What is the Future of Gaming

Games and technology are heading together towards new developments every day. Predictions and speculations are made every day about the future of gaming. Gaming companies are working more or less on technology and devices which can utilize both the real world and virtual world together. This leads us to the definition of hyper-reality. 

Hyper-reality is a state where the consciousness of the mind is not able to differentiate between where is the real world ending and from where the virtual world is starting. This acts as the base of the futuristic technology we are going to discuss.

As per the developments, three types of technologies are emerging out as the fields having maximum research, investment, and optimistic results for the future of gaming. The technologies found are:

1. VR (Virtual Reality)

2. AR (Augmented Reality)

3. MR (Mixed Reality)

1. Virtual Reality is simply a gaming setup of headset covering the eyes also enabled with 3D Software that creates a completely virtual world in front of the gamer’s eyes and the gamer understands that he is playing the game in a completely real world. So, the experience mainly depends on the Headsets' quality and the technical factors related to it.

VR Headsets are of two types:

1. PC connected Headsets: These headsets are connected to a computer or a console and provide you with the best virtual reality gaming experience. The best games for pc free of cost like Trickster VR: Horde Attack, VR Chat, Wolfenstein 3D VR, and many others are also major attractions for PC connected VR games. Popular VR headsets are Oculus Quest, HTC Vive, Play Station VR. 

With the PlayStation VR, speculations are also being made as is PS5 the future of gaming.

Some of the best high graphics pc games are:

• Half-Life: ALYX  The game is about capturing a superweapon from the aliens. Valve Corporation has developed the game.
• Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners It is a shooter survival horror game developed by Sky dance Interactive L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files  The game is about a detective working on the cases of LA Noire. The game is developed by Rock star Games.
• Thumper  The game developed by Drool is basically about rhythm and timing to collect maximum points. 
• Superhot VR  Developed by Superhot Team, the game is about killing enemies using weapons.

1. Standalone Headsets: If you are confined with the budget and still don’t want to compromise on the future of the gaming VR experience, then Standalone Headsets are the best for you. Gamers just need to fit their smartphones in the headsets and start gaming. Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear VR, Google Daydream are the best available for this platform and certainly make this technology affordable.

2. Augmented Reality is the future of gaming technology using the real world to give a virtual life-like experience from your phone or tab camera. The technology was officially announced in the 1990s and soon AR gaming became very popular and hugely researched upon. The game is usually streamed on the device from the cloud or the company database through the app installed on your phone augmenting the real-world experience. Some of the very popular AR games are :

• Ingress Prime
• Jurassic World Alive
• Pokemon Go
• The Walking Dead: Our World
• Brickspace
• Knightfall AR

Free Cloud Gaming Service

Free Cloud Gaming Service plays a very important role in AR gaming as AR games are mostly played through cloud storage, i.e., storage online. This also reduces the dependency on data storage space in your device. Some of the widely known free cloud gaming services are:

• Snoost: this amazing service permits you to get 3 days completely free trial of their product. The paid subscription, if availed, is also very pocket-friendly.
• PlayStation Now: a free trial of 7 days is allowed before going for the paid subscription.
• NVIDIA GEFORCE Now (beta): You have to be invited for the Geforce version access. Geforce is in closed beta. If invited, the beta version of Geforce is granted access free of cost and the gaming library is big. 
• Microsoft Azure Cloud Games: the trial period allowed is of 12 months but the features provided in the service are limited than the paid subscription.
• Simplay: They allow a 1-day free trial and they used to offer unlimited gaming for $ 19.99 per month. Europe is the place they are operating in and planning to expand to other continents also.
• Playkey.net: 20 minutes of demo gaming can be availed in this service. Further on, one has to take the paid subscription.
• Steam link: this is a free app providing you access to the steam library.

So, now after understanding what is VR and AR and knowing they are playing a vital role in deciding the future of gaming, it becomes important to know about the other big development and that is Mixed Reality.

3. Mixed Reality is the technology that combines real-life surrounding actions taken in a virtual world making the actions are being taken in the real-life world. It acts as if you use a real-world stick to hit a character in the virtual gaming world. It acts as a blend of imagination and real-life happenings and things to create a completely new gaming experience. The technology is new and has been explored by very few companies like Microsoft but still, there are lots of hopes attached to the technology.

Uses in other fields

The utility of AR and VR in the gaming field is just amazing and futuristic but, it is not limited to gaming only. Fields like Education, Medical treatment, Health and Tourism, Planning, and training are also getting various benefits of AR and VR. 

For example, if some police officers want to enter a building that is hijacked by terrorists, AR can help them in getting a 3D image of the building and marking the dangerous spots or getting information about any incidents that previously happened in the building.

For medical treatment to be done far away at some other place, this technology acts as a bridge. This can save lives.

Hence, this technology is not only for the future of gaming but also for several other fields.