A look at next-generation gaming tech for 2017 and beyond

Besttechie · June 22, 2017

We may be half way through the year already but all the signs suggest that the remaining six months of 2017 will see a number of advances in gaming tech. Quite a few of the technologies we’ll take a look at were due to have been released earlier but for one reason or another have been subject to delays. But as ever better late than never, and it’s shaping up to be a highly competitive marketplace in the run up to the festive season.

Immersive HD Virtual Reality

By far and away the potentially most important development in gaming technology on the horizon has to be virtual reality. One way or another it’s been literally decades in the making but all indications suggest that the impending mass market release of the Oculus Rift – hopefully at an affordable price – could revolutionize domestic gaming. It’s not just video games which are keeping an eye on this emergent technology either. Online gambling companies are already hard at work looking towards how feasible it may to to power their games via smartphones. Gambling fans can expect a choice of mobile casino app configured to VR sooner rather than later!

SmartGlass & CrossPlay

We’ll lump these two technologies together because it looks set to play a major role in how people enjoy games across multiple devices in simultaneous use. Early games which have capitalized on using smartphones and tablet screens alongside TV/monitor based games as extra screens to complement game play have been proved revolutionary. This format of gaming is ideal for casual multiplayer too, with cross compatibility between devices being something that gamers have been pleading to emerge for years.

Small Studios Producing Even More Hit Games

One of the less heralded consequences of the growth in smartphone app markets has been the ease of which small companies have been able to produce and market their own games. While it’s been out for several years now, Minecraft showed how there is still a great opportunity for smaller teams to create global smash hit games – and now there’s thousands of rivals focused upon game-play releasing fresh content every year. With such games being not just cheap but also of increasingly high quality, expect larger studios to be looking nervously over their shoulder as such companies eat into the traditionally blockbuster led gaming market.

The Dawn Of Augmented Reality?

The Pokemon craze of last year demonstrated how it’s possible for smartphones to utilize augmented reality via the camera feature – and this year we can expect even more of these kind of games. Real life interactive games between both human and artificial opponents may very soon become the norm, especially if tethered AR glasses and watches ever finally take on a mass market appeal. Sure the games may appear slightly primitive in regards to graphics and so forth – but it’s possibly going to be even more popular and accessible than virtual reality if the format receives enough committed investment.

Cloud Based Gaming?

Again this tech may just start to hit the mainstream towards the end of 2017 but there’s a strong suggestion that the Cloud is going to become the future of game accessibility. The idea is based upon freely accessible high speed mobile internet that will allow games to be played via Cloud based access. This means there will no longer be a need to even download whole data packages to a device, games will be automatically updated at source and online play can be accessed at the tap of a screen. Given the speed at which smartphone performance continues to grow, expect this to make massive inroads by the turn of the year.

The post A look at next-generation gaming tech for 2017 and beyond appeared first on BestTechie.