Every Monday (and occasionally Tuesday) the LeftStickRight team will take on a different topic surrounding news or interesting topics about games or the gaming industry and open it up for discussion. Our three editors will give their perspective and you are welcome to give your own. Agree? Disagree?

The topic this week is: How will you be playing games in ten years? What kinds of games will you be playing in the future?

Tim’s Take

In 10 years I’ll be… 36. Wow.

By that time, if I’m lucky, maybe I’ll be playing the latest semi-educational game based off a kid’s show with a son or daughter. Perhaps some 3D, motion-controlled version of Donkey Kong Jr. Math be out then. Perhaps it will not send a shiver of horror down my spine similar to the one I just felt when my brain spat that idea out at me. Either way, gaming with a self-made next generation and passing on good titles from “the day” sounds like a great opportunity to bond. Unless the kid likes playing sports, which I could only blame my [Ivy League professor supermodel... and most likely a robot] wife.

If I’m still padding it as a bachelor, though, I’d have to believe my slow transition to portable gaming would continue and you’d catch me out passing time with the latest handheld. Hopefully this whole “3DS” thing doesn’t mean the room will flood with holographic images of Pokemon (of COURSE there will be Pokemon) whenever I open it, as that would make sneakplay during office meetings rather difficult.

Ian Y’s Take

The year is 2020! War, disease and pollution have ravaged the world. Humanity clings to existence by the skin of its teeth. Ironically, the newly released Fallout 4 now takes place in a fictional pre-apocalyptic future in which you get up, commute to work and spend all day writing status reports (Your boss loved your project proposal, it’s a Critical Hit!).

Considering the currently disappointingly slow pace of technology, my dreams of using a virtual reality simulator like Star Trek’s Holodeck is still out of reach. But I may still dress up in thematically appropriate costumes to play video games anyway. Even still all games will probably incorporate some kind of 3-D gimmickry. As well, processing power and optical recognition technology will make real-time motion capture feasible. It will be incorporated in all sports and fighting games to the detriment of all geeks. Now you’ll get beat at games by people who’re actually fit, athletic and talented. And don’t even think about playing Street Fighter 5 online unless you have black belt in karate!

In all seriousness. I’ll be playing Final Fantasy 18. A lot.

Ian H’s Take

I have a feeling my response is going to be the most boring just because I believe I will be playing games in almost the exact same way I am today. I will likely be in front of a TV with some sort of controller in my hand, maybe motion enhanced but maybe not. I think the big difference is that I will likely be watching the game in 3D, but I can’t imagine that I’d be wearing glasses to do it in ten years. I imagine the fidelity of the games will be significantly higher than what we see now, and I may even be playing most of my games through digital channels rather than having a shelf full of items. However, I still see myself firmly planted on the couch and making my way through some action-adventure title that has grabbed my interest.

My tastes over the last decade have not changed significantly, beyond my occasional foray into the weird and wild, so I imagine if there is a Luigi’s Mansion 2 available I’ll probably have played it, along with the latest shoot-them-in-the-face angry third person game. Maybe less so the latter if there are kids in the vicinity. I imagine I will still be playing on a system sold to me by a retail store and offered by either Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo. Maybe Apple at that point, too, who knows!