Sony Executives Believe Emotion-Reading Games Possible in 10 Years

At Gamescom last week two of Sony’s executives stated their belief that in merely ten years’ time, video games will have the ability to read more than just movement on the part of the player. Reading player emotions will be a key feature that is possible now and might be implemented into games in the future. Check out the news below.

 At Gamescom last week, Sony Worldwide Studios chief, Shuhei Yoshida and Mike Hocking, a senior director at Sony Worldwide Studios, both stated their belief that emotion-based reading of players is something that can and will be done in games. They stated that developers will have even more access to live data from players that they can then tailor the game experience around.

Hocking stated that he believes the applications of this kind of technology can be varied and expand the current functionality of games significantly. Here is what he had to say.

One of the most intriguing ideas that was presented by Hocking was the ability of the game to “involve the player as an actor, as a participant.” This idea of bringing the gamer into the world of the game has been something that games have been trying to do since they were first invented. Gaming is an interactive medium, so the height of that kind of medium would be an experience where the gamer is actually “inside” the game. This would definitely be a step in the right direction, allowing the game to pick up on the subconscious behaviors of players (like their minute movements that they aren’t aware of) and use that to fuel the experience. This is definitely an interesting concept and one that I hope is explored in the future.

This kind of data can be extremely useful to game developers in creating a truly interactive experience but it also borders on the creepy a little bit. Yoshida himself stated that there could be “almost dangerous kinds of interactivity.” I would like to know exactly what kinds of dangers Yoshida is referring to but it definitely raises the question of how far interactivity should go. Should we be seeing games that know so much about the player or should that kind of interaction simply not exist? The amount of knowledge that a game may have of a player is startling considering, right now, games can’t detect much more than movement.

Ten years is a long time for game development, I mean look at where gaming was in 2001, but it still seems to be pretty close when you consider the kind of interactivity that may be possible with games. The applications of this kind of technology are quite numerous and could lead to some fantastically gripping experiences, if the games are done right.

There was no official word into the actual testing of this kind of technology by Sony but it was stated that R&D projects are constantly going on. So, for the idea to be out in the public means it is probably an idea that is floating around at least. I would be surprised if we didn’t see some form of development on this kind of technology in the future, even if it doesn’t become the big thing that Sony believes it might be.

We aren’t likely to hear too much about this for quite some time but it definitely raises an interesting idea and could be something to look forward to down the road. Games have been becoming more and more interactive as time has gone on so is this the next step? Could emotion-based experiences be the next evolution of games or is this just a pipe dream? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Source: VG247

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