Only two things are holding gaming back atm. Ram and balls. Consoles lack the ram and publishers don't have the balls not to cater to the prettiest screenshot contest or make something new.
Good graphics help with immersion, not emotion. To the moon, Journey and Papa & Yo are the most emotional games I have recently played. The term realistic graphics doesn't even apply.
Realistic graphics are better for sims.
It's a bonus when a game can have both. That dreary scene in Heavy rain with the divorced father and son hardly interacting with each other in that gloomy apartment still haunts me.







