Yves Guillemot crossed his name off the list of people who have yet to predict that Apple will become a bigger player in gaming hardware today. He did that as part of his explanation about how he thinks the home console market is going to transform gaming as we know it.

"There's also a new entrant in the business," he said, after riffing off the looming gaming potential of set-top boxes. "[That entrant is] Apple, with the iPhone. And we don't think they will stop there."

Guillemot made the comments about Apple during Ubisoft's conference call to report the company's finanicial results for its fiscal year ended in March. The head of the company behind hits such as Assassin's Creed and Splinter Cell has repeatedly addresses the topic of the next generation of consoles in these earnings costs. He touched on it again, when asked by a financial analyst on the call: "We will see more customers coming to the video game industry .. they will start also to come under the boxes you see under the TV because those TV boxes will be more powerful.. We will see more consoles on which we will be able to put products. As for the next generation of consoles we can't give you a date but from what we see there is a lot of energy to improve the consoles [that are out now.] We are already working on some of the elements that will appeal in the next generation."

The allusion to the impending importance of gaming via set-top boxes prompted a follow-up question from an anlyst, and this produced more specificity about why the devices like cable boxes might begin to be discussed in the same breath as Xboxes and Wii: "You saw new interfaces with the Wiimote and also with the DS with the stylus," Guillemot said. "What we see for the future is they will also be big announcement in interfaces. It will not only happen in consoles but also happen on those TV boxes as well."

And right after that, Guillemot made his remark about Apple.

One of Guillemot's older brothers, Michel, runs GameLoft, one of the most aggressive developers of games for Apple's iPhone.

[PIC]

The company's Unreal Engine 3 powers a good chunk of this generation's titles. The ensuing generations are likely to have photorealism — and Epic's Tim Sweeney thinks that'll be de facto in 10 to 15 years.

"We're only about a factor of a thousand off from achieving all that in real-time without sacrifices," says Sweeney. "So we'll certainly see that happen in our lifetimes; it's just a result of Moore's Law. Probably 10-15 years for that stuff, which isn't far at all."

Over at industry site Gamasutra, Sweeney goes into great detail about graphic realism and reproducing the nuances of human behavior.

From The Past To The Future: Tim Sweeney Talks [Gamasutra via [Eurogamer] [Pic]

Sadly, the folks at Bad Robot, production company behind this weekend's Star Trek movie, were not able to tell us this week whether the era of James T. Kirk has room for a robust video game console market.

Is there a PlayStation on the Enterprise? We may never know.

But we do have some evidence that video games, unlike money (sort of), won't be eliminated from the future as rendered by the various incarnations of Star Trek.

At a meeting with some game developers this week, I batted around some theories. Some of them — people more expert at Star Trek than I — cited some examples of video games in the Trek future.

A 1991 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation entitled The Game featured a virtual reality game that was played with a headset and was taking over the minds of the crew. (See the trailer above). The polygon count of the game wasn't all that great, suggesting that the Wii approach of gameplay-over-graphics may continue to win out even in the 24th century. The episode also implies in the future video games actually will be bad for you.

Several Star Trek fans consulted for this post argued that the famous virtual reality Star Trek chambers, the holodecks, are themselves the ultimate video game consoles. The real-time lighting and bump-mapping in the holodeck appears to be quite good.

That is, alas, all we've been able to dig up so far. Word has it that the new Star Trek movie features no video games.

But surely video games are the future? We're not destined to go a world dominated by books and music as the chief cultural forms again, are we?

..., it's anybody's guess. At Naughty Dog, we're pretty sure we should be able to see leaps between games on the PS3 that are even bigger than they were on the PS2.

But not everyone is as happy-go-lucky as the kids over at Sony. My vote for the first "OH SNAP!" quote-of-the-year goes to Kyoshi Shin of Japan's International Game Developer's Association who had this brief statement to say about the PS3:

When people talk about the PS3 on chat forums, they say it's like going to a very expensive restaurant and not getting anything to eat.

Ouch. That is cold. Hopefully Sony will bring a jacket on their 10 year journey, because I don't think "commitment" can keep them warm. Kim Phu

Sony Committed to PS3 for 10 Years and Beyond [Games Industry Biz]

The PS3 is not high tech. It does not come in a clear ball that splits open and sends particles up your nose, causing you to see a giant octopus. According to this retro PS2 ad, the PS9 should hit in the year 2078. My question: Will it be the PlayStation 9 or the PLAYSTATION 9? Brian Ashcraft

But, How Will the PS9 Launch Be? [Destructoid]

How popular is the DS Lite in Japan? Appearing-in-anime popular. Reader Magus was checking out the second season of School Rumble when he noticed a familiar handheld. Magus writes:

In the last episode, the girl had a DS Lite and spoke about an "animal game". What was even weirder is that this was from a 10 year flash back. So the rest of the anime is in the future, but it's the only thing to confirm that.

Expect season three's flashbacks to show characters donating blood to buy the PS3, only to have their little faces punched in on launch day. Brian Ashcraft

I hate analysts. They are industry charlatans, fortune tellers, spouting their "predictions," which are based on nothing more than projected lines. Their contribution to society? Flame wars, and for that, they deserve a post.

Boston-based research firm Yankee Group believes that the PLAYSTATION 3 will capture 44 percent of North American console sales by 2011 (coincidentally, the same year that Crecente's Social Security kicks in). Following close behind will be the Xbox 360, grabbing 40 percent of the market. And dead last? The Wii at a very sad 16 percent.

The group also said there will be fewer consoles sold compared to previous generations—no doubt, due to high prices. According to the Yankee Group, Microsoft will be in a good position to cut the Xbox 360's pricetag in Spring 2007, increasing the gap between the its console and the PLAYSTATION 3. Moreover, Yankee analyst Michael Goodman stated:

With a growing installed base of connected consoles, content owners are beginning to recognize the potential video game consoles offer as a distribution channel. Additionally, these platforms will serve as a strong medium for advertising, validating the growing market for in-game and around game advertising.

Wow, Michael, not only are you stiff and wooden, but BRILLIANT. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Next Gen]

Are you bold? Like are you audacious enough to wear shoes without socks and drink day-old milk? Well, have we got a website for you. Appropriately called "Bold-Claim," the site lets daring individuals post this opinions on everything from economics (not our readership) to video games (bingo). Just register, post your own or comment on others. I've taken a quick look around, happened upon a couple Kotaku reader's bold claims and made my own:

Many people will line up for the PS3 on launch day.

Soooo bold, I know. Now, if you excuse me I'm going to stuff my face with fugu.

Claim This [Official Site] Thanks, King Louse!

Just kidding, I love my Wavebird!

Mental Typewriter and Game Controller Becomes a Reality

Eurogamer, via GamesIndustry, reports that EA important dude Dr. Jens Uwe Intat says the future will bring a continuous pipeline of downloadable games. Ten years from now (sometime after we get those overdue Hoverboards from Back to the Future 2) gamers won't necessarily be buying the latest titles at actual shops, but downloading. "All entertainment media will be downloaded to a device," says Intat. Certainly, this isn't much of a revelation. It's not a revelation in the least. However, bigwig Intat also stated that there will be physical product in stores for a long time. Which brings us to an interesting question:

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

Me, I'm a tangible sort of guy.

Full Story Here [Eurogamer]