The Technical Challenges of Gaming

There's a fascinating article in the online version of Popular Science magazine entitled The Hard Science of Making Video Games. It details the technical challenges that high end video game developers face when pushing the envelope on next-gen features. Written in an very accessible way, it's a great read even for those with little computer knowledge. In case that link ever expires, the top challenges/limits are as follows:

1. Processing Power
2. Water
3. Human Faces
4. Artificial Intelligence
5. Light and Shadows
6. Fire
7. Material Physics
8. Realistic Movement
9. True-to-Life Simulation
10. Motion Capture