Hello folks, and happy new year! 'Tis the season to look forward to the next twelve months. Around this time last year, the Technology section's gamesblog column made several predictions about the trends that would sweep the gaming world in 2007. Wild, partially-educated and essentially fabricated, almost all of them came to pass: both Nintendo and Microsoft established distribution channels for indie game developers, machinima from virtual world Second Life was the dramatic platform for an episode of CSI: NY and Microsoft and Universal Pictures used Alternate Reality Gaming in high-profile marketing campaigns. Sadly, metaverses didn't mature much; most of the virtual worlds creators locked themselves in their laboratories concocting schemes for release in 2008.
Four out of five ain't bad. Over in the paper, Keith asks the big questions that will dominate 2008, and I though I'd blindly press forward with a few more guesstimates for the next twelve months.
Casual games dominate Nintendo cracked 2007. The Japanese giant single-handedly realigned the demographic of the game console owning population to 45+ as mums, granddads and aunties clamoured for Wiis and DSs. To cope with this population's demands, Nintendo will publish a whole slew of high quality interim, interstitial casual titles.
Meanwhile, as the indie-fication of the other consoles continues, the excellent casual products on Xbox 360 Live and the PlayStation 3 Network will maintain Microsoft's and Sony's tidy little sidelines.
And so, by the end of 2008, we predict that five casual games will hit the Number 1 sales spot in the Chart Tracker.
Games go social The game community's not immune to the social networking hype, and 2008 will produce several games with strong SN components, contributing to the player-base and to the gameplay. There have already been steps in this direction: the Xbox 360's December update included a Facebook-style feature for gamers ISO battle friends or foes, and Media Molecule's Little Big Planet intends to be the MySpace for gaming on the PlayStation 3 later this eyar. Social networking features are integral in several virtual worlds currently in beta, like Raph Koster's Areae, and ActiveWorlds, a pre-Second Life social virtual world, has already been integrated into Facebook.
By 2009, a game will use social networking features of an existing social network site as a series of secondary goals which will have an impact on how players succed in the primary game.
Controversy rises Anti-game headlines are inevitable in 2008 with the release of the latest in the controversy-courting Grand Theft Auto series. Never a company to pull its punches, the creators behind this hotly anticipated game tackle immigration with their usual blunt instrument.
But the industry hopes the Byron Report, a government enquiry into the relationship between interactive and real-world violence, will counteract the negative publicity.
One ID to rule them all 2008 will also witness the realisation of cross-game identities. At least one company will release a proto-product that will allow players to take experience and assets into different applications. This meta-identity will be spearheaded by social virtual worlds, but at least one game-focussed space will attempt single IDs.
Strap into your time machines folks, as we zoom into our interactive futures.
