The pace at which gaming tech has progressed in the past few years is staggering. We’ve come from sitting in front of the TV, entangled in wires and furiously pressing buttons, to simply flapping our hands and feet about in front of a sensor, and our onscreen avatars mirror our moves.

Here are four gaming tech innovations that are likely to change gaming in the next couple of years.

1. Facial Recognition

You'll no longer have to put up with absurd looking avatars, customized a bit. Now, with 3D scanning and facial recognition, you can create a carbon-copy of yourself and apply those features to the character in the game.

Beyond: Two Souls, an interactive drama action-adventure video game for PlayStation 3 released in 2013, had Hollywood stars Willem Dafoe and Ellen Page lend their voices, facial expressions, and body movements via motion capture, to their respective characters, Nathan Dawkins and Jodie Holmes.

2. Voice Recognition

Gone are the days when you had to reach out for the controller to switch screens, surf the net, interact on social media, etc. You can now do much of this by simply talking to your gaming system. And as the tech keeps getting more and more refined, your system will identify your commands first shot, without your having to repeat it again and again with different accents.

3. Virtual Reality

I’m sure many of us, while playing COD, Counter Strike, Halo, Battlefield, or even GTA for that matter, have often wondered what it’d be like to actually be present in the moment, blowing the enemy to smithereens with our sonic blasters or hijacking a car in the middle of a busy street. With virtual reality finding its footing in the gaming industry, this isn't so absurd. With special headsets being developed, gamers can treat themselves to a first-hand experience of what it is like to be amidst gunfire. It’s a different feeling altogether when you actually find yourself on the battlefield, dodging enemy fire and accidently knocking over a lamp in the living-room.

4. Augmented Reality

This is very much like VR, and yet, different. For those who would rather prefer the simplicity of not being in the video game but rather have the game come to them,  Augmented Reality is the technology for you. Here, special sensors, capable of projecting in any environment, allow the gamer to have a more personal experience in the game. This goes from something as simple as creating a table-tennis setup on your dining table, to mimicking a battlefield in your backyard.

Tags : Gaming Technology