole different world and interact with environments that could then have only been called science fiction. What was once only recognised as a cinematic Disneyland attraction is no longer a surreal faraway fantasy... but an epic (and fashionably portable) new reality only a headset away!
Bit by Bit
Interacting with others and toying with the different settings is all fun and games until reality kicks in and you have to take off your VR headset. But reality isn’t so bad is it? Recently, not anymore it isn’t! Part of that reasoning is due to Augmented reality; where a virtual world is added as another layer on top of the one witnessed by the naked eye. Traces on the use of this technology actually goes back to as far as well before the 21st century. Only in the early 2000’s did the AR industry have a boom; when the first AR game was born, ARQuake. Later, the technology advanced so much that it could support millions of live players at any single time.
But what are the secrets behind these developments?
We do indeed enjoy playing our respective video games – what with the endless array of genres, graphics, and styles. This is especially the case when you see your favourite game getting remastered or remade with evolved definitions, but have you paused for a moment (No Mum, I can’t pause Fortnite!) to appreciate the effort and generations of learning how developers actually put these down and formulate codes and combinations just so you can enjoy your favourite games? Take John Hanke’s history for instance. The CEO of Niantic, the gaming company behind AR Mobile App “Pokemon Go”, practically dedicated his life to the field – claiming he had the idea of Pokemon Go as an AR project from the very start! He started off learning to program in middle school, started 3 gaming start-ups before the end of the second millennium, started Niantic while at Google (all the while being independent from Google) and eventually created the game that once had more daily users than Twitter! Yet, we thoughtlessly flick our fingers in hopes of acquiring a stronger Pikachu.
Future Expansion Pack
Having the foresight to predict the demands of gamers worldwide is crucial in adopting current technology either to develop new systems and potentially concepts; or using it to improve, remaster, remake, or even reboot a particular series or franchise. Revamping current games is definitely the chink in the armour when striking the hearts of gamers around the world; they get to witness their 8-bit childhood memories get a fresh look – their nostalgia in high-definition 3D graphics. As a fellow casual gamer, that statement comes from this writer’s kingdom heart. Those of you that can relate probably shed a tear and even burnt offerings for the developers in all their sagacity for producing your favourite remakes.
But would the alternative be so bad? Hypothetically, what if all progress on existing game remakes and sequels seized to a halt – just so developers can focus on bringing you a revolutionary gaming experience, a breakthrough in the wonderful world of gaming that we adore. It sounds far-fetched, no doubt about it. But I’m going to utilize the most cliché and overused technological statement known to mankind; centuries ago space exploration was a fantasy. Today we didn’t just achieve that. We’ve made telescopes able to see billions of light years away, we have technology that can predict your future traits while you’re still a baby, and we have video game graphics capable of perplexing the older generations into believing they’re instead the real deal. Video games are the bomb – true weapons of mass distraction.
So in this rapidly-evolving, technologically-driven dimension (hey, I’m allowed to believe that we’ll discover alternate dimensions one day right?), would you rather live in an enormously enhanced version of the past, or have faith that something excitingly new is coming sooner than later? Personally I’d press up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A-START, and choose C; I’d like both please! Seriously though, in this world of ratchet possibilities where these tech-savvy developers hide so much up their arsenal, what would you ask for?
Bazil Shahriman