4. There is a lot of talk about interactive entertainment becoming the dominant form of entertainment in the 21st century. Although it's a broad question, dream a little and tell us how far your vision stretches for what interactive entertainment can eventually represent and become?

Bruce: We are already seeing the beginnings of virtual reality arcades, and these are likely to become much more sophisticated. Any team-oriented activity could become an interactive entertainment focus. For example, 22 people could get together in a football arcade on a Sunday afternoon and play out a football game, rather than sit home and watch. Leagues could start and champions could be crowned. The same could be true for hunting, fishing, other sports, combat simulation, space exploration, and so on. Science-fiction writers have been exploring the possibilities of this media for decades.

Part of that attraction of the virtual reality arcade is doing something together with friends with whom you can communicate as you play. We must make some strides in interface, graphics, sound, and so on, to help with the suspension of disbelief. Internet voice communication will increase the attractiveness of multiplayer gaming from your own home. Interactive games are already a bigger business than motion pictures, so we may already be approaching dominance. But it may take a new generation of computer-literate gamers to make interactive gaming truly dominant. There are still many people who have no experience with PCs or consoles and rely mainly on TV and movies for entertainment.

5. Now that you've told us where we might be one day, where do you realistically see games in two, five, and ten years down the road? When do you think your vision might become a reality?

Bruce: I don't see anything remarkably new happening in the next two years. Five years out, we will see a predominance of 3D graphics, and people will be thinking of new game things to do in a true 3D world. By ten years out, we will be seeing some amazing virtual reality play opportunities in place, but they will get only better and better as the next century progresses.

Next: Bruce Shelley (cont.)