Role Playing Games, that is, not the weapons.
Last night I was discussing with a friend weather or not I would sign up as a beta tester for the new Star Trek MMPORPG. I love multi-player, online, role-playing games like Everquest II that I'm playing right now, (Think of a more adult version of World of Warcraft for the uninitiated reader) but admittedly all of the new RPG games follow pretty much the same cookie cutter design. They need a BIG jump in innovation pretty soon as the scope of the worlds have gotten amazingly more immense and the graphics have gone from simple cartoon people to amazing, beautifully designed and almost photo realistic realistic artwork but the essential game-play has followed closely to the same old formula since the early nineties.
The new Star Trek and a couple of existing games have tried to liven it up by adding a space combat aspect but the rest has stayed pretty traditional What am I truly waiting for?
It used to sound impossible but the technology is actually here today. I’m waiting for a company brave enough (and rich enough) to make a new fantasy RPG, combine it with 3-D immersive goggles and add the physical movement type capabilities introduced by the Wii.
Can you imagine a 3D world where your sword attacks are based upon swinging your arms and your spells are cast by waving your arms in different manners for each spell and pointing. Only a couple of years ago it would be just be a movie script. Now, it is very technically feasible.
I would easily pay a couple of hundred dollars for the gear such as this. The business case is already well proven by the extremely popular Rock Band game. People gladly pay a couple of hundred extra dollars to get all the extra gear to become standing, moving, breathing rock stars.
The only downfall I see is that you might need to wear a hockey helmet for when you get a little too involved, lose your balance and fall head first into your coffee table. That and I might never go to work again. Add in my friends tendencies to consume alcohol while playing our weekly gaming sessions, and now you have real entertainment!
