Unreal

Writing about this topic reminds me of two things: 1) how old I am, and 2) how fast technology is developing. When the first Unreal game released in 1998, it set the standard for graphical excellence in the first person shoot 'm up genre; 3D gaming had never looked this good before. And now we're about to step into the next level of graphical realism with the upcoming official release of the Unreal Engine 5...

In the original Unreal game you played as "prisoner 849" and the game started on the prisoner ship Vortex Rikers after it had crashed on an unknown planet. The first level was on the spaceship itself, with the usual corridors, hallways, sliding doors, elevators and platforms we were all used to. The moment prisoner 849 escaped that ship though, the first time players saw the expanse of a true outdoor level, and the first time we saw the waterfall, the sky and the planet's sun, was one of the magical moments in the history of gaming. It truly set the standard for games that followed, and it ran on its own original game engine; the first Unreal Engine.

Between then and now a lot has happened, like the years long feud between Quake and Unreal in the gamer scene; Unreal was gorgeous for its time, but the game-play couldn't compete with the ultra fast paced action available in games that ran on the Quake engine, and I was in the Quake camp. I did finish the Unreal single player campaign, but never ventured into Unreal Tournament, its multiplayer successor. The one thing Unreal has always been better at is graphics. And oh boy have they come a long way; the level of realism that's now possible with the Unreal Engine's fifth iteration is almost scary. I've linked above the opening and first level of the 1998 game that changed gaming history. Watching that stirred some cherished memories for me...

We're only 23 years later now, and just look at what we can expect from games in the very near future in the below linked video. I mean, we're talking almost photo realism here! And not only in pre-rendered sequences but in-game! What I find exceptionally impressive, and what will define the next generation of computer gaming, is the technology that removes the limitation on the number of polygons that can be displayed simultaneously; that will yield infinite detail on screen, displayed in the demo by a mesh fence with 3D modeled wiring! Amazing. It's beautiful and scary at the same time though. Just imagine this level of photo realism combined with a high-end VR system... If you think people are distracted from reality by their mobiles, PC's and gaming consoles now, just wait for them becoming completely lost in hyper realistic virtual worlds..!

In the demo the camera flies by a street clock, and I immediately thought how cool it would be if that clock would have been accurately modeled, not just from the outside, but from the inside as well. The outside we've got covered, but imagine that clock, in that virtual world, being 100 percent accurately modeled with every screw, every wire, the complete clockwork mechanism. And the same for everything else in that virtual world. And then imagine all the non player characters populating that world being equipped with a high-end artificial intelligence. What's to separate that world from ours? If we then program the npc's and other "living" creatures in that world to be able to procreate and evolve, place the world in an accurately simulated universe... Where will it end? We would have become Gods! And who's to say that we're not living in some ultra realistic simulation right now? I mean, that idea is actually being entertained by some scientists right now: it's called the simulation hypothesis. Well, just something to think about while you marvel at the technological heights apparent in this video...

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