ZELDA TOMORROW

What will our children's Zelda games, or, for that matter, Video Game experiences themselves, be like in the coming new millenia. The ingenuity of the human will to improve upon what has already been done and overcome doubt of those less visionary has produced so many great accomplishments across the ages past: The Pyramids of Egypt, The City of Rome, The Great Wall of China, The Printing Press, Electricity, The Panama Canal, The Automobile, The Aeroplane, The Rocket Engine, Spaceflight, Computers, and the Internet. But what does the future hold for the interactive entertainment gaming software industry. Like all great industries of times past, we today are amidst a boom in the proliferation and mass production of its associated products. We are at a pivotal point in the transition from introduction to institution. In the past two decades homes across the world have progressively included a new appliance to their members - The Video Game Console. The integration of this element as an extension of the Televison entertainment and communication medium has expanded the possibities of recreation many fold. In tandem with the growing market of consoles, games, and assesories, computers have also been a vehicle for the production, distribution, and display of these collateral products. Likewise, with the symbiosis that is maintained by the video game industry and the computer industry it is safe to assume that where computers go so too will follow video games. The tide of change that moves the computer industry quickly forward is acting similarly upon what see and experince via console gaming system or otherwise. As new technology becomes cheaper and more readily available the realism that is attained by a user is hightened. Today, the most inticing goal persued by video game companies is total immersiveness and realism and with these new technologies, that goal is coming ever closer to being actualized.

What is on the horison for gamers? In the short term there are some revolutionary systems, featuring elaborations upon previously successful hardware, poised to debut in different global markets. Currently in Japan the newest console gaming system is the Sega Dreamcast released late last year and appearing in the US this coming Winter. This system moves to the head of the class in technological power and ability, but how long will that last? Many gaming software companies are moving toward development for this console due to it's universally acceptable hardware. Some gamers are wary of it due to the unpopularity of, and lack of sufficient a software base that Sega has previously shown for, its peripherals and consoles. Sony has the Playstation 2 approaching mass production and distribution sometime in 2000. The Graphics chipset will utilize NURBS technology allowing unsurpassed imersiveness and realism in games. Also too is the possibility that there will be some type of Inernal Modem associated with the system and a service allowing long distance multi-player interaction, a luxury currently availible to only computer owners. With the excellent track record that Sony has maintained with it's constant supply of affordable games and popular titles, gamers and developers are sure to flock to this console when released. Nintendo is still keeping rather quiet about their plans, and rest assured they are planning to make a big change. From all indications Nintendo is finally willing to part with its affinity for cartridges and move to software medium of higher storage such as High Density Discs, CD or DVD. Indeed, one can observe the overt success of CD based games over cartridge based games that has shown itself evident over the past three years. Nintendo is most likely going to do it's usual routine of waiting until everyone brings out their best guns then topping them. Such was the case with the Super NES, and the Nintendo 64. Without a doubt this system is likely to surpass the N64 by many fold. Scrapheaping it's peripheral "The 64DD" their next endevor is likely to be more successful. Termed N2000, (most likely released sometime 2001) the system is probably to be developed by Silicon Graphics (SGI) and incorporate its OpenGL graphics system that has portability to PC and Macintosh. The system is going to feature Dolby Digital Surround Sound incorporated with the Hardware. Without a doubt, it will be worth waiting for.

What does all this mean for you Zelda fans? There WILL be a sequel, you can count on that, but WHEN, is the real question. Miyamoto has said that he does not plan to work on the next Zelda but you can bet your bottom dollar that Nintendo isn't going to pass up the chance to produce another one whether he is involved or not. There MAY be a release of an add-on Sonic and Knuckles style cart for Zelda 64 sometime in the near future but the facts regarding this issue are still rather unclear. The next Zelda will probably expand upon the milestones of Zelda 64 and further amplify the experince of being part of Hyrule and the Legend we know and love. The next game will be far greater in size and complexity. The puzzles will be more convoluted and difficult. The land will take on almost real qualities. Link will be rendered three-dimensionally similar to the FMV's in Final Fantasy VIII. Everything will take on attributes of real objects texturemapped to complex polygonal figures. There will be far more advanced enemy artificial intelligence. The possibilites at this point are limitless. I, Video Gamer X, am predicting that the storyline is going to take place some time after that of Zelda II, when Hyrule has spread to the entire world, and Link will be more than a hero but a savior of his entire planet. There will be more towns, cities, and perhaps more hidden plots and endings. Now, I'm not saying this is fact, but if Nintendo were to listen to the feedback gamers have been saying about Zelda 64 then it is likely that they will make a bold attempt at gearing the game toward what gamers expect and want to see in thier Zelda experience.

What lies beyond the immediate future? Most undoubtedly companies that produce recreational software will move closer and closer to that envelope of TOTAL IMERSIVENESS and finally reproduce real worlds undistinguishable from actual movies. You will be the character, your world will surround the character, the computer will spontaneosly generate circumstances and environmental changes on its own volition. The game will never end because the computer would be able to continuously change the elements of the game. The user would never be able to "master" a game because the computer would be many steps ahead. The game would represent a specific interest or genre, and new characters could be perchased and incorporated into the game's brain. Difficulty would be set by the user. Furthermore as artifical intelligence proliferates, actual cybernetic lifeforms will be created, (and sooner than you think too, you probably won't be dead yet) These cybernetic lifeforms will forever change how man interacts and shapes the world around him. Amusement parks will feature real life situations and circumstances involving these beings. You could interact with them in a very real manner like another human being without the slightest inkling it was an "android." Similarly entertainment scenarios will be devised that real human beings will interact with. Soon near or after this era, the ability to convert bioelectrical brain signals to digital information will be commonplace. Entire "Total Sensory Experinces," true Virtual Reality if you will, will allow people to leave the perception of the world around them and become an entirely different person interacting with a reality that is totally real to them yet generated by a complex computer that transfers information to readable bioelectric brain waves stimulating all 5 (maybe 6 at that time) of the senses. Telepathy and "Mind Modems" will arise from this technology and further enhance the communication of the entire human race. From this point, your guess is as good as mine. Most likely we will be traveling across the expanse of outer space with vehicles using technology this is currently out of our grasp, or using wormholes, or contorting the very geometry of time and space, but of these things one can only wonder. Indeed, the future is waiting, are you ready?