Ah, tech demos – they have this way of bringing out the hopes and dreams of anyone who watches them, filling their heads with the wide-eyed fantasies of what lies in store for the future.

Quantic Dreams’ Kara is one such tech demo, which showcases one of the most moving visual performances ever seen coming off of a console. It’s a glimpse of what’s to come. A hope. A dream.

However, the gaming industry is no stranger to such dreams – many tech demos have come and gone in the past, and many will come and go in the future – but whether they deliver on their promises, is another story altogether.

Let’s take a look at a few such tech demos, and see where they left us in the years that followed.

PS3 Final Fantasy VII Tech Demo

This tech demo gained its fame two-fold – blowing away audiences by showing off the PS3’s graphical capabilities, as well as inciting an entire generation of fanboys who immediately expected a Final Fantasy VII remake.

While the latter is yet to be satisfied, the former claim to fame is well deserved, as the release of Final Fantasy XIII years later confirmed.

Say what you will about the game and its story – Final Fantasy XIII presented gamers with some amazing visuals on the PS3 as well as the Xbox 360 (which came as a surprise to many). The PS3 version, being the leading console for the game, offered better graphics, but only by a nudge.

Now how about that rema- *gets stabbed*

Final Fantasy XIII

CryEngine 2

The CryEngine made many people cry – tears of joy. It showed off some of the most amazing and realistic environments and textures (at the time), and was lauded by the PC Master Race as definitive proof that “consoles are teh suck” and console gamers should be drawn and quartered.

Then came Crysis.

Depending on who you ask, Crysis was pretty much a tech demo, itself. Arguably, as a game it wasn’t exactly the Best Thing Ever™. Running on CryEngine 2, the game showed off some amazing visuals, and spawned a sequel which took it up a notch.

Crysis 2 used CryEngine 3, which is also what the original Crysis used in its console ports.

Crysis

Heavy Rain – The Casting

Before Kara, Quantic Dream had a different kind of tech demo going, showing a lady at a casting. The demo was used to show off the PS3’s capabilities in presenting a full visual performance – and at the time, it was really impressive.

Comparing it to Kara, and the level of games we’ve become accustomed to today – it simply looks awkward, and suffers from a massive case of uncanny valley.

The demo also acted as an announcement at E3 2006 for Heavy Rain – which was released 4 years later, and looked way more convincing.

Heavy Rain

PS1 T-Rex tech demo

Remember the PlayStation 1? It was this little console that Sony released around 1994, you may have heard of it.

Indeed, even way back in the decade of bad music and poor fashion sense, tech demos for new consoles and engines were very much alive – and the PS1 got its very own dino-demonstration, showing what the console’s tech was capable of.

When you think about it, the T-Rex shown over there, while laughable by today’s standards, was pretty impressive in 1994 – on the backdrop of 16-bit gaming, and the movement away from cartridges.

Where can you find a T-Rex of similar dimension in the PS1-era? Dino Crisis of course.

Dino Crisis

Unreal Engine 3 (2004)

The Unreal Engine 3 is arguably the most pervasive game engine of this generation – and almost each year a new tech demo is released, showing off the newest features and capabilities. The latest, the DX11 demo, offers a glimpse into what we can expect next-gen graphics to head into.

However, what caught gamers’ attention, was this demo released in 2004, on the cusp of what we call current-gen gaming, showing off what sort of style Epic would be laying on us in the years that followed.

Watching the demo, the inspiration is clear – it’s Gears of War all the way. With the constant development on the engine, it’s no surprise that, when used properly, the engine ‘wows’ beyond this initial showcase.

Gears of War

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