In the run up to the launch of PlayStation 2, Sony set out its ultimate vision for gaming technology. In a series of commercials run in the United States, the PlayStation 2 was hailed as a step in the evolution of the surgically implanted PlayStation 9 controller, tipped to hook up to the a transparent glassy globe which is the console through the retina. With a launch date set for sometime around 2075, Sony has a good deal of time to iron out the technical and ethical issues surrounding such a proposition.
"The premise is that the PlayStation 2 is the beginning of a whole new evolution," Patrick Lagana, product manager for hardware and peripherals at Sony computer entertainment Australia explained. "There are all kinds of questions from an ethical point of view, and it is hard to see at this stage how they will release it, but the direction is clear."
In the meantime however, games console and peripherals vendors are focusing on providing ever more immersive technologies, enhancing the gaming experience through improved graphics, voice recognition, force feedback features, movement capturing technology, broadband connectivity and movement capture devices.
"Over the next couple of years we are going to see an even bigger jump in the quality of the graphics than we saw in the last generation of consoles," said Andrew Carter, vice president of development at games developer and publisher Infogrames Melbourne House. "Games graphic are not necessarily going to become more realistic, but they will certainly become more fantastic."