Visual Punker : Futuristic User Interfaces

(Via)

Visual Punker's Tumblr is a goldmine of examples of some truly memorable HUDs and UI interfaces extracted from a series of animes, movies and videogames. Ranging from The Avengers to Ghost In The Shell, his collection could be best defined as a snapshot of shifts in visual language over the years.

From a personal standpoint I have to say that the cyberpunk movement that was in full swing in the  late 80's/90's definitely gave us some of the most memorable UI's in recent memory. Kind of hard to forget my first time watching Yoshiaki Kawajiri's cyberpunk short Running Man, which along with Akira in 1989 probably ended up inspiring decades of HUD/UI work to come. Check out some more examples from Punker's blog after the break (Bandwith heavy).

The Evolution Of Real Time PC Graphics (2000-2013)

Compiled by Youtube user PerfectHand, this video features about 13 years worth of Nvidia graphic demos, benchmarks and in game demos from the period at full setting. Starting off with Nvidia's Grove and ending on benchmakrs like Platige Image's Catzilla, this video shows just how far we've come in just over a decade.

My only qualm with these graphic demos is that they've lead to about a decade worth of false expectations for most gamers, especially considering that the practice of benchmarking lead companies to misleading practices like creating 'gameplay target videos,' with the final product being inevitably inferior.  Let's hope that companies have learned for their mistakes int he last few generaations regarding setting false expectations.