Next big genre?

[Alienblue]

Every generation there seems to be some genre that draws more than 60% of all games made to it. In NES and early 16-bit days it was PLATFORM GAMES, then with the success of Street Fighter II, it was 2-D FIGHTING GAMES.... with 32 bit, at first most games seemed to be 3-D fighters or racers, followed by 3-D adventure and horror games, and during the last generation it was quite obviously 3-D First Person Shooters (a genre I never liked a whole lot, hence the reason I stayed out of the systems until my recent aqisition of a PS2)...Red Steel and Gears of War are carrying the FPS tradition forward, but I think it is high time for some other genre to take the lead.... at the moment, on the Wii at least, Mini game collections are showing promise but I doubt that will be "the next big thing".... so what WILL be?
Any guesses? I'm guessing PONG! It's time for a super realistic High Def video bluebook version of PUPPY PONG! (:

[bluemonkey1]

Gears isn't an FPS.  Personally I think racers are still just as big a deal as in the 32bit days - just look at series like Need For Speed, Burnout and Gran Tourismo.  I think we will see a resurgence of RTS's on the consoles after the success of Lord of the Rings and the upcoming C&C3 which looks quality.  If we include PC gaming FPS were one of the main genres since the 16bit days.  I think that these days the staple pretty much is racers, FPS and third person action for the majority of mainstream games.

[Adamant1]

I'm hoping for adventure gaming myself - not just linear "get item x, then use it on item y to continue", but large, open-ended games where your actions determine which way the story and thus the game will develop. Imagine games built like those old Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, just much larger, and with much more ways to actually change the way the game will continue instead of just avoiding death traps all the time. If you choose to go to area x, the story should develop in a different way than if you had gone to area y, instead of the game simply killing you, forcing you to reload from an earlier save and choose area y. It would provide a short and sweet, but complete, game experience for those with little time to invest, but a ton of replay value and possibilities to explore and see different ways for the game to progress and the plot to unfold and end for those willing to invest the time.

[Zenzerotron]

For me personally, it's the FPS all the way.

As embarassing as this is, I didn't ever play any FPS shooters untill I got an Xbox360 and recieved Perfect Dark Zero also(came in a "bundle" from EBgames). As poopy as that game is, as people claim, I really got alot of fun out of it. This game, along with Gears Of War, has opened me up to liking&wanting more FPS games or games very similar to FPS genre.

But I think, *maybe*,  ALL games with a first-person-perspective might be the "wave of the future". We're seeing it with more and more RPG's, I think other genres will follow.

[Johnny]

Gaaaaah stop calling Gears of War an FPS!

I think the next big thing is going to be a Third Person Shooters... Gears of War is going to  influnece a hellovalotta games and they shall surely fallow suit!

 

And plus theres some non gears influenced TPS out like... Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and then games like rainbow 6 combine elements of both!

 

I smell a TPS revolution... Or FPS will continue to thrive either way is good for me!

[VideoGameCritic]

The future of video games?  Three words: Full Motion Video.

Once kids interact with live video, they'll never be able to go back! 
Bring on Sewer Shark 2!!
Anybody still have Marky Mark's phone number??

[wur1]

The gameplay of "third person shooters" is usually the same as FPS's (walk around with one joysick/keys, aim with other joystick/mouse, and shoot at stuff), so they might as well be considered part of the same genre.

 

Anyway, FPS's have been around a long time (Consider Battlezone on the 2600, for goodness sake!  It's practically the same gameplay as doom.), but I think they finally became entertaining the last generation or so, since we now have hardware that can handle it; also the programming is more involved. (Programming the AI for a soldier to react realistically in a gunfight is much more difficult than to program a goomba to attack you, as well as the fact that it requires computer science theory that wasn't even known until recently.  And let's not forget the 3D engines required)  On the other hand, lower level hardware can handle quality RPG's/platformers/puzzlers, so those were more exploited back in the day.  (I'm sure that developers wanted to make FPS's, but it was risky considering they were doomed to be fairly simplistic--consider Faceball 2000 for the Gameboy, or Spectre for the SNES)

 

The next big genre?  I'm guessing mini-games, and maybe a revert to instant-gratification action games that can be finished in less than 20 hours.  Miyamoto himself said that games these days are more involved, and that he wanted the Wii to be a haven of pick-up-and-play games that anyone could get into, like in the 2600 days.

[Conn]

[QUOTE=Adamant]I'm hoping for adventure gaming myself - not just linear "get item x, then use it on item y to continue", but large, open-ended games where your actions determine which way the story and thus the game will develop. Imagine games built like those old Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, just much larger, and with much more ways to actually change the way the game will continue instead of just avoiding death traps all the time. If you choose to go to area x, the story should develop in a different way than if you had gone to area y, instead of the game simply killing you, forcing you to reload from an earlier save and choose area y. It would provide a short and sweet, but complete, game experience for those with little time to invest, but a ton of replay value and possibilities to explore and see different ways for the game to progress and the plot to unfold and end for those willing to invest the time.[/QUOTE]

I would DEFINITELY love to see this kind of game emerge in the future. With lots of puzzle solving.

[chrisbid1]

i think the future is going to be more immersive unique games like guitar hero, ddr, six-axis and wii titles.

[bluemonkey1]

Condemned is more immersive than anything on the Wii and it doesn't use a wacky controller!  Imagine that.