I think a lot of people would be puzzled at what 4D gaming would be. Well, in a strict sense 4D exists in a mathematical sense, but that's not the point of this thread. In terms of gaming, i think 4D is immersion.
How are people trying to move gaming forward towards 4D, you ask? Here are my views:
Sony: I think it's quite apparent of the dirsetion Sony is heading towards. The advantages of the CPU would help significantly for raw calculations, a benefit to physics and AI. According to Phil at GDC, this generation of gaming is about user-created content and expanding that into an online virtual world. The 'Home' is also another way to draw gamers into the virtual world, this could be a part of immersion.
Nintendo: To be honest, Nintendo had the least freedom of how they could have approached this generation due to lack of success from previous generations and also the risks involved in introducing a new control scheme. Anyway, the emphasis in gaming immersion would most definitely be about the controls. It's obvious that motion controls have the potential to create immersion in gaming by allowing players to act out the game rather than pushing buttons. I think this is a very risky move but it's a big step towards VR.
Microsoft: I'm finding it difficult to find what MS is doing to advance gaming further, rather, their emphasis seems to be about breaking into the gaming market. What they have done, is set a benchmark for online gaming and building upon the foundations that have has already been set. By this, i mean, keeping to DVDs, bringing the PC online experience to consoles, and of course the basic CPU and GPU upgrades. In terms of immersion, i can't see much of what they have contributed. Most of that, i think, is highlighting the importance of textures, emphasising graphical immersion rather than intensive calculations.
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