Epic Games, the folks behind Gears of War, know a lot about how games are made now. So there's a good chance Epic has a good handle on the future.
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]