Spielberg: Virtual Reality is the future

Acclaimed film director Steven Spielberg has spoken out to The Guardian about the future of the games industry and why he thinks consoles will soon go "the way of the Dodo."

Spielberg thinks that just as most arcades and "videogame parlors" died out a while back, so too will conventional gaming consoles - to be replaced by virtual reality devices that allow gamers to interface directly with their TVs.

The re-emergence of virtual reality is all a long way off though, reckons Spielberg. In the short term the director, who has been involved with a handful of actually very decent computer games in the past, thinks it's more likely that developers will look to creating three-dimensional experiences - something that actually aligns up nicely with Nvidia's work on the GeForce 3DVision system.

"In the short term I would love to start seeing 3D games developed where with a good pair of glasses we get a real three-dimensional experience in front of an appropriate monitor that is designed just for 3D," he said. "After that, will certainly be virtual reality, which just like 3D came and went in the 1950s, and now it's here to stay in movies."

"I really think virtual reality, which experimentally came and went in the eighties, is going to be redeveloped, just like 3D is being redeveloped today, and that's going to be the new platform for our gaming future."

Elsewhere in the interview Spielberg, who has been involved in excellent games like The Dig, The Neverhood and Boom Blox, said that although he did own games consoles he considered himself very much a PC gamer at heart and loved to get into games with a lot of micromanagement. He admitted to liking and owning a Wii for playing with his family, but described it as more of a macro-level experience.

Where do you think gaming technology will go in the future and what do you reckon to Spielberg's gaming credentials? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.