In an interview with Edge DICE general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson has speculated about the future of the shooter. Saying "I think we're going to start seeing people moving away from the modern setting, because every now and again settings or themes start to get stale and then everyone jumps over."

DICE put out modern military shooter Battlefield 3 late last year, but fans are already looking for clues as to the series' next direction. Battlefield hasn't always been set in the modern day, of course, it was originally a World War 2 based series, while Battlefield 2142 took the action into the far future.

Previously players found easter eggs on Battlefield 3's Wake Island map that hinted at a sequel to Battlefield 2142 . Troedsson notes that military shooters are trending further and further into the future. "Y'know, at some point dinosaurs are the hottest thing and everyone is making games with dinosaurs, but there are trends. It used to be WWII, and recently it's been the modern era and people are now moving towards near future."

Dinosaurs have been a long running gag in Battlefield 3, with the developers repeatedly joking that they plan to include that at some point. In fact the other easter egg on Wake Island is a series of hidden dinosaur figurines, referencing a 4chan thread in which an Activision employee is repeatedly told that the only reason PC gamers doesn't like Call of Duty is that it "doesn't have enough dinosaurs."

They'll have to hurry up though, their main rivals Activision are already preparing to leave the modern era behind with Black Ops 2, which is set in the near future, as detailed in our Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 preview . But which is better, past, present, near future, far future or end of time? And where's the prehistoric shooter that lets us throw rocks at vultures to defend our next meal?