The Technological Progress of Video Games, Updated

A decade ago, in the early days of this blog, we had an article tracking video game graphics at 10-year intervals.  As per that cadence, it is time to add the next entry to the progression.  

The polygons in any graphical engine increase as a square root of Moore's Law, so the number of polygons doubles every three years.  

Sometimes, pictures are worth thousands of words :

1976 :

1986 :

Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16206844

1996 :

Screenshot taken by Steerpike from the DOS version of the video game., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3925813

2006 :

See image here :

I distinctly remember when the 2006 image looked particularly impressive.  But now, it no longer does.  This inevitably brings us to...

2016 (an entire video is available, with some gameplay footage) : 

 

This series illustrates how progress, while not visible over one or two years, accumulates to much more over longer periods of time.   

Now, extrapolating this trajectory of exponential progress, what will games bring us in 2020?  or 2026?  Additionally, note that screen sizes, screen resolution, and immersion (e.g. VR goggles) have risen simultaneously.  

 

Comments

[Ray Manta]

There's an article on VR porn at http://alphagameplan.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-future-for-low-ranking-males.html. Vox Day argues that the technological bar for a VR or augmented reality setup with a doll is very close to being cleared.

The opinions in the comments range from conspiracy theory level (the FI put a VR porn company out of business for being "too good" and it won't allow sex substitutes for men to ever exceed a certain threshold of realism") to skepticism that it will be "good enough" be 2020.

What's your take on this? Has you position on "good enough" VR porn changed in any way since your misandry bubble essay?

[idiocraties]

Looks like VR porn has landed. Good luck now dragging the betas out of their masterbatoriums to run the machinery of civilisation for thankless women.

[Tony]

Just to mention, Porn is not just for men(although the percentages are different)

[Ben]

Amazing!

[G-One]

Would really like to see a youtube video with video game footage milestones from the years, I bet it would be viral. You obviously need a decent video game capture box, so checkout http://www.gamecapturepro.com/ they have reviews of the very best boxes and cards.

[Kartik Gada]

G-One,

They do have videos like that on YouTube, that speed through 1976-present with examples of each.

In general, the improvement in polygon resolution is 25%/year (the square root of Moore's Law, since a pixel of half the length takes one-fourth of the area).