7) Never having to say 'game over'. This is a weird one. Bob Berry, Vice President of ZeroKast, reckons that in the future we're likely to see a 'tighter integration between the windows GDI and custom in-game windowing systems'. In other words, you'll be able to re-direct content usually sent to an MS Windows window to the game itself. What does this mean? Well, one day it might be possible to open a web browser, check your email or perform any number of other 'real-world' tasks from within your game. Integration is the buzzword of the digital age and you can't get much more integrated than this.

In the future, every online Quake level may have its own Pizza Hut - when you're hungry, you just go in, order a large Margeritta, type in your credit card details and then get back into the action. The order goes through to your local Pizza Hut and it turns up on your doorstep 10 minutes later. Reality? Outside world? Pah! They're relics, mate.

Getting In. Want some online gaming action? No idea how to go about it? Here are some links to help you out.
www.gamespy.com - Popular online gaming service which connects you to game servers all over the world with the minimum of fuss. You can download the shareware version of the software for free.
www.wireplay.co.uk - British Telecom's online gaming service, recently restructured and now free of charge.
www.mplayer.com - Long-running free multiplayer game service, recently endorsed by Eidos (also see www.eidosnet.co.uk).
www.battle.net - Blizzard Software's own multiplayer site for Diablo, Starcraft and Warcraft fans.
www.microsoft.com/games - the MSN Gaming Zone is part of Microsoft's website and, again, offers free online multiplayer action. There are around 50 titles on offer, with a natural bias toward Microsoft's own games, such as Age of Empires.