We are at a point where great graphics won't "mindblow" us anymore, as you want to put it. I have no doubt that we'll see a sizeable jump in visuals and graphics this gen, but the next big step is VR in my mind. Have you seen the reception that Oculus Rift has been getting? It's definitely where the industry is heading next.

All graphics mean these days is that we are one step closer to bankrupting the whole gaming industry... We aren't a huge audience, I'm sorry to say, and we can't afford 100 million dollar budgets for games... We just can't. If you want that then you have to start accepting things that will enlarge the gaming audience, and that means a system like the Wii U which is trying to appeal to it.

Sony and Microsoft are ticking time bombs waiting to blow up in our faces..

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2011/12/01/12-game-studios-that-died-in-2011
http://ca.ign.com/articles/2012/12/11/20-studios-we-lost-in-2012

was the 3 extra pixels on the screen worth it?

That's usually my state of mind until I put in a game that pushes hardware.

With that said, graphics are nice but I prefer gameplay. Most of the time, I get both.

i was at a friends house and watched him play his ps4 and i'll say this:

kz:sf on ps4 >> kz:sf on youtube >>>> kz:sf as a screenshot.


resolution on an HDTV is better than on a streaming website that probably captured the video wrong anyways. animation improvements are wtfbbq better and that doesn't come though on a static screenshot. i'm impressed so far and i expect the non-launch games to be far more impressive.

I think everyone has different tasted. Me, I love graphicaly impressive games. I always had dreams of cars with huge explosions (got my fix with Wipeout & Motorstorm). Lara Croft was one of my fav characthers growing up and I always dreamed of seeing a true jungle come to life with trees and animals, and she delivered in spades with the last Tomb Raider. 

Same with car racing games. Playing Pole Position and Champion Sprint back in the day was awesome, but I always wanted more. More cars, better looking designs, better looking courses, and playing games like Gran Turismo, Need For Speed Rivals and Blur, just brings a great feeling of satisfation to me.  it just makes me smile. 

Dont get me wrong, I still play allot of non graphicaly impressive titles. (Tearaway, Metal Slug, jetpack Joyride etc), a fun game is a fun game, and I will continue to play games for fun, but damb, I just luv visually imersive games. "Looking at you Killzone Shadowfall".......

Keep on Gaming.

Same thing happened to me after I built my gaming rig. What also shocked me is how much processing power is required to make games look slightly better or run at a higher resolution. For me framerate is the most important thing. I'll turn down whatever settings I need to in single player or multiplayer to achieve 60FPS.

And yet two people with no budget make something like this

4 people make this

This

Costs $35m including $25m for marketing

Yet this

Costs $84m

This is made by 80 people

where as this is made by 600+

I think part of it is because developers are strapped for ideas. And some guys have more elaborate generational leap experiences than others (i.e. idiots trying to look at the 5th generation in retrospect rather than actually being there.)

But back to the former point I made: Look at third person action games, especially MGS1. compared to the MGS2 demo on the PS2 back in 2001. The rain effects on the exterior of the ship, the interactivity, the ragdoll physics, Snake's flailing bandana, the sneaking/stealth options being buffed tenfold, enemies calling in riot squads consisting of half a dozen soldiers with BPV's and shields (and being able to shoot out their mic to prevent the call LOL), being able to shatter glass in the mess hall, the blood/bandage system etc. And on top of all that, the game still ran flawlessly at 60FPS.

I'm sure I missed a lot of other jaw-dropping talking points there were, but the fact is, that was from a fucking DEMO, it was one giant playground and it honestly never got old until the full game was released.

...which is why MS and Sony really need to push out those AAA kinect/Move games, because dem gameplay mechanics.

Just imagine what Uncharted would look like on PC.