I was thinking about this while playing Grand Theft Auto V, while GTA V is a 9.8/10 game for me. It isn't genre defining or as revolutionary as writers and Rockstar were making it out to be. Sure, I enjoyed the game but nothing in the game gave me chills or was anything really new. And then I think of all the AAA games released recently and realized that while they're good games, developers are playing it safe and innovation is really few far, and in between, and those who actually try to innovate nowadays(wonderful 101) don't bring the quality needed.

And when I say genre defining I meant like.

Leend of Zelda: Ocarine of time(N64). I remember playing this game as a kid and was stunned by the scope of this game, the combat, the world, everything about it was immaculate for its time. Ocarina of Time is probably the best game ever created as it blew everything else out of the water that gen and it's not even close.

Mario 64(N64). Wow. Just wow. Also one of the best games ever created, had brilliant graphics, boss battles, platforming, etc.

Halo(Xbox). When Halo came out it was truly spectacular. Like I remember playing Halo on my friend's Xbox one time and then wanting to come back and play everyday. It really introduced the FPS into high quality MP.

CoD MW2(PS3/360) . Sure the new CoD games suck balls but when this dropped it was >>>>>. Think about it, everyone wouldn't shut the fuck up talking about it, everyone was playing it, everyone loved it. Now everyone hates it because the series has made 0 progress since then.

GTA San Andreas(PS2). This is what a sandbox game was supposed to be like. What couldn't you do in this game? The brilliant story topped it off, and my god for it's time this game was just mind-blowing.

Super Smash Bros Melee(Gamecube). Game turned the Smash series into a phenomenom, seriously top 5 funnest games of all time. (jeez I'm looking like a Nintendo fanboy aren't I? I'm a sony guy but even I realize that Nintendo's 1st party takes bigger gameplay risks.)

Metal Gear Solid 2(PS2). Oh my god. This game was simly brilliant. Nuff' said.

Gran Turismo(PS1). Introduced realistic sports simulators to consoles.

Tekken {PS1). 2.5D fighting became a fucking sport.

FFVII(PS1). The most popular RPG of all time arguably, classic story, paved the way for modern RPG games, made FF infinitely more popular as a series.

Pokemon red and blue(GBC). Would handheld gaming even be where it is today without these games? No. Just no.

Sims(PC). Man, so many hours went into this.

DOTA. Moba games become a fucking sport.

Starcraft(PC). Koreans eat this shit up.

Half Life 1 & 2(pc). Both are timeless classics. 

Point is....only like two of these games came in this gen. All the other games were fun but none of them wow'd me or introduced elements that could be used in every game genre. To be honest, Ocarine of Time was the most revolutionary game of all time in my opinion, it set the industry standared. Shame we wont ever see a game like OOT again, where it just blows everything else out of the water quality wise. 

But anyways, when will we ever see games like these again? I don't know if they'll ever come around again sadly, as budgets are too high for companies to take huge risks. 

Good question. The last truly revolutionary title, in my mind, was Wii Sports, and that was seven years ago. Maybe something like Destiny, with its MMO qualities, might shake up the industry, but I'm not sure.

Destiny, Bungie's new game.

Whatever Blizzard develop next.

Knack could be it if they have the woman who translated the trailer at TGS do all the voice over work.

No respect for Portal ? Tetris ? Wii Sports ?

I'd place Ico in there for the way it turned a video-game into an atmospheric and emotional experience. Also, Valkyria Chronicles for giving a TPS feel to an SRPG. Tomb Raider for basically popularizing TPP. Resident Evil for obvious reasons.

Anyway, the deeper into any media we go, the less 'revolutionary' content we will have. There is only so much that can be done in any medium. Eventually you hit a wall were improvements are more about quality and producing variations. If there is anything revolutionary, it will probably come from an indie game, which will then be incorporated into larger scale games (which will probably get the credit). That's really what happened in the past, with most revolutionary game-play coming from games we've never heard of, which was then perfected by studios with larger budgets. For example, people talk about Gears of War instead of Kill Switch when they talk about TPP cover shooters.

Rather than revolutionary, I'm really hoping Fallout 4 evolves the FPS RPG. That would be my biggest wish. Oh, and Half Life 4 coming along and blowing us all away in terms of FPS scope.

LOL.

No, not what blizzard develops next. They are hardly a revolutionary company. They just refine already established formulas and stick to them. I mean cmon... Diablo 3, Starcraft 2? What about those is revolutionary?

As for destiny... probably not aswell. There are already persistant MMOFPS games on the PC.

The thing about the next revolutionary game is that its something no one really knows yet.

Actually there is one that rings a bell. Star Citizen, if it turns out like the producer envisions, it might be that game.

And don't you forget Crysis please.

Titanfall :)

No. Titanfill is too reminiscent to Call of Duty gameplay wise, it's just with mechs. Gameplay wise it's not revolutionary at all. 

lol @ Crysis being revolutionary.

I would've put Wii Sports and Tetris but I forgot all about them.