( Especially you, Tyler! 
)First, before I bore you with my excited (not to mention geeky) ranting...have a look at the following pretty pictures:
Have I got your attention? Good!
Now have a look at these.
http://www.farbrausch.com/index.php
http://theprodukkt.com/debrisBasically, .debris is a real-time graphical demo, sort of like a music video, showing off a still fairly young (okay, maybe not "young", but under appreciated and under utilized...) graphics engine technology: Procedural textures, the ability to generate textures on the fly, using the computer's central processing unit, before storing the results in memory, and then sending the texturized models to the graphics card, or so I understand...
This technology allows for
insanely small executable sizes (the entire ".debris" tech-demo is a mere 177kb), since multiple versions of the same texture, in different qualities and sizes, is no longer a requirement of a game developer in order to give end users quality options in your game. For that matter, from what I understand, not even ONE TEXTURE needs to be stored in some kind of graphical format as a resource inside the executable...instead, it seems as though the executable contains some kind of central compiler, which uses a mathematical algorithm, along with mathematical instructions, that allow it to regenerate every texture that is to appear in the game as it needs them, "on the fly", in memory, using the CPU. It's a rather simple concept, actually, yet a truly powerful technology... The only possible "problem" I can see that might arise from using this kind of technology, could be slightly increased loading times for some games...but in the coming years, as 3.0 GHz processors, dual-core processors, and even quad-core processors become more and more commonplace, among more than just the overclocking, hard-core PC gamer, this "problem" might very well cease to exist before it even arises.
Okay, enough of my blabbing, download this thing and try it for yourself:
http://theprodukkt.com/debris#59 
The system requirements, as outlined in the readme file, are these:
system requirements:
--------------------
- minimum:
* p4 2ghz or athlon 2000+ (with sse)
* 512mb ram
* ps2.0 capable graphics card with 128mb vram
* directx 9.0c
- recommended:
* core2duo or athlon x2 with >=2.4ghz
* 1024mb ram
* geforce 7600/radeon x1600 or better with 256mb vram
If you don't have a very powerful computer, or if you're just not using windows (*nods at Coug*
), then you can check out a captured/youtubed version of the video
HERE.
So, what do you guys think?
Just imagine the possibilities, more game content on each [insert preferred game console here] disc...smaller file sizes could allow for more sound effects, music, voice acting, 3D models, model animations, levels, cut scenes, overall gameplay, etc. etc. etc., to be packed onto each disc...and all of this without the need to use a larger (and therefore more expensive) media for games, such as Blu-ray.
I'm personally very excited about this kind of technology... I wonder why more developers don't use it? Perhaps at the current point in time, most developers consider it to be just a little too resource demanding for it to be of maximum benefit? Oh well, I for one hope that in coming years, that will no longer be the case.
