Here I am at the keyboard. Another late night, another last-minute assault on a deadline. In some ways, you'd think it was 1999 all over again.

Today GameSpy.com is five years old! The company has been around a lot longer, but prior to October 1, this domain was just a place to grab our latest software or see a list of our network sites. Nowadays it's one of the top destinations for gamers, especially ones who want to play online. Millions of readers troop through here every month. We've come a long way from when I kicked this site off five years ago!

We're celebrating our anniversary with this countdown of our most memorable games.

But I also wanted to personally thank you for sticking with us all these years with this note. GameSpy.com has grown by huge leaps and bounds over the years, and it's readers like you -- who keep the forums happening and the game servers kicking -- that really made GameSpy what it is today. It's been a blast being your website!

And while I have your ear, I also wanted to look back at where things were and to look ahead at everything that's happening in gaming...

What's Happened in Gaming in Five Years?

GameSpy.com has come a long way, but gaming has come a long way as well. The very first feature that GameSpy launched with was called "The Future of Gaming", where we interviewed industry luminaries about where they thought games were going in the years to come. We talked to Gabe Newell from Valve (Half-Life), Tim Sweeney from Epic (Unreal), Bruce Shelley from Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires), and Chris Taylor who's now at Microsoft (Total Annihilation and Dungeon Siege).

It's fun to see where things stand versus their predictions. Newell and Sweeney predicted a merging of various game genres, as well as more huge online worlds. Most developers argued that voice communication online would be paramount, although five years later (with the exception of Xbox Live's integrated voice in every game) it still feels like we have a long way to go there. Go check out the feature to see more.

How about us here at GameSpy? What did WE think a few years ago and how do things look now?

Mainstream Acceptance

I think gaming has turned a big corner in recent years. Starting with the PlayStation it began to go mainstream, but with the overwhelming success of the PS2 -- there's a PS2 in one out of every four U.S. households! -- gaming isn't really seen as a niche hobby anymore. It's widely viewed as a major entertainment medium, like movies or television. It's viewed that way not just by us consumers, but by business people, investors, and media. Maybe the media still doesn't really understand games, but they know they're important.

Diminishing Graphical Returns

Another corner that's been turned has been in the graphical arena. I had written about this earlier, and Jason Rubin gave a great speech about it at the 2003 Game Developer's Conference. We've reached a point of diminishing returns in the strictly graphical arena, after decades of exponential technological growth.

These graphics were hardly state-of-the-art, but did they get the job done? Oh yes.

Here's what I mean: Look at Grand Theft Auto 3, for example, a game that featured prominently in this week's most memorable games anniversary feature. By any objective means of measure, the graphics are only so-so. But it doesn't matter: They're good enough to support the gameplay. They present a large city, lots of cars, lots of people, guns, explosions, and cool wrecks. Chances are if you're reading this, you played the game: did you stop to notice that the windshield didn't accurately reflect the environment in real-time? Did it matter? No!

Years ago games like Grand Theft Auto 3 weren't possible because systems didn't have the muscle to pull off an immersive 3D world like that. But a threshold has been passed. Future improvements will make the cars look better and the buildings look better, but these graphical improvements won't have an effect on gameplay. The innovations will come from elsewhere.

This is a great step. Previously the only developers who could be truly innovative were the ones who had the ability to crank out advanced graphical technology. Now graphics technology is a commodity: new systems allow anyone to access great-looking 3D engines. Developers can devote resources to great art or innovative new gameplay.

That's great news moving forward!