(sorry my english in advance i will try and read this before posting but i can't promise that it will be perfect, i'm from italy pizza mandolino mamma mia maccaroni fantozzi berlusconi XD)

This was on my wall and i decided to make it a title for a gaming discussion because seems about the time that this necessary.

Let me explain my two points here.

Games before consoles: I include even computer gaming in that. I don't care if you're "born" with Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. You can also be a multi-platform person, good for you that you can afford that. The point is, you must see games and what the consoles you like can do for them and not a console like a stand-alone thing. If you are a gamer thinking in the last way i mentioned will let you get things only based on how much powerful is the console. You must think the package that modern times it's like: 1st party + 2nd party exclusives + 3rd party multiplatforms + 3rd party timed exclusives + 3rd party unique project + games from online shop. That's what makes a console worth the whole package. Plus, you must seriously pay attention to what plan on the long term they are presenting right from the start like 2 years project because you want your console to last.

Gameplay before graphics: But also what can graphics do for gameplay? If a game as a solid well known gameplay with minor changed in the genre that make it pretty original, well, the graphics also needs only to be solid. With that i mean they are good in the common way of thinking the word. Not bad, not fabulous. Because what i don't want to happen for sure, it's that use of graphics so much the player will have maximum 10 hours of gaming, including cut-scenes if the game it's one that requires a story. Surely i will never spend 50 to 70 $/€ for 10 hours because i'm not growing money in my hands. Answering the question it's pratically a statement that i can summarize with a few words: destructibility, interaction and style. Two of 'em have to go always in every good game that i want to buy creating  this many combinations: destructibility+interaction; interaction+style; destructibiliy+style. With style i mean not the type of graphics but the usage of it. I mean if all, or most of 'em, elements in the game are cool to see in that way and well designed that's a game with style.

So that is all of my defense. In this age this two things are the one that need the most support we can give in my line of thoughs. We can always talk about everything, but in gaming discussion gamers have to never stomp these two.

Tell me what you think.

I'm gathering from your post that you prefer open games to linear ones?

I agree with your points too.

Mama-mia... it's a paisano making-a his-a own-a thread-a!

But yeah, I pretty much agree with your post. Although, I must say... as far as gameplay before graphics is concerned, if the graphics aren't at least up to par with what you'd expect from the minimum standards that the hardware is capable of, it can be very detracting to the gameplay and overall enjoyment of said game.

I pretty much agree with all you said. You should make your topic more controversial, to get more replies though.

This all goes without saying and it's why I believe there's no need to rush out the PS4 and 720 as the current stagnation in creativity that pervades the gaming industry will carry over to those consoles.

That aside in the event I'm given two versions of the same game, I will honestly go for the one that looks and runs better every single time, so I think what Nintendo are doing with their tablet controller is a good attempt at product differentiation and enhancing gameplay to deter people from this mindset. That being said one cannot discount the effect graphics can have on game immersion; this immersion can be a by-product of the gameplay, but depending upon the game, graphics alone can achieve this effect.

Sorry bro I kind of agree with you, but I cant wait for tha next gen because I'm fed up with the slow consoles that are bottlenecked by their RAM.

My Galaxy S2 has twice the ram of PS3 and I have full multitask and much better browsing.

Mnementh said: I pretty much agree with all you said. You should make your topic more controversial, to get more replies though.

LOL XD

defend them from what?

Yeah I agree. I just hate it when people call the current gen advanced when in fact phones are more powerful. 

Ohh the irony

gameplay > graphics
gameplay+awesome graphics > gameplay+normal graphics
good gameplay+awesome graphics > little bit better gameplay+unbelievable ugly graphics

bad or almost non existant gameplay = fail

gameplay should be more important but if the graphical differences are huge and the gameplay difference is only slightly better for the super ugly game, i would prefer the game with the slightly worse gameplay and much much better graphics.