My position is either both or neither.
I say this because I don't want the industry to stagnate over the next next few generations in one direction. I think that would be terrible in the long run.
Up until this generation, the industry kept moving forward in that one direction of improved graphics and AI, but at the same time I felt that the industry was becoming stagnant. The Wii was a huge breath of fresh air.
That being said, I don't want the Wii's philosophy of evolving mostly gamplay to be an industry standard either. I want the industry to continue to evolve in many directions beside graphic and gameplay.
The truth is that graphic can only get so good. It won't be much longer before games look completely realistic and thus cannot be further improved. The improvements from this point on will continue to recieve diminishing returns as there is only so many polygons, so many fps, so many details that can be added before the human eyes is put to its limit and can no longer tell tell the difference. It's not hard to imagine. The 360 and the PS3 are already dangerously close to this threshhold. I beleive that moving in a graphics standpoint will end next generation, because any improvement in graphics will only be subtle from that point on. Many can argue that the graphics leap for this generation is far less dramatic than generations past.
Gameplay may not have the same limitations as graphics, but it's still only a part of the puzzle and focusing only on that is still denying gamers the full package. Plus, having a new mode of gameply every generation can alienate players that were adjusted and perfectly happy with the current mode of gameplay. It can't be to far ahead, or it'll burn the fan base. Going in a new direction for this generation was fine because of Nintendo's desperate situation.
It's my belief that next generation will see enhancements in both areas. This is fine, but the generation after better come up with something new. It is my belief that the next great advancement will not come until the generation after the next one. It could come from anybody, but my it that it will come from the company that with the most to prove. Who that will be two generatons from now is anyones guess.
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