From 640x480 to 1600x1200: Some musings on graphics and gameplay‏

[Kenny]

ps3-sales! said:
I find art more stimulating to the mind than graphics. Take two games for example: crysis, and prince of persia. Now i think its safe to say that crysis, graphically, looks better. However, the art style of prince of persia is innovating and new to the table. Crysis's modern day setting of jungle life looks nice, but i think we all know what a jungle looks like.

The point that i'm getting at is that however good the graphics are in a game, they start to get boring after a while. This mainly happens with the games that are quoted to be realistic.

Prince of persia however, is like looking into a watercolor painting, therefore making it something we haven't seen very often. This will probably lead to "shiny" moments also, but since its new we will be able to remember it more therefore not be bored with the look so quickly.

 

And stylistic graphics is probably the single best way to get out of the arms race of graphical realism and the associated ballooning costs.  I'm willing to bet that, if you compared those two games a decade from now, Prince of Persia's graphics would be considered more appealing, because the march of the graphical cutting edge will most likely render Crysis' realistic graphics not so realistic by comparison anymore.  Unless, of course, the next generation throws a curveball our way, and suspends the march of graphical progress on consoles.