Little by little I think the idea of having the software generate a game's content and environments is gaining ground in the industry. Or should I say re-gaining ground. Way back when games shipped on a single floppy disk and computers had far less memory it was common, even essential, for games to create content on the fly since there was simply not enough room to store it.
Age of Conan has stated they will be using it, FunCom has already used it in Anarchy Online
Some game worlds are created procedurally now before being edited and shipped.
Most recently I read a forum post about another game using procedural algorithms to create very detailed city layouts.
If design ideas were stocks that you could buy on speculation this is one I would sink a lot of money into.
