What happened to Episodes?

[Ioncannon]

Well I noticed this a while back, what happened to Episodeds? That was one of my fav factors of dos games. Wolf 3d had 6!, doom had 4, and Duke 3d had 4!

[The Niles]

3D games became shorter. Doom 3 had something like 30+ levels in it, a modern day 3D shooter is lucky to get 15. Too be honest I can't be upset about it. I only like the first chapters of most 3D shooters, then I get boored with the repetitivity of things.
Besides the game element of playing in different environments is still there. Soldier of Fortune for instance takes place all around the world. But these are usually only one or two levels not enough to call it a "Chapter".

[I_Wanna_Be_A_Pirate]

wat u mean doom 3 *had* 30 lvls, it hasnt even come out yet ( 50,50)

[LotharGR]

The biggest 3D shooter ever were Dark Forces 2... As i remember at least. It was really huge

[The Niles]

Doom 3 has 13 levels last I heard. It's barely a game at all and that is intentional. Doom 3 has not been made to make a profit. Not that it's charity their doing it for but they hope to make a lot of money out of the liscence selling for the Doom3 engine, and with reason. The Doom3 engine looks better then the Half Life 2 one. The physics are different I think but the looks are better.

[LotharGR]

The only bad thing is that it will require a monster PC to be able to run :)

[The Niles]

Yeah but somehow I think it will be worth it. It looks jawdroppingly good and seems to have a wonderfully ominous atmosphere.

[LotharGR]

Looking at the pictures of Doom 3 i can't help it but think at what point the computer graphics were 20 years ago... and at what point they will be in 20 years from now.... Propably you will not be able to tell the difference between real life and graphics :)

[Stroggy]

heh, will computers as we know it today still exist in 20 years?

perhaps computer and screen will mold together into a tiny box prjecting 3d images.
Games will probably be downloaded, or if you are still able to buy games, you will be using small plugs (date will be contained inside the plug) and you just have to insert it into the small computer-box (it will ofcoarse have a package... so you can't loose it)

may sound strange now but if you remember that it wasn't such a long time ago that computers were still huge boxes and an even shorter time ago that computers were only able to contain a few textfiles.

Ofcoarse Doom 3 will be a techdemo (like most 3dshooters these days) but it'll be sweet... but it will have a replay-value of bubblewrap (its fun, but once you've popped the last bubble... its over)

[The Niles]

perhaps computer and screen will mold together into a tiny box prjecting 3d images.
Games will probably be downloaded, or if you are still able to buy games, you will be using small plugs (date will be contained inside the plug) and you just have to insert it into the small computer-box (it will ofcoarse have a package... so you can't loose it)
This will not happen in the next twenty years but our desktop computer will be integrated into our home and we will have a PDA type computer with (video)phone and foldable keyboard with us when we go out. The screen will be about 4-7" and it will be no thicker as one centimeter. We will have full internet acces where ever we go and it will be a huge bandwidth. We will be able to shop at the supermarket when we are commuting and the shopping will bedelivered in the evening when we get home.

So much for my chrystal ball. I think it broke now.

[LotharGR]

You do not need a crystal ball to see the future... :) Those screens you mentioned do exist allready ( on a primitive stage, but they do exist. ) I believe that the computer in the future will became so needed inside your home, as it is your kitchen or your fridge. And it is for sure that it will be the central control machine in your home, as it will be a stereo set, a TV, a entertainment machine etc...

[Stroggy]

computers integretad into houses already exist.
hell even BELGIUM's house of the future has this (computers everywhere)
most of it is voice controlled (voice controll works surprisingly well)
now it even has a computer in the fridge
every product has a chip and, when asked, the computer in the fridge will scan the fridge for the special chip (like when you go to the supermarket they'll scan chips on the products to know how much it costs) and if it doesn't find it the computer will warn you that you are, for example, all out of milk.

Most supermarkets here already have internet-deliveries (they are delivered in a few hours)

And with the way cellphones are evolving it will certainly not take 20 years before we're able to go online everywhere we want.

no I think the changes in 20 years will be much bigger than that.

[Danny252]

I can't say the tesco online delivery service is reliable when it comes to the right goods...

[The Niles]

Yeah most of those systems already exist but few are reliable and none are totally intergrated. None of us live in the house of the future also. You guys should check out a device from Archos, the AV500. It will be out by the end of the year and it is the most advanced PDA on the market when it does.

[Stroggy]

well I was simply imagining how the house of the future would be in 20 years or so.

actually come to think of it I remember reading they were going to update the Hosue of the Future simply because most of the people already DID live in the house of the future.

[Ioncannon]

sadly that kinda world woud be a bad one, why? we will be lazy and all we have to do is push a button to get anything we want.

[Stroggy]

they said the same thing when the pocket-calculator was released

[Tom Henrik]

And it has been more and more true since that time.

A good example is communication. Just look at the development in people habits. In the good old days, you would travel to the person you had something to say too, then came the phone... Then the mobil phone made it unnessecary to even walk into your own house, to pick up the phone. And with the development of SMS, more and more people do not even bother to talk to the other person...

I picture my grandchildren as fat, lazy and spoiled brats...
(And compared to my own grandparents I am a lazy and spoiled brat!)

But to quote Stroggy with his favorite line... :P
"Get back to Topic!"

[Stroggy]

alright
lets do it your way then.
from now on whenever you have something to say you get over here and say it in my face!
and if I want an old game from you 'll walk all the way to your house to get it?
since the internet is a tool of the lazy man.
A standing monument for lazyness!

anyway
Get back on topic you lazy ducklings!

[joelster]

wow, this post is old

[BeefontheBone]

stop that, you muppet.

[Omuletzu]

:blink:

right ... locked